136 – Your Absence Has Gone Through Me

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT To date, I’ve only interviewed a few guests who weren’t adoptees, and this will be another one. Today you’re going to meet Anne-Marie from Southern California who drafted an impassioned submission to be on the Who Am I Really podcast. At first I wanted to stay true to the focus of the show, … Read more

134 – Destined To Be Unique

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Liz, from Michigan, grew up in a neighborhood full of adoptees, so it wasn’t until years later in the Dominican Republic teaching a class with a lot of adoptees in it that her own adoption sunk in. After finding her natural mother through an intermediary they reunited during a sleepover in a hotel … Read more

127 – I Think I was Afraid Of Knowing

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Gloria called me from Texas where she grew up with Mexican parents. In younger days she tried to find the ways she looked like her family. In adulthood, following the whim of some co-workers, Gloria did a DNA test naive to what it could possibly reveal. In a matter of months she was … Read more

141 – That Wasn’t The Real Me

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Gloria called me from Texas where she grew up with Mexican parents. In younger days she tried to find the ways she looked like her family. In adulthood, following the whim of some co-workers, Gloria did a DNA test naive to what it could possibly reveal. In a matter of months she was … Read more

125 – You Can Forgive People From Afar

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Lisa called me from New Jersey to share her story of growing up in an abusive home. She had one unrelated adopted sister who didn’t have the same experience in their house that Lisa had. Lisa always felt like the odd person out and hoped that reunion with her birth mother would be … Read more

102 – It’s Always Maybe

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Breanna learned that she was fostered then adopted but for financial gain and she described her home as a hostile environment. Her adopted mother was abusive, and Breanna ultimately ran away from home to the military. But before bootcamp she contacted her birth mother, and learned the hard truth about her conception. In … Read more

101 – This Is About Everybody

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT In Debby’s home adoption was an open topic because she was fostered by her grandparents and adopted by their daughter. Unfortunately, she wasn’t welcome as an adoptee by her adopted father and she and her family faced abuse by her stepfather. In reunion Debby found out her birth parents tried to stay together … Read more

279 – An Accident of Birth

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Alex, whom I spoke with live in Los Angeles, California, said growing up, he could never quite pinpoint the out-of-place feeling he carried in his adopted life. When his children began asking about family medical history, an incredibly lucky mistake with 23andMe DNA testing kits led Alex to his full-blood brothers. Alex and … Read more

278 – Consciously Keeping Everyone Separated

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Mikayla (alias), from Australia, never wanted to confront her adoption until she began thinking about starting a family of her own. Through DNA testing, she uncovered both maternal and paternal connections, each marked by different levels of openness and receptivity that evolved and, in some cases, completely flipped. Ultimately, Mikayla earned the trust … Read more

277 – Adopting Privilege

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Dr. Abby Hasberry spoke to me from Baltimore, Maryland. Transracially adopted, Abby was brought into a family that believed in racial harmony but didn’t support her ethnic expression as a teen. She became a first mother and was misled about the choices she made when placing her son. She has endured the ups … Read more