Wandering Tree ®, LLC Podcast

What does it mean to be a birth mother? How do you navigate the emotional terrain of unplanned pregnancies, the heart-rending decision of adoption, and the aftermath of that choice? These are the raw realities we tackle in this potent episode, guided by the strength and resilience of author and birth mother, Candice Cahill. This conversation is a deep dive into Candice's personal journey—shar...

What if you had the chance to hear a powerful story of adoption, mental illness, and healing from someone who experienced it firsthand? We're honored to have Danielle Gaudette, author of Healing Tree, share her incredible journey with us. From being adopted just 10 days after her birth to reuniting with her biological mother at 21, Danielle opens up about the challenges she faced growing up w...

What happens when two domestic adoptees and passionate artists join forces in advocating for their community? In a captivating episode of Wandering Tree Podcast, we're thrilled to have Rebecca Autumn Sansom and Liz DeBetta sharing their stories, artistry, and insights on the adoptee experience. Liz, who was adopted at birth, has been using her talents as a writer to share her journey and heal...

Guest Nicole shares with us her early desires to give back to adoptee community, how she think she wanted to search for her biological family and the point in time when she realized the moment was now.  Nicole is a domestic, transracial adoptee born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. She grew up knowing she was adopted. Her father, a decorated Marine turned Catholic priest adopted her after she had be...

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 5. Let's keep moving forward adoptees, sharing our life experiences and bonding in community. The collective goal of our guests and host is to create a safe space and have key conversations regarding the adoption reunion experience with biological family members.  Laurie is a domestic adoptee. She was placed in her adopted family at around one month old. She came...

Guest Amy shares how the longing to find and meet biological family did not manifest until later in life. Growing up she was surrounded by a loving and accepting adopted family; and she felt content with the situation. It was only later, and after having a family of her own, did Amy start to acknowledge the frustration she had felt for years in providing the standard answer to almost every questio...

Accepted by Biological Family Get your box of Kleenex out for this episode! All I can say about this one is WOW! It is packed with so many amazing moments between Guests Emma Stevens and her cousin Stephanie. They speak on the impact of meeting, attending a showing of Reckoning with The Primal Wound together, sharing information on common family members, how to be the step in a missing ladder and...

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 2. Let's keep moving forward adoptees, sharing our life experiences and bonding in community. The collective goal of our guests and host is to create a safe space and have key conversations regarding the adoption reunion experience with biological family members beyond the parents.  Have you found your biological roots? Learned you have a sibling or two in the pro...

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 1. We are glad to be back with everyone in 2023 and we are kicking this season off with a bang!  Have you found your biological roots? Learned you have a sibling or two in the process of searching? Now what? What is the best method to approach them? Lacking a clue? So were guest Greg Gentry and Host Lisa Ann before they just jumped all in, hit a bump or two and then ke...

In today's conversation with host Adoptee Lisa Ann, our guests touch on the use of social media to connect to other adoptees. We tackle the benefits of using the various platforms such as Facebook pages, Facebook groups, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to create a thriving community.  Please join us in this roundtable discussion, where Wandering Tree Podcast welcomes back to the show Emma Stev...

Connecting to the adoptee community can be very helpful to the adoptee in search and reunion. In the second instance of a four part series, Host Lisa Ann sits down with the leadership of Fireside Adoptees. This group of dedicated humans are setting the adoptee community on fire by offering a space to discuss adoption from the states of surviving to thriving! They encourage and empower adoptees to...

In the third of a four part series on adoptees attending biological family reunions, Host Lisa Ann and podcaster Damon Davis have a great conversation. They cover the blessing of a fairytale reunion with a biological mother to the all-in aspects of a family reunion event. Wandering Tree was so grateful for the time these two spent in fellowship and looks forward to the next opportunity. Here is a...

Adoptees Lisa Ann and Elle attended biological family reunions and have lived to share out their experience. In this session they share some of their thoughts and insights into the anxiety, excitement and details of what it was like to be in the presence of so many new people. Was it horrid or fantastic? Enjoy their laughs and near tears as they speak on the two days of activities.

Connecting to the adoptee community can be very helpful to the adoptee in search and reunion. Several months ago, Host Lisa Ann sat down with Author and Podcaster Jennifer Dyan Ghoston to discuss the benefits of connection adoptee-to-adoptee. Their lived experiences spawned a creative shared episode, where they listed out a few of their favorite resources.  If you are not familiar with Jennifer, s...

July is National Family Reunion month, who knew? Adoptees Lisa Ann and Elle are invited to biological family reunions and both have decided to attend. In this session they share some of their thoughts on the why to attend, how they have prepared and their overall fears of meeting several new people at one time. Enjoy their laughs and near tears as the day of the event is imminent.  Resources:  Nat...

Wandering Tree welcomes the Sibling to the show. The Sibling is one of Lisa Ann's three paternal biological sisters, a domestic adoptee from Baby Scoop era and an adopter of three in the late 1990's. Host Lisa Ann and The Sibling connected via their shared DNA match on Ancestry.com in 2019 and started to build out their current relationship from there. It was a virtual roller coaster fro...

Guest Mary shares the many ups and downs on the years of search for her birth mother, how the longing to find and meet her became a cycle associated with birthdays and holidays and how she never gave up. We listen as Mary talks about the first planned visit to the final goodbye of the woman she was destined to connect with all in the right timing.  A little about Mary: As a mom of four and an adop...

Guest Elle Klassen and Host Lisa Ann prepare for another weekend where the ideology of great parenting is celebrated. You guessed it, we jump right in, speak our lived experience and it gets real! We sit down and spend our time together to address another key topic for many adoptees - Fathers. We want to welcome Elle Klassen back to Wandering Tree Podcast. Elle is an artist, wife, mother, friend....

Host Lisa Ann sits down with two-time author Paige Adams Strickland, who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and adopted at 13 months of age.  In this episode, Paige shares bits of her story and how her search for biological family began in 1987.  While we agree not all adoptees have a great life, and ours was fairly normal, being adopted made us feel exposed.  Connect with Paige via here:  Blog: https:/...

Host Lisa Ann sits down with two-time author Paige Adams Strickland, who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and adopted at 13 months of age.  In this episode, Paige shares bits of her story and how her search for biological family began in 1987.  While we agree not all adoptees have a great life, and ours was fairly normal, being adopted made us feel exposed.  Connect with Paige via here:  Blog: https:/...

Guest Elle Klassen and Host Lisa Ann decided to dive into one of the most difficult topics for many adoptees - Mothers. You guessed it, we jump right in, speak our lived experience and it gets real!  We want to extend a warm welcome to Elle Klassen. Elle is an artist, wife, mother, friend. She was adopted near the end of the baby scoop era in 1970, in Canada. She found her first family four years...

Rebecca Autumn Sansom, director of Reckoning with The Primal Wound , spends time with Host Lisa Ann sharing her love of the book, the process of creative projects and what is on the horizon.  A beautiful conversation covering so many thoughts and feelings. It was an honor to have Rebecca read a poem in process called, "I have a secret." She is excited about the upcoming first theater scr...

Host Lisa Ann sits with The Adopted Chameleon, Lorah Gerald and talks all things adoption. The double quest in Tennessee to find her biological mother and father, three generations of rejections and how a book revered by adoptees was written out of love.  To close us out, Lorah shares information on the upcoming first theater screening of the movie: Reckoning with The Primal Wound by Rebecca Autum...

Wandering Tree welcomes Author Emma Stevens, The Gathering Place , to the show.  In today's conversation with host Adoptee Lisa Ann, our guest touches on her multi-decade journey of search and reunion; even teasing a bit on the adventures and detective skills needed to find ourselves. Having read/listened to this book myself, I can share that it is a must for adoptees! Emma's writing sty...

Wandering Tree welcomes Mary to the show; a first mother who was forced to relinquish her child for adoption. The day we spoke was a first for both myself and Mary. Neither of us really knew what to expect when it came to having a conversation on the topic of adoption from our differing viewpoints. It was a new experience for me to be talking to a first mother who was not my own; and for Mary to s...