Adoptees On – Details, episodes & analysis

290 | Kristal Parke

Today’s guest is filmmaker and fellow podcaster, and fellow Canadian, Kristal Parke! Kristal is the subject of the documentary, Because She’s Adopted. Today Kristal shares some of her story with us including her non-paternal realization, her road to sobriety, her visits back to the Opaskwayak Cree Nation in Manitoba, and meeting many of her biological family members, including her biological father.

This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice. Please seek out professionals in those fields if you need those services. The views expressed by the hosts of Adoptees On or any guests are their own and do not represent the opinions of any organization or other person unless otherwise stated.

289 | Bruce Porth Part 2

Today is part two of a two-part episode that we began last week, with our friend Bruce Porth. Today we talk a little more about reunion and what it looks like when someone is being dishonest with you, and also about using breathwork and psychedelics as healing modalities. Have you ever met one of those people that when they speak you just have to listen to every word? Bruce is one of those people for me. We hope you enjoy getting to know him better with us.

This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice. Please seek out professionals in those fields if you need those services. The views expressed by the hosts of Adoptees On or any guests are their own and do not represent the opinions of any organization or other person unless otherwise stated.

280 | Svetlana Sandoval

We’re back, and I’m sick again, and my voice is only going to be like this for the intro because luckily I was healthy when I interviewed this week’s guest, Svetlana Sandoval. Svetlana is an international adoptee, adopted from Russia at about six months old. We talk about what sparked an interest to search for her biological family, how she navigated the language barriers using technology and a friend of a friend. Svetlana also shares about her decision to reclaim her original name. Due to the sensitive nature of her reunion during the war, she will not be commenting directly on the conflict.

This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice. Please seek out professionals in those fields if you need those services. The views expressed by the hosts of Adoptees On or any guests are their own and do not represent the opinions of any organization or other person unless otherwise stated.

Today’s guest is Dr. Erin Heim who has spent a decade of her life researching and examining both the biblical texts in the New Testament that mention adoption as well as multiple books written from an evangelical perspective of adoption promotion. Erin teaches us what adoption looked like during the first century, and spoiler alert - it’s nothing like modern-day adoption. Erin and I also put a critical lens to how adoptees are treated in the church today, and how conflating biblical metaphors of adoption and modern-day adoption is harmful and keeping churches from embracing a family preservation stance.

Full Show Notes Here

• Adoption in Galatians and Romans: Contemporary Metaphor Theories and the Pauline Huiothesia Metaphors by Dr. Erin M. Heim
• Dr. Erin M. Heim’s chapter “The Inward Groaning of Adoption (Rom 8:12-25): Recovering the Pauline Adoption Metaphor for Mothers in the Adoption Triad (You can find that within the book Making Sense of Motherhood: Biblical and Theological Perspectives ed. by Beth Stovell)
• Growing God’s Family: The Global Orphan Care Movement and the Limits of Evangelical Activism Book by Samuel L. Perry
• On Script episode interview with Erin Heim: Adoption in Galatians and Romans

• Dr. Erin M. Heim
• Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
• Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

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I am thrilled to bring you Barbara Sumner today. Her literary memoir Tree of Strangers is one of the best books I read this year (and I’m including my non-adoption-related reading in that). Barbara and I talk about some of the painful experiences she recounts in her book. We also talk about some of the issues facing the adoptee community today, including Barbara’s perspective on adoption reform vs. the complete abolition of adoption.

Full Show Notes Here

Share your voice for Adoptee Remembrance Day

• Tree of Strangers by Barbara Sumner
• Connecting with adopted people, Barbara mentions this Adopted Adults of NZ Facebook group
• Barbara’s Newsletter
• Barbara’s book club episode for Patreon supporters

• Barbara Sumner: Instagram | Facebook | www.barbarasumner.nz | Barbara’s Newsletter
• Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
• Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
• Share your voice for Adoptee Remembrance Day

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Today’s guest is brilliant poet Tiana Nobile whose recent collection of poems Cleave is an exceptional exploration of transnational adoption. Tiana shares her story with us from the deeply personal struggles to her in-depth research on the problematic history of adoption. Tiana also teaches us about contranyms and you’ll be in awe of the perfection of the title Cleave when she unpacks that for us.

Full Show Notes Here

• Cleave by Tiana Nobile, Spirit of the Staircase by Tiana Nobile
• Henry Goldkamp’s interview, “Disrupting Lexical Expectations in “Cleave”
• Surviving the White Gaze by Rebecca Carroll
• Find out more about Tiana’s upcoming workshops on her events page tiananobile.com/events

• Tiana Nobile: Twitter | Instagram | tiananobile.com
• Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
• Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

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We’re celebrating five years of podcasting with a special Ask Me Anything episode. Listeners submitted questions for me (Haley) from “what are your plans for the coming season of Adoptees On?” to “where would you invest a million dollars to help the cause of adoptees?” I also share a bit about this amazing leaf-teardrop hybrid painted by JS Lee.

Full Show Notes Here

• My story way back in season 1
• Barbara Sumner’s book - Tree of Strangers
• Episode 32 - How to choose a therapist
• Adoptee therapist directory: https://www.growbeyondwords.com/adoptee-therapist-directory/

• Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
• Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

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We’re coming to our summer break! What better note to end on than this encouraging episode with Dr. Liz DeBetta. Liz has been on the podcast before and shared her story of coming to her late thirties before examining the impact adoption had on her life. Today though we are strictly diving into one of her areas of expertise which is using writing as a tool for healing. Writing is accessible, it has physical, emotional, and mental health benefits. Writing can help us create a new narrative for ourselves. Liz recently lead a group of adoptees through a transformative writing group and she shares some tools we can use to start our own writing practice.

Full Show Notes Here

• Rudd Adoption Virtual Conference 2020-21
• Dr. Liz DeBetta’s presentation and the participant’s videos (shortand long)
• Liz’s first appearance on Adoptees On E118
• Adoptees Connect - now planting new groups
• Writing as a Way of Healing by Louise DeSalvo
• Waitlist for the new writing groups https://forms.gle/iX6Ru8fcyHfFupkf7

Just note "No, I am not available for all sessions" to skip to the "I am interested in future opportunities" part of the form.

• Dr. Liz DeBetta: www.lizdebetta.com | Facebook
• Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
• Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

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I’m honoured to introduce you to my new friend Megan Culhane Galbraith today. Megan’s brand new book, The Guild of the Infant Saviour, is out in the world and is getting rave reviews, especially from fellow adoptees. Today we talk about the challenges of building a relationship after the first moments of reunion are finally realized. Megan shares how she views the patterns of silencing adoptees from childhood into our adulthood. Did you know there used to be a program at Cornell that used “practice babies” sourced from foundling homes to teach women how to be mothers? Megan describes the impact of researching these barbaric Domecon experiments on us as adoptees, as humans turned into objects like dolls.

Full Show Notes Here

• The Guild of the Infant Saviour: An Adopted Child’s Memory Book by Megan Culhane Galbraith
• The Dollhouse Exhibit
• Palimpsest by Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom and you can support on Patreon here and hear Lisa’s episode (130) on Adoptees On

• Megan Culhane Galbraith: www.megangalbraith.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | The Dollhouse on IG
• Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
• Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

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Today I’m excited to introduce you to Lora K. Joy. Lora tells us she always knew she didn’t fit in with her adoptive parents, and that she made promises to herself that she would do things differently. Lora recounts a transformative moment where she grieved her adoption loss that intrinsically changed her forever. We also unpack some of the things that lead to her decision to become estranged from her adoptive parents and how she maintains her protective boundary.

Full Show Notes Here

• Goodbye Hypervigilance: Healing Adoptee Worry by Lora K. Joy
• Adoptee Epiphanies on Facebook and Instagram created by Pamela Karanova (adopteesconnect.com)

• Lora K. Joy: www.myadopteetruth.com | Instagram | Facebook
• Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
• Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

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