Adoptee Voyages

Adoptee Voyages

By Adoptee VoyagesSociety & CulturePersonal Journals
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Adoptee Voyages episodes

  • Navigating It All with Alexis Bartlett
    Alexis Bartlett is an adoptee from South Korea who was raised in Sydney, Australia. As a child she felt very little support from her family or community to understand her adoptee identity and birth culture. Once she began attending University she had various experiences engaging her birth culture. Now, after some newer experiences interacting with her first culture, Alexis resides in California with her husband and son. Hear more about her journey on today’s episode!
    24 min
  • Culture Challenges with Joanna Jackson
    Joanna Jackson is a Peruvian adoptee who was raised on the East Coast. She has an open adoption so learning about her culture was a very open topic in her family unit. Throughout her life she was able to visit Peru and be in touch with her birth family. As an adult, she has her Masters in Social Work and is in the process of returning for her Doctorate in Social Work with a focus on adoption, relinquishment trauma, and identity development during adolescence into adulthood. Outside of pursuing this education opportunity, she loves being a mom to her 12 year old son. Listen in as she explains some challenges she faces when exploring her first culture.
    21 min
  • Embracing Culture with Erika Lorenz
    Listen in to the heart behind why it's important for transracial adoptees to share their journeys as they embrace their first culture. The founder, Erika Lorenz, also speaks to her experiences over the years engaging with her birth culture in various ways. We also would like to say, some TRAs don't explore their first culture, and that is completely ok; however, the stories you will hear this season will be of TRAs who have decided to.
    24 min
  • 09. Foundation of Resources with Kelli Hall
    For the final episode of Season 1, Kelli Hall, a licensed independent clinical social worker who specializes in trauma informed therapy with foster and adoption children, joins me. She not only works as a resource to the adoption community, but adoption also is a part of her story since she is a domestic adoptee. Listen in as we discuss ways a piece of her story, common challenges adoptees face, and options for adoptees to continue their healing journey.
    26 min
  • 08. Culture and Identity with Maria Stromstad
    Join us this week as Maria Stromsad speaks about her experience as a transracial adoptee growing up in the orphanage she was adopted from. Maria, was born, adopted, and raised in Costa Rica, with her family who does missions work. She loves her country, is a woman working in the STEM field, and truly feels blessed for her story to be what it is.
    35 min
  • 07. Birth Family Reunion with Meridian Mayer
    Meridian Mayer is a Nigerian, born and adopted in Milwaukie, WI who is a sports fan, bodybuilder, and cat daddy to twin Tuxedos (Basil and Stefan). He joins us this week as we discuss his experience as he searched, found, and then reunited with different members of his birth family. Listen in as he shares the highlights of meeting his mom, which is seen in the title photo, being in awe of similarities with his dad, and how he hopes to grow deeper relationships with them. Meridian also provides insightful advice regarding this entire experience in case other adoptees are in the process of reuniting with their birth families.
    31 min
  • 06. Understanding Ourselves with Analisa Freitas

    Analisa Freitas is an adult Peruvian adoptee raised in the Central Valley of California. She is currently based in La Jolla, CA to complete her Masters of Advanced Studies in Marine Biodiversity & Conservation at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She has contributed to the transracial and transnational adoptee community in the US through co-facilitating adoptee discussion groups at Spence-Chapin Services to Families and Children, All Together Now Playgroup, Holt Adoptee Camps, and The Ties Program, coordinating annual summer retreats for Nuestra Herencia Peruvian Adoptees (now Network of Peruvian Adoptees), and creating videos with fellow Peruvian adoptees about their experiences, as well as sharing her own personal stories. Analisa loves to connect with other adoptees so feel free to email her at [email protected]. Listen in as we talk about her story, adventures to Peru, and perspective on her adoptee identity. 

    42 min
  • 05. Adoptee Thoughts with Galen Liberworth

    During this episode, Galen Liberworth, a trans-racial and trans-national adoptee from Korea to the great city of Seattle, speaks regarding his psychology as an adoptee. He strongly identifies with his geographic identity in the Pacific Northwest from his love of rain to his affinity for strong, dark coffee. He also loves anything soccer related and loves the new trend of mainstream media exploring segments of Asian American lived experience! Listen in as we go over our experiences, touch base on how we identify our fears, and more. 

    24 min
  • 04. Adoptee Crew with Tanisha Hanson

    In this week's episode Tanisha Hanson and I discuss topics surrounding adoptee centered communities. Tanisha Hanson is a transracial kinship adoptee from Seattle who identifies as a Black, queer woman who is passionate about connecting with fellow adoptees. She explains her experience joining an in person mentorship adoptee group a few years ago. From there we continue the conversation discussing the importance of these groups, how they have impacted us, and yet how to engage with them in a healthy way. 

    19 min

About Adoptee Voyages

From the publisher's feed

An adoptee spends their lifetime navigating the complex trusts of how being adopted impacts their identity. For transracial adoptees, which is defined as a person who is raised by someone of a…