I'm Adopted: The Podcast

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.

James Axiotis was born in Athens, Greece, to an unwed mother named Georgia Korakis. With no support for single mothers at the time, he was handed over to the authorities after a week in the hospital.

Between the late 1950s and 1960s, thousands of Greek children were sent abroad, many to the United States. The numbers vary, but estimates often range from 5,000 to 7,000. James was one of those children.

James shares with us his adoption story, his search for identity, and the inspiration behind his short film Georgia, a tribute to the mother he never got to thank.

More about Jame's short film can be found on Fractured Atlas and his own Social Media.

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

Daniela Brown was adopted from Romania when she was just three years old, during a period of great change in the country’s history. She was born in the Jilava Prison in Romania and spent the first three months of her life there with her birth mother, Angelica, before being taken to an orphanage called Numero Uno in Bucharest.At three years old, Daniela’s life changed when she was adopted by the Browns, a couple from the Whangaparāoa, Auckland region in New Zealand. For years, Daniela knew very little about her beginnings and it wasn’t until her late twenties that she began to uncover pieces of her past and learn more about where she came from.This is her story.

Jon was adopted in the UK at the age of four and later returned to care as a teenager. For decades, he believed his birth father had died.

A DNA test in his mid-50s led to an unexpected discovery that changed everything.

In this episode, Jon reflects on adoption, loss, reunion, and what it means to finally find answers later in life.

From our An Adoption Story series.

Adopted as a baby in Auckland, New Zealand, Tracy grew up with very little information about where she came from. Questions about her identity followed her quietly into adulthood. Adoption was always there, but rarely spoken about, leaving many parts of her story without answers.Later in life, Tracy began searching for her birth family, hoping to understand more about those early connections and the people behind them.This is her story.

Marina was born in Staryi Krym, Crimea, and later adopted from an orphanage in Simferopol by her Italian parents. She grew up in Italy, gradually learning more about her roots in Crimea — but it wasn’t until later that she began to connect more deeply with her birth family.We caught up with her as part of our Where Are They Now segments — updates from those who shared their stories in our An Adoption Story series. Since sharing her story, Marina has also started therapy, which has been helping her navigate her relationships with both her parents and birth family.

You can also watch this as a video on YouTube on Alex Gilbert's YouTube Channel along with her original full story.

Simulcast from our An Adoption Story series. Victor was adopted as a young boy and came to Auckland, New Zealand, when he was just four years old. Born in the town of Velikiye Luki in western Russia, his journey began with many unknowns.Now a science teacher and photographer in Christchurch, Victor has built a life full of curiosity, creativity, and meaningful connections in New Zealand. Alongside his everyday life, he continues a deeply personal and emotional journey — that lifelong search for answers about his birth mother.This is his story.