197 – Why Such A Secret?
Lisa and I connected right before she was going to meet her biological father for the first time and a cousin she’s completely enamored with. Lisa shared that she was adopted as an infant into a failing marriage where divorce soon followed. While other people outwardly noticed how different she looked from her brother, she…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode196 – A Forever Family: Fostering Change One Child At A Time
Rob called me from right here in Maryland. Trigger warning. Rob shares his harrowing story of his childhood surviving, mental and sexual abuse under the guardianship of his parents. After their deaths Rob went into foster care and became homeless, navigating life with his belongings shuttled from place to place in trash bags. Rob fought…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode075 – I’m Good On My Own, I Know Who I Am
In her adopted family Tameko’s parents just assumed that as an adoptee, she was misbehaving, but when her older adopted brother showed up he actually started framing her for terrible things, trying force her out. Even worse, he abused her. On her search, she read a description of her birthmother that humanized her, but the first pictures Tameko saw…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode091 – I’m In The Middle Of Two Stories
Ashley had one of those moments where talking to her biological sister felt so familiar it was like texting and and responding to herself. But her birth mother’s pain and uneasiness over Ashley’s desire to learn anything about her birth father was too much for the woman, and their relationship suffered. When she found her birth father…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode084 – There’s A Certain Sense of Completeness
Neal’s search didn’t take off until he was 66 years old! He got a DNA kit for his birthday and within months he was in touch with his paternal family. Ohio’s open original birth certificate help him learn his birth mother’s name, but he couldn’t find a single maternal connection during his search. This episode was just about to be wrapped up…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode074 – I Feel Some Of It Too
Serena told me she had a similar experience to what a lot of adoptees feel, even though she grew up with her birth mother. I’m always talking about empathizing with others, so I wanted to hear her story. Serena told me about her birth on a Native American reservation in Arizona then her mother moving away. She was adopted by…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode066 – I’ve Had A Lot Thrown At Me, But I’m A Happy Human Being
Rick’s birthmother relinquished him into foster care where he was terrorized as a toddler. He was eventually adopted around age 6 but always felt like an outsider. At 16 years old he reunited with his maternal family who informed him his mother was institutionalized for paranoid schizophrenia. Their reunion didn’t go at all how he had…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode029 – A Lifetime of Interveners Saw Me Through
Born in the Panama Canal Zone, Stephanie was adopted by a US military family stationed there in 1961. She was never told she was adopted, but she always knew there was a family secret. When she was 43 years old Stephanie discovered the secret was her own adoption. Because she was born in the Panama Canal…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode004 – Lucky Online, Connecting When You’re Not Even Looking
Growing up in Leah’s home everyone was comfortable with adoption. Her adopted mom is an adoptee, and her two siblings are adoptees, though they are biologically related to one another. The kids were made to feel special because her parents chose them. But no matter how much love an adoptee receives, sometimes knowing that their origins…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode195 – Filling The Hole From Not Knowing
Brittney, from Connecticut, grew up knowing but not closely connected with her biological mother . After a bombshell moment where her mom revealed the truth about her paternal parentage, Brittney felt like she was left to clean up the mess of lies. She was conflicted about searching for her birth father because of her loyalty…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode194 – Alone In The Middle
Gabe called me early one morning from Salt Lake City, Utah. Gabe is a black transracial adoptee, and a transgender man from a family and community that didn’t know how to talk about who he is as a person. After a tough time coming out to his adoptive family, Gabe’s reunion revealed his birth parents’…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode193 – Telling My Truth
Andrie, who lives in Duluth, Georgia, learned she was adopted as a kid, then started coping with the rejection she felt by making up stories about her birth parents, a habit that carried into adulthood. Searching for her truth, Andrie found her birth father, but has chosen to distance herself from him When she met…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode192 – Fearfully And Wonderfully Made
Daughter Dee lives in Maryland with me. Dee had a wonderful upbringing in Philadelphia, PA where she was cherished and celebrated on her birthdays. When she was fresh out of college Dee’s adoptive mother passed away. Dee learned she was adopted and her world turned into a question mark while morning. As a late discovery…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode191 – On The Other Side Of The Fence
Samantha, from south Florida, watched her adoptive mother reunite with the son she placed for adoption. Samantha found herself anticipating her own reunion one day, so she decided to take action. When she located her birth mother, she learned the woman was very young when she gave birth, was told to forget about the whole…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode190 – The Gathering Place, An Adoptee Story
Emma described her adoption with words and concepts like “purchased”, “captor”, and “Stockholm syndrome”. Those aren’t the ideas behind a healthy parent child relationship When she decided to find her birth mother, Emma would not be deterred by the redacted information her case worker gave her, so she took action… illegally, to steal her birth…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode189 – Reckoning With The Primal Wound
Rebecca, from Tallahassee, Florida, grew up in a religious home where she was over protected and adoption was not discussed or explored. In reunion, She learned her social worker who helped her placement had remained friends with her birth mother and was able to connect them immediately. Rebecca is the documentarian behind the movie Reckoning…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode188 – Junkyard Girl
Carlyn (Kar-leen), from Santa Fe, New Mexico, grew up in a junkyard house in a tough relationship with her adoptive mother. Caryln felt over protected, trapped, and wondering why that was her life. After submitting a DNA test for fun, Carlyn was connected with a biological relative she had never heard of forcing her adoptive…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode187 – Through the Eyes Of The Most Vulnerable
Today you’re going to meet candidate for Congress Maxwell Frost who called me from Orlando, Florida. Maxwell is a transracial adoptee who grew up loved and supported. When he found himself at a crossroads in his life, the decision to run for public office are not, he realized he wanted to get some answers about…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episodeADOPTEE REMEMBRANCE DAY #AdopteeRemembrance Day #ARD
This is a special episode of the, Who Am I Really? podcast. My guest today is Pamela Karanova, who first appeared on the show on episode 160, “Stepping Into A Space Of Freedom”. She told her story of addiction, thoughts of taking her own life and debilitating depression all in the context of her journey…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode186 – No Answers, Just Goodbye
Lynn, from Danville, Virginia knew she was adopted, but she never knew the secret that hers was a kinship adoption… and she had always known her birth mother. So, Lynn didn’t have a reunion as much as a re-introduction to her birth mother through the lens of her true relationship to Lynn. Meeting her birth…
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