Labor of Love: A Podcast for BIPOC Adoptees Navigating Parenthood

This episode with Dr. David McCarty-Caplan touches on so many profound and heartfelt areas, carried by the radical vulnerability, honesty, and compassion he brings to the conversation. David generously shares about his reunion with his Colombian birth family-- first on his own, and later with his children and partner. We explore how his kids embraced reunion and modeled openness, curiosity and love with his family, and how their presence and perspective helped guide and teach him throughout the process. David also reflects on his identity as a Jewish Colombian adoptee and his powerful work community building with and for Jewish adoptees of color. 

Dr. David McCarty-Caplan Bio
Dr. David McCarty-Caplan (PhD) is a researcher, educator, writer, and consultant whose work sits at the intersection of identity, belonging, and social justice. Born in Bogotá, Colombia and adopted into a white Jewish family in the United States, David’s life has been shaped by questions of race, family, and home. These experiences continue to inform his passion for helping adoptees and their families navigate the complex layers of identity, racism, and connection that often accompany adoption. Drawing on his background as a social work researcher and educator, David brings both personal insight and professional rigor to his work with organizations, communities, and families. He is especially interested in how people and institutions can create spaces where all feel seen and valued. David lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their two children, ages 12 and 10. As a husband, father, and adoptee, he is continually exploring what it means to nurture belonging — in his family, in his work, and in the broader world.

https://www.shadesofbelonging.com/

Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn Park
Music: Mike Marlatt & Paul Gulledge
Audio Production: Frederico Soler Fernández
Artwork: Dalhe Kim

Listen on: iTunes & Spotify
Instagram: @laboroflovepodcast
Support via Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast

Join us and Dr. Oh Myo Kim for an illuminating conversation on her time parenting her two children while in Korea as a Fulbright researcher and professor at Yonsei University. Dr. Kim graces us with her perspective on Korean and US politics, how she is including her children in learning about current events, and what it has been like teaching Korean and international students about Korean adoption. Additionally, Dr. Kim sheds light on her newest research on adoptees who search but do not find, and DOKADs (descendants of Korean adoptees) and the politics of identity within the next generation, and the legacies of adoption for us all.

Oh Myo Kim Bio
Oh Myo is a counseling psychologist who researches adoption and identity. She is primarily a mixed-methods and qualitative researcher.  She holds a BA in English, a Master of Divinity, and a PhD in Counseling Psychology. Oh Myo teaches classes for undergraduates and graduate students in the Mental Health Counseling program at Boston College. She is currently a visiting professor at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea on a Fulbright Fellowship.

https://www.ohmyo.kim

https://www.childrenofadoptees.com

Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn Park
Music: Mike Marlatt & Paul Gulledge
Audio Production: Frederico Soler Fernández
Artwork: Dalhe Kim

Listen on: iTunes & Spotify
Instagram: @laboroflovepodcast
Support via Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast

Join us for our second episode of season 2 with Shannon Bae. Shannon is a long-time friend, fellow Korean adoptee community activist and organizer, and mother of two amazing kids. This intimate conversation took place in Seoul in the summer of 2023 during the International Korean Adoptee Association's 6th Korea Gathering. In our shared ancestral land, Shannon generously shares about her decision to not explicitly share her adoption story with her children at this point in their development, and her juxtaposing experiences giving birth in Korea and the United States while continuing to cultivate a deeper relationship with her birth mother. Shannon also discusses her children's experiences moving back and forth between Korea and the United States, raising them bilingual, and why she doesn't view translating for adoptee reunions as work.

** As of the publishing on this episode, Shannon has shared about her adoption with both of her children. 

Shannon Bae Bio
Shannon Doona Bae just finished her Ph.D. in Anthropology at UC Irvine. She holds an M.A. in Anthropology from University of California Irvine and an M.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Hanyang University, South Korea. Her research interests include adoption, gender, kinship, and South Korea. Her dissertation, titled “Reconciling DNA: Making kin and nation through genetic testing in South Korea," was supported by the National Science Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation, Association of American University Women, Korea Foundation, Center for Critical Korean Studies UCI, Academy for Korean Studies, U.S. Dept of Education Foreign Language Area Studies, and Initiative to End Family Violence UCI. She hopes to publish her dissertation as a book eventually, in order to do justice to all of the adoptees and birth family members who were willing to share their stories with her. She was adopted with her twin sister, Hana, at the age of 4 and has been reunited with her mom since 2013. She has two lovely and mischievous children who keep her on her toes. 

Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn Park
Music: Mike Marlatt & Paul Gulledge
Audio Production: Augustina Moore & Adrien Prevost
https://august222222.com
Artwork: Dalhe Kim

Listen on: iTunes & Spotify
Instagram: @laboroflovepodcast
Support via Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast

Join us for a fierce and loving conversation with Cynthia Mumtaz Anderson, Pakastani adoptee mother of two and social justice professional. Cynthia shares about her inspiring practice of Kitchen Table Politics where she has honest conversations with her children and partner about current events, how they are affecting their lives, and what they are going to do about it together. We talk about her feelings about the changing political landscape, and witnessing her sons' heartbreak while she empowers them to use their privilege to defend themselves and the people they love. We also touch on belonging, safety, citizenship, white allyship, forgiveness, and trust with special focus on Cynthia's journey of revising her relationship with performative interactions and modeling self love for her sons and her own inner child.

Cynthia Anderson Bio
Cynthia Anderson's biological name is Mumtaz which she has tattooed on the inside of her arm. She is the ammi (mother in Urdu) of two amazing boys, wife, daughter, Pakistani American adoptee, and she believes that our true worth in this life is measured by the kindness, love, and compassion we offer to others. She has worked at the University of Washington in Seattle for 19 years as an academic adviser and is active in social justice work there and in her community.

Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn Park
Music: Mike Marlatt & Paul Gulledge
Audio Production: Frederico Soler Fernández
Artwork: Dalhe Kim

Listen on: iTunes & Spotify
Instagram: @laboroflovepodcast
Support via Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast

Hello all~ We're thrilled to be back for Season 2 after a lengthy hiatus! Episode 1 dropping soon. We've missed you! <3 N & R

Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn Park
Music: Mike Marlatt & Paul Gulledge
Audio Production: Frederico Soler Fernández & Augustina Moore (august222222.com)
Artwork: Dalhe Kim

Listen on: iTunes & Spotify
Instagram: @laboroflovepodcast
Support via Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast

In this episode, Jenna Corriveau takes us on her journey out of the fog of internalized white supremacy, adoptee “fawn response”, isolation, and harmful familial relationships, and into personal authenticity, self love, adoptee community, and empowerment as a BIPOC adoptee mother. She generously shares her belief in brain science, learning nervous system regulation, and giving oneself daily grace, especially as an adoptee parent. Jenna is un-schooling and eclectic homeschooling her three children, and is deep in the process of de-schooling herself, as an extension of reclaiming her identity around her intelligence and personal autonomy.   

https://synergeticplaytherapy.com/
https://mindsightinstitute.com/

Jenna Corriveau Bio
Jenna Corriveau is a 39-year-old Colombian Transracial Adoptee, raised in CT. She and her partner Tucker have 3 children: 7, 5 and 1-year-old. In addition to being a parent she has over 15 years of experience working with children and families. Her work spans from preschool teaching, foster care system, practicing Synergetic Play Therapy, parent coaching and Adoption Mosaic. She practices gentle brain/body-based parenting. Currently, she can be found de-schooling and secular home-educating with her family. 

Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn Park
Music: Mike Marlatt & Paul Gulledge
Editing: Frederico Soler Fernández
Artwork: Dalhe Kim

Listen on: iTunes & Spotify
Instagram: @laboroflovepodcast
Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast

Join us for a beautiful conversation with adoptee mother, Astrid Castro and daughter, Maya Papaya Castro Dabbeni. They generously share about their tremendous love and bond, and shed light on how intergenerational trauma and painful legacies of adoption have affected their relationship, perspectives, and behaviors. We also discuss the importance of mirroring and how unique it is for adoptees and children of adoptees; their unique birth family reunion story; birth language acquisition within adoptee families; creating adoption fluency; and moving from isolation as adoptees into community together with our children.   

https://www.adoptionmosaic.com/

Astrid Castro Bio
Astrid  Castro (she/her/hers) is the founder and CEO of  Adoption  Mosaic. Adoption Mosaic is a BIPOC adoptee, woman-led business that seeks to build an inviting adoption conscious community by providing innovative adoptee-centered programs and support.Including a monthly virtual panel series called We the Experts: Adoptee Speaker Series. Astrid has a degree in sociology with an emphasis in adoption. For twenty plus years, she has traveled the country to lead youth groups, present workshops on  transracial parenting, talking with children about adoption, and various other workshops focusing on adoption. Prior to creating Adoption Mosaic, Astrid worked in both the private and public sectors of various adoption organizations such as the Oregon Post Adoption Resource Center (ORPARC), Holt International and Rocky Mountain Adoption Exchange.

Astrid co-authored Adoption in the Movies, which takes the reader on a guided tour of 27 movies and documentaries that are ‘dripping with adoption’ which are asking  questions that encourage viewers to engage in ongoing dialogue and discussion. She also developed an innovative, evidence-based, 27-minute training DVD titled, Adoptive Parent Training:Developing Communication Skills. The training demonstrates how adoptive parents can communicate openly and honestly with family, friends and especially children. Astrid is a former member of the board of directors of the North American Council on Adoptable Children, the author of many articles on the subject of adoption and contributed a chapter to the book Parenting as Adoptees.

Astrid’s personal experiences as an adoptee, a woman of color, and growing up in  a white family and community, fuel her professional path to helping others. Astrid  is aware of the benefit  of post-adoption services for individuals and their families  and seeks to bring these services to the adoption community. Her life-long interest  in adoption is rooted in her own adoption at the age of four from Colombia (along  with her older sister). Astrid has been in reunion with her birth family in Colombia since December 2011. Read about Astrid’s journey of searching and finding her birth mother in The Oregonian.

When Astrid is not working she loves to spend time with family, friends and  enjoying the adventures of life as the mama of an amazing daughter.

Maya Papaya Castro Dabbeni Bio
Maya has grown up hearing and talking about adoption as a child of an adoptee. She is biracial, Colombian and Italian, as well as trilingual, Italian, Spanish and English. At a young age, Maya was a driving force in finding her maternal birth family. To this day, she is still uncovering connections to her Colombian roots, in addition to exploring how generational trauma and epigenetics affect children of adoptees. Maya is excited to share her experience of being a "child of an adoptee" and to bring this topic to light. Maya is currently a third year student at San Jose State University majoring in International Business with a double minor in Spanish and Italian.

Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn Park
Music: Mike Marlatt & Paul Gulledge
Editing: Frederico Soler Fernández
Artwork: Dalhe Kim

Listen on: iTunes & Spotify
Instagram: @laboroflovepodcast
Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast

Dr. Kimberly McKee joins us in a lively conversation that touches on her experiences with her blended family through the pandemic, relationship with her birth family, and upcoming research on API adoptee women and girls in the media. Kim generously shares her perspectives on the challenges and privileges of being a working mom, an adoptee in reunion, and in partnership with a fellow Korean adoptee. She is a fierce advocate for Asian Americans and adoptees through her academic work and teaching, the philosophy of “fed is best”, and taking the time and space to be very intentional about cultivating her ever-evolving relationships with her young son and two step-children.

Book Recommendations:
I Like Myself by Karen Beaumont
Who’s Knees Are These? by Jabari Asim
Who’s Toes Are Those? by Jabari Asim
Kimchi, Kimchi Everyday by Erica Kim
Mr. Watson’s Chickens by Jarrett Dapier
Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related. by Jenny Heijun Wills

Kimberly McKee Bio
Kimberly McKee is an associate professor and chair of the Integrative, Religious, and Intercultural studies Department at Grand Valley State University. She is the author of Disrupting Kinship: Transnational Politics of Korean Adoption in the United States (University of Illinois Press, 2019) and co-editor of Degrees of Difference: Reflections of Women of Color on Graduate School (University of Illinois Press, 2020). Her current book manuscript, tentatively titled, Adoption Fantasies: The Commodification of Asian Adoptees from Girlhood to Womanhood (Ohio State University Press, under contract), considers the reverberations and effects of sensationalist and fictional adoption portrayals in the lives of adopted women and girls. The monograph interrogates the limits and contours of multiculturalism and colorblindness, analyzing racialized and sexualized popular culture representations of Asian adopted women and girls from 1992 to 2015. McKee serves as a co-chair of the executive committee for the Alliance of the Study of Adoption and Culture. She received her Ph.D. in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from The Ohio State University.

Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn Park
Music: Mike Marlatt & Paul Gulledge
Editing: Frederico Soler Fernández
Artwork: Dalhe Kim

Listen on: iTunes & Spotify
Follow us Instagram: @laboroflovepodcast
Donate on Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast

Jessica M. Luciere, Colombian adoptee in reunion, generously shares her unique perspective as a long-time professional adoptee mentor/advocate and mother of two young children. An only child with adoptive parents who passed away, Jessica has the complex experience of witnessing her children forge life-long relationships with her Colombian family and not the Italian American parents who raised her. She reminds us of the importance of letting our kids have their own experiences outside of our losses, projections, and grief from adoption, and that the lines of healing across and through relationships are often not linear or exactly reciprocal. Jessica models deep commitment to the adoptee community through her professional work while balancing the sacred work of mothering, partnership and self-care.

Jessica M. Luciere Bio
Jessica M. Luciere, is a transracial adoptee, in reunion for the past 17 years, born in Bogota, Colombia who grew up in Long Island, New York as an only child in an Italian-American home. Jessica is a wife and mother to two young kids. She identifies as an Adoptee Advocate, working to create supportive spaces for adoptees and their families around the world, and currently the Manager of Community Engagements at Spence-Chapin. Jessica was one of the founding mentors in 2005, of Spence-Chapin’s NYC Teen Mentorship program which connects tween and teen adoptees with adult adoptee mentors, in a monthly group mentoring program, she is also the former President of All Together Now, based in Brooklyn NY, and has worked with AFFCNY. Jessica’s passion for connecting with adoptees and their families has always been the driving force in her work and is the reason she continues to create spaces for adoptee stories and voices to be heard by all.

Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn Park
Music: Mike Marlatt & Paul Gulledge
Editing: Frederico Soler Fernández
Artwork: Dalhe Kim

Listen on: iTunes & Spotify
Instagram: @laboroflovepodcast
Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast

Today we sit down with Dr. JaeRan Kim, a fierce advocate, researcher, social worker, blogger and needle savvy knitter. Over many years, JaeRan has been very influential in the adoptee community through her academic publications and well-known blog, Harlow’s Monkey, where she connects transracial adoption to the larger forces of white supremacy, racism and colonization. She continues to be a vast resource for adoptees and adoptive parents alike. In this episode, JaeRan generously shares how she helped build her children's racial and cultural identities, critical thinking skills, and sensitivity to the lives and experiences of adoptees. She sheds light on which areas of adoption need more research and publication, and her commitment to fostering community connections among adoptees. Other poignant moments include JaeRan sharing about her singing the Annie Musical song “Maybe”to her child, and pushing back on the idea of adoptive families as always being a “forever family” for adoptees. Please find more of her incredible work at www.jaerankim.com and www.harlows-monkey.com, and her colleagues Rich Lee, Heewon Lee, and Xiang Zhou.

JaeRan Kim Bio
JaeRan Kim PhD, MSW, was born in South Korea and adopted to the United States in 1971. She has worked in foster care/adoption (both public and private), with at-risk young moms, and with adults with disabilities in residential care. JaeRan completed her PhD in Social Work at the University of Minnesota and was a Project Coordinator at the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare at the School of Social Work. JaeRan is a recipient of the Title IV-E Child Welfare and LEND fellowships. JaeRan is currently Associate Professor and BASW chair in the School of Social Work and Criminal Justice at the University of Washington - Tacoma. 

Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn Park
Music: Mike Marlatt & Paul Gulledge
Editing: Frederico Soler Fernández
Artwork: Dalhe Kim

Listen on: iTunes & Spotify
Instagram: @laboroflovepodcast
Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast