Born in Ethiopia, Isaac spent the first five years of his life there before the deaths of both his birth parents led him to an orphanage.

At five years old, he was adopted by a family in the United States, leaving behind his homeland, language, and culture to begin a new life. As he grew older, Isaac wrestled with questions of identity, loss, and God's goodness, questions that followed him well into adulthood.

Thirteen years later, he returned to Ethiopia, where he reunited with members of his biological family and visited his childhood home.

Today, Isaac is an adoption advocate, author, and college student preparing for ministry, sharing a story that reflects both the beauty and the complexities of adoption.

Born in Swansea, Wales, James entered foster care at just two and a half months old before being adopted into a family in Cardiff. Adoption has shaped James's life in many ways, and he speaks openly about the lasting impact of his early experiences on identity, attachment, and the absence of post-adoption support.

Now 23, James has turned his lived experience into advocacy. As a member of the Connected Youth Council in Wales, he works to ensure the voices of young adoptees are heard, helping shape services alongside the National Adoption Service of Wales and Adoption UK. Having recently graduated with an MA in Screenwriting, James is also passionate about bringing authentic adoptee representation to television and film. This is his story.

Podcast Episode from the An Adoption Story series.

Dan was adopted from Manchester, UK, when he was just six months old. He has always known he was adopted and grew up alongside four siblings.In his 20s, Dan met his birth mother for the first time. While that connection answered some questions about his background, he is still, to this day, trying to find those links to his birth father.Over time, he has learned more about his ancestry, including connections to the Karnataka region in southern India. More than 20 years ago, while backpacking through New Zealand, he fell in love with the country. A country that he now calls home.This is his story.

Adopted at less than a month old from Pittsburgh, United States, Charlotte Schramm grew up questioning what adoption meant and why she had been placed for adoption.

As she got older, those unanswered questions left her searching for a deeper understanding of her story and identity.Supported by her adoptive parents, Charlotte eventually began the journey of connecting with her birth mother.

Just days after her 19th birthday, she met her for the first time and learned the story behind the decision that shaped her life.In this episode, Charlotte shares her story of growing up adopted, the questions she had about her beginnings, and what it was like meeting her birth mother for the first time.

She joins us on the I'm Adopted Podcast.

Wilson Munsterman was born in China and adopted to America at ten months old. In this episode of the I’m Adopted Podcast, Wilson talks honestly about growing up adopted and the questions he carried about identity, family, and where he fit in.

He shares what led him to write Marked by Adoption, a book that became a #1 new release on Amazon and has connected with adoptees, parents, agencies, and clinics around the world.

More than anything, Wilson has always wanted adoptees to feel understood and to help other people better understand the adoptee experience. This conversation is about growing up adopted, speaking openly about those experiences, and why those stories like his own is important.

Thank you Wilson for joining us.

To learn more about his Book, you can find it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Marked-Adoption-Insights-Adoptees-Perspective/dp/B0F2ZW5CVK or through his Website: https://www.markedbyadoption.com

From our An Adoption Story series. You can watch her documentary on Alex Gilbert’s YouTube channel.

Kelly Stringer was adopted at just two weeks old in Christchurch, New Zealand, and grew up in a family with three older brothers.

Although she had always been curious about her biological roots, it wasn’t until she became a mother herself that the questions became more important. Wanting to better understand her medical history, identity, and where she came from, Kelly began searching for her birth family.

This is her story.

Jay Barbanel was born in Costa Rica and spent his early years surrounded by instability and uncertainty. After being taken from his birth mother, he and his brother were placed in an orphanage and later adopted by a family in the United States. For a short time, it felt like a new beginning until, at just seven years old, Jay was separated from his brother.

That loss stayed with him.

Years later, at twenty-five, Jay reunited with his brother after nearly two decades apart. But the reunion brought long-buried questions to the surface about his past, his identity, and where he truly came from.

Through therapy and for the first time opening his adoption files, Jay discovered his birth name, learned about his biological family, and uncovered a story he had never fully known. His journey eventually led him back to Costa Rica, where he began piecing together the life that had once been taken from him.

In this episode, Jay shares his story of separation, reunion, and what it means to find yourself later in life.

You can find out more and where to get his book Finding Tico over at: www.findingtico.com. You can also find Jay on Social Media at https://www.instagram.com/thatkidjay1

From our An Adoption Story series. You can watch her documentary on Alex Gilbert’s YouTube channel.

Adopted as a baby in Auckland, New Zealand, Arna (Anna Francesca) Intra grew up always knowing she was adopted. It was never a secret, but understanding what it truly meant came much later. While her childhood was shaped by family, loss, and unanswered questions, the deeper story of where she came from remained just out of reach.

In the 1980s, when New Zealand’s adoption laws changed, Arna began searching for answers about her birth mother, Eugenie. Along the way, she made unexpected connections, including meeting her grandmother for the first time, a moment that would change everything.

This is her story.

Kian Lafford was adopted from Omsk, Russia in September 2007. He later received the name Kian after being adopted into an Irish family. Growing up in a small town in Ireland with a large Eastern European community made it easier for Kian to be open about his adoption and his background growing up.

In January 2024, his adoptive mother passed away from a brain tumour. In reflecting on that loss, Kian began to see an unexpected connection between grief and adoption. Since then, Kian decided to try learn more through DNA testing.

While it did not provide all the answers he was hoping for, he was able to learn more about his genetic background and learn more about where he comes from.

Kian joins us for our latest podcast episode of I’m Adopted.

From our An Adoption Story series. You can watch her documentary story on Alex Gilbert's YouTube channel. Oksana Rennie was born in 1991 in a small village in the western part of Russia’s Smolensk region. In 1996, at five and a half years old, she was adopted from the Smolensk District Children’s Home by her parents and raised in the city of Christchurch in New Zealand.

Growing up far from her birthplace, she wanted to fit in like any other New Zealand child, while carrying only fragments of memory from her early years in Russia.

In her early thirties, after becoming a mother herself, Oksana began searching for answers about what happened before she entered the children’s home. With very little information too, she uncovers unexpected connections to her birth family, including a sister and cousin she never knew existed.This is her story.