On Adoption

"I'm adopted, and it was always my intention growing up that I was also going to adopt. After all, I'd been given a better life and I owed it to the universe that I would pay it forward. Until my early thirties, I believed that adoption was a social necessity and morally good. Whether using it as a family building tool for queer couples or folks experiencing infertility, or if you came to it as a social justice issue, who could ever say a bad word about adoption?"

This podcast presents reporting, interviews, and analysis on matters of public interest and is not intended as legal or other professional advice.

On Adoption is an original documentary podcast series from Haley Radke Media Inc., created, hosted, and executive produced by Haley Radke. The series is produced by Haneul Projects & Kirya Traber. Dennis Funk of Written In Air is our supervising producer and story editor. Original Music and Sound Engineering by Alex Lewis. Research by Carl Niedzielski, MA.

Support this work

Financial support for On Adoption comes from Adoptees for Family Preservation, a registered 501(c)(3) committed to adoptee and first/birth parent centered storytelling. You can support the continued success of On Adoption and endeavors like it by donating here.

Thank you to Adoptees for Family Preservation: President Sullivan Summer, Secretary Lora Alegria, and Treasurer Lilly Anspach. Thank you to Seraphina Kirsch, and our community of donors who helped bring On Adoption to life. You literally made this project possible. I am deeply grateful for your generosity of time, talents, and financial contributions.

Thank you to the advisory panel who helped shape this series while in the early phases on topics such as ethical storytelling, the scope of reporting, and logistical planning, among others. I couldn't have done it without your wisdom and expertise! Lora Alegria, adoptee and communications expert; Katie Burns, birth mother and founder of The Family Preservation Project; Astrid Castro, adoptee, founder and CEO of Adoption Mosaic; Dr. Abby Hasberry, adoptee, birth mother, and therapist; Sullivan Summer, adoptee and independent scholar; and Dr. Kathleen Thompson, adoptee and therapist.

The truth behind an industry built on separating families.

On Adoption is a seven-part investigative series uncovering the stories we rarely hear: what happens when a mother in crisis needs help to keep her baby, but the help she finds is adoption. Through intimate interviews and deeply reported episodes, the show explores the systems, pressures, and personal journeys that shape modern adoption. Host Haley Radke, an adult adoptee and longtime advocate, guides listeners through these emotionally complex stories with clarity and care. This is adoption examined from the inside out.

This podcast presents reporting, interviews, and analysis on matters of public interest and is not intended as legal or other professional advice.

Full Show Notes Here

Credits

On Adoption is an original documentary podcast series from Haley Radke Media Inc., created, hosted, and executive produced by Haley Radke. The series is produced by Haneul Projects & Kirya Traber. Dennis Funk of Written In Air is our supervising producer and story editor. Original Music and Sound Engineering by Alex Lewis. Research by Carl Niedzielski, MA.

Support this work

Financial support for On Adoption comes from Adoptees for Family Preservation, a registered 501(c)(3) committed to adoptee and first/birth parent centered storytelling. You can support the continued success of On Adoption and endeavors like it by donating here.

Thank you to Adoptees for Family Preservation, Seraphina Kirsch, and our community of donors who helped bring On Adoption to life.