Adoption Uncovered

Jean Widner's adoptee story doesn't start dramatically. She was raised in a stable home with adoptive parents who offered her the basic support that children need to have. As she grew and learned more about her own story and the stories of others in the adoption community, she started to understand how complex adoption can truly be for everyone involved. Eventually, she decided to embark on a project that culminated in her book titled The Adoption Paradox. This episode explores some of the things she researched and discovered in the course of making her book. We talk a bit about adoption history, and Jean speaks to adoptees, first parents, and adoptive parents as well in this episode.

One population of foster children that often doesn't get the right kind of attention is those who age out of foster care. This cliff that youth often fall off of exists due to many factors. Some of the problems are due to the system they are leaving and the resources that are drying up. Some of it is the trauma they have lived through and the instability that has left so many of them lacking basic life skills. Part of the problem is a lack of experienced adults to offer support to fall back on. Maurita McCorkle has seen so many young adults struggle as they leave foster care that she has taken it on as her mission to try to help. Maurita has written a book about her experience and started a non-profit with the goal of surrounding young adults with everything they need to succeed in adulthood, no matter what they have experienced in life up until that point. Find out more about her story and her dreams for the future in this episode.

Marianne Novy was an adoptee who was encouraged to hide that fact and obliged the people around her by keeping quiet about it until she became a college student. Over time she chose to seek out members of her birth family and develop some relationships with some of them. When she became a college professor, adoption became a part of her teaching life, and she also wrote on the topic. Her most recent book compared themes and insights from reading 45 different adoption memoirs. Learn more about this project and how doing this reading and research influenced her ideas about open adoption in this episode of Adoption Uncovered.

Edward Di Gangi didn't feel the pull to search out his first family until later in life. He felt content with the life he was living and it took a series of events to put in his mind the determination to start his search. Once he did start his search he connected with numerous people who were friendly, and generous and helped him along the way. Even though he was too late to meet his first parents in person, he found a wealth of knowledge to tell him what kind of people they were and what they did with their lives. Over time and at the urging of his wife Edward decided to put together a memoir about his search and what he found

Isaac Etter grew up as a black boy surrounded by a loving but also primarily white family. It took him a long time to understand his full identity and how his race affected his place in the world. Over time, Isaac educated not only his adoptive family about race and adoption but also sought to inform other adoptive families. Isaac regularly speaks on topics of race and adoption and offers resources to adoptive parents and other organizations to help them better understand the adoptee's perspective.

Katie Rose Noto always knew she wanted to adopt a child at some point in her life. She imagined a house full of children and dogs. As her life progressed she made the choice to dive into being a foster parent whether she felt fully ready or not. Little did she know that the boys she welcomed into her home had suffered abuse and neglect to the point where they exhibited severe behaviors that she had never seen or heard of. Katie Rose went on a journey she had never imagined finding herself on, and she felt very alone and overwhelmed. Her training didn't prepare her for what she was seeing in front of her. Even though she felt alone she thought there must be others out there that were struggling with children who had severe diagnoses like hers. Katie Rose is determined to try to connect and support others like her. She started Attach Families, INC to connect and support families like hers with a support hotline, support groups and other services that Attach Families offers free of charge. Katie Rose is not done, though. She has big dreams of a world where kids like her sons are supported and cocooned with all the treatments that might lead them to the most productive and happy life they can reach.

When Susan Fedorko was growing up she was content with her life and felt secure and cared for. In the back of her mind, however, this adoptee always wondered about the family that had allowed her to be adopted and who they might be. When Susan reached adulthood she put out her information in the hopes that she would discover her first family. It wasn't until she was 40 that she received a phone call that connected her to her first family. Among the surprises she learned one of them was the truth about her Native American ethnicity and tribal membership. She was one of many Native American adoptees in America who didn't discover their connection until later in life. Thankfully for Susan, she can now celebrate her roots and is working to pass the membership down to her children.

Beth Syverson and her adopted son Joey Nakao have been on a difficult journey for a number of years. They have been facing the issues of addiction and suicidality. In light of these intense topics, some of you may prefer to pass on this episode and listen to a different one for today. If you find you are struggling with suicidal thoughts please dial 988 to talk to someone ready to listen. On this episode, they tell us some of their struggles and go into detail about some of the things that have helped them on their journey. One of the things that has been helpful to them has been sharing their story in the hopes that it will help other adoptees and parents understand better ways to cope with both addiction and suicidality.

There are many Christians in the world of adoption and many of them do wonderful work supporting foster families, and foster children, and making sure children outside of the country who need homes can access them. Some families within Evangelical Christianity have developed adoption practices that attracted the interest of investigative journalist and author Kathryn Joyce. Her book “The Child Catchers” highlights cautionary tales of what can happen if the needs of children and first families are put aside to benefit families willing to pay money to grow their families. This interview and Kathryn’s book include many invitations to spark creative conversations about the state of international adoption a few years ago and how our efforts can be used to help children who need it get into stable homes in the future, whether that is through adoption or via another path.

Most of us have heard bits and pieces about how poorly America has treated the Native Tribes that have lived on this land. We may not understand fully how adoption was weaponized against tribes to raise children who were brought up without a memory of their heritage and culture. As journalist Trace Lara Hentz began to look into her own past as a Native American Adoptee she began to realize how many people like her are out there and alone. This year she is embarking on a project to find out how many adoptees in America and around the world can trace their history to a Native American tribe. Listen to this interview with Trace for more information about how adoption is connected to America's treatment of Native American tribes, and where we should go from here.