Adoption: The Making of Me. An Oral History of Adoptee Stories

Janice: Adopted, Adored, and Afraid

Janice Jones was adopted in 1947 at age four-and-a-half months by charismatic doctor and surgeon, Ralph Beare, and his socialite wife, Lou, of Celina, Ohio. Jones grew up

Bryan: From Fear to Love

Bryan Post is a leading expert in child behavior, adoption trauma, and love-based parenting. A former foster child himself, Bryan has dedicated over two decades to helpin

Laurie: Journey to the Truth

Born in 1968 during the Baby Scoop Era, Laurie was placed in foster care after birth and adopted at six weeks old by a loving family who had already adopted two other chi

Elle: Adopted Into Silence

Elle is a baby-scoop-era domestic adoptee born in NYC in May of 1969. She was adopted 2 months later into what was supposed to be a stable, religious family. For as long

Mishelle: Harnessing the Strength Within

Mishelle: The name on her birth certificate was Baby Girl Powers. A name that meant nothing at the time—just a placeholder. But the powers she gained through adoption—the

Diane: The Art of Finding Home

Diane, an accomplished artist who has created work for most of her life in the San Francisco Bay Area, was adopted in 1964 by a couple who thought they were unable to hav

Adrian: From Survival to Purpose

Adrian Burks is a filmmaker, writer, director, producer, and recovery professional with more than 15 years of experience telling authentic, human-centered stories. He beg

Christy: Where Healing Takes Root

Christy Gilvear is the creator of The Rooted Petal, a plant-centered brand where she shares the connection between houseplants, healing, and personal transformation. Thro

Patsy: Found by DNA, Silenced by Family

Patsy Brooks-Tallant is a member of the Baby Scoop Era, the mid-20th-century period when societal pressures often forced unmarried or young mothers to surrender their inf

Susan: A Story Rooted in Heritage

A lifelong resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Susan "Cricket" Fedorko (Grand Portage Band of Chippewa - Oijbwe) has contributed her writing to four anthologies on the su

Jackson: Between Two Worlds

Jackson TerKeurst is an author, speaker, and adoptee originally from Liberia, West Africa. At seven years old, he was separated from his family during the Liberian civil

Anne-Grete: The Long Journey Home

Although born and adopted in London in 1967, Anne-Grete is a Norwegian adoptee. Her birth mother happened to be there when she gave birth, and her adoptive dad was statio

Samantha: Reunion, Loss, and Self-Acceptance

Samantha (Sam) Shields was born in San Francisco in 1970 and adopted from foster care as an infant. She grew up in nearby Napa knowing she was adopted, and provided many

Gabriel: Dance, Identity, and Healing

Originally from Chicago, Gabriel is an adult adoptee, street dancer, reconnecting P’urhépecha native, founder of MoFundamentals - the only foster-adoptee-led dance progra

Lynn: Not a Blank Slate

Born & adopted in 1970 as an infant, Lynn always knew she was adopted. Told the sweet stories of being chosen & special. Lynn’s story later revealed many secrets & lies.

Mary Lynn: From Hidden Story to Search Angel

Mary Lynn was born in March of 1966 and spent her first ten months in foster care before being adopted and brought to Pittsburgh as an infant. Her foster mother later sen

Diane: The Truth Beneath the Story

Adopted as an infant by a naval officer and his wife during the Baby Scoop Era, Diane Wheaton has always heard conflicting versions of the truth of her origins — but it’s

Jae: Finding Voice, Claiming Self

Jae Carelli was adopted from Korea at 5 months old and is the oldest of 5 children adopted from Korea through Holt International. They grew up in New Jersey and Cape Cod,

Virginia: Live Podcast from Austin, Texas

Virginia McQueen Laney is an adoptee in a blended family who is building meaningful work through an adoptee- and queer-centered collaborative practice. Her work extends b

Alex: An Accident of Birth

At the age of sixty, Alex Blum made a life-altering discovery: he was the eldest of four biological brothers he never knew existed. Born in 1955, Blum had always known h