Renee searched for her mother literally her whole life. But her search predated the internet so she frequented the library and scoured local high school year books. with hopes of finding someone she felt she was related to. When she located her biological mother she refused to share any information about Renee’s biological father and forbade Renee…

Jennifer learned that she was adopted when she was six years old. Interestingly, her adopted parents shared a letter with her that was written by her biological mother whose instructions were that Jennifer should have it when they felt she was ready. In fact, her parents had an entire package of detailed information about her…

Adoptees have the ultimate voice about the adoption experience. Adoptee podcasters are offering fellow adoptees outlets for sharing their inner thoughts and deepest emotions about their adoption journeys — the happy and sad, incredible experiences and the awful outcomes. On Wednesday, November 4, 2020 @ 7pm ET the hosts of some of the leading adoptee…

Yvonne called me from here in Washington, DC. She is a birth mother in reunion with her son after more than 40 years apart. She shares the loneliness of her pregnancy, her desire to keep her baby versus her inability to do so, the moment she came face to face with her son’s adoptive mother…

Sari, a self-proclaimed nomad, called me from New Mexico. When she was a girl the school science project on heredity ignited her desire to learn her truth. After decades of searching for her birth parents, she found her birth father first, or so she thought. When Sari confronted her birth mother about the man, she…

Roderick chatted with me from Ocala, Florida but he was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. Roderick was adopted into a family where he was the middle child, but he would become the parent to his younger siblings, forgoing his own high school graduation to care for his neglected brother and sister. Focusing on their…

Dirk, from Phoenix, Arizona, was raised as a Hispanic person and his documentation said he was Hispanic, but the world saw him differently. And DNA did too. Dirk found his birth mother, but at two separate times, he was forced to reckon with secondary rejection. Fortunately, he found his birth father acceptance from all, but…

Joe is from Assonet, Massachusetts, just south of Boston. He shares his pride for being an adopted person, the challenge to make his way through his physical limitations as a kid, and the demons he removed from his life before attempting reunion.  Facing secondary rejection. He had to overcome the anger and hurt to even…

November is National Adoption Awareness Month (#NAAM), a time to bring awareness to all of the issues that adoption brings to adoptees, families formed through adoption, and natural families of adoptees. However one underrepresented voice in the adoption constellation is that of the male adoptee.  On the “Who Am I Really?” podcast only 30% of…

Ben, from Fannystelle, Manitoba Canada, had an extremely rough start in his first home with his biological family. He was abused at the hand of his step dad, so he was removed by child and family services for his safety. Bensen, or Ben was nursed back to health in foster care, and placed in a…

Lisa Marie chatted with me via Skype from Lake Garda in the North of Italy. In her journey you’ll hear the impact of a transracial adoptee who grew up in a homogenous world that didn’t look like herself, and the serendipitous meeting that allowed Lisa to free herself from part of her past.  Even though…

Michelle, from Ohio. She talks about the challenge of her childhood, craving a connection, but having the one she shared with her Dad snuffed out.  Her search, which began with Adoption Network Cleveland where she found an ally in a birth mother in the group. Along the way Michelle felt the shame of her simple…

Comedian television and film actor, and all around entertainer. Tommy Davidson has seen it all. He launched his comedy career in the Washington DC area. Capitalizing on his innate ability to entertain people and make them bust out in laughter.  But his earliest days were grounded in trauma that as an adoptee, he didn’t face until…

Brandi, who called me from myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is an inquisitive person adopted in to a family with a history of scholars, which is rare for a black family in the south.  DNA led Brandi to a cousin who was determined to help her figure out their biological connection and which of two men…

When Susan, from Irving, Texas, found her natural mother, she learned she was conceived in transit when two young lives collided, then never saw one another again.  Her birth mother’s life seemed too chaotic the women to make a deeper connection. The woman ended things abruptly when Susan didn’t behave the way she wanted.  Susans’s…

David, and his birth mother Margaret’s story of adoption relinquishment, lives lived apart but close to one another, and their brief emotional reunion is told in the book, “American Baby”, written by New York Times Best Selling Author, Gabrielle Glaser.  Gabrielle first met David while he was on kidney dialysis awaiting a transplant where he shared…

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 plunged into…

Darryl, from Australia, admits he had a challenging childhood from his relationship with his adoptive father, to their family’s need to move around a lot because they were so poor, and his experience learning he is a late discovery adoptee. Darryl describes himself as a person for whom the truth is very important, so as…

Wendy, from Minnesota, had a lot of information about her natural mother and assumed the woman would want to know her, but that wasn’t the case. They corresponded once, solely for her natural mother to share clinical information, then the door closed. Wendy said finding her paternal sister Jen, a woman she could have met years…