Please join me and Adriana Rockefeller as we talk about what has happened in her fight to be recognized as a person since we spoke early last year in a two part interview here on the podcast.

Adriana is still fighting to be recognized by Romania and Canada as a legal person. You can be a part of making that happen, as her court case continues.

Adriana was raised as Roxana Pamela. Two years ago, she discovered that she had been adopted to Canada from Romania using another infants birth certificate. She subsequently discovered that this invalidates her own legal identity, leaving her in limbo, and without a state.

You can help Adriana achieve personhood by purchasing her book and by donating to her fundraiser for legal funds. In a time where we often feel powerless, this is an opportunity to do something concrete for a victim of human trafficking.

Her book Ne M'appelez pas Roxana:

https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/ne-mappelez-pasroxana/9782897612764.html

Instagram: @adriana.citizenofnowhere

gofundme.com/f/Help-Adriana-Reclaim-Her-Identity

tiktok: @adriana.citizenofnowhere

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2024/12/07/adoption-et-trafic-denfants-en-roumanie-une-quebecoise-part-a-la-recherche-de-sa-veritable-identite

TVA JE Episode: Adoption ou Trafique Humain? Available in Canada or if you have a VPN

Just a short episode sharing some of what came up for me after talking with mom Cindy Shultz. Reconciling the reality of how the adoption industry uses coercion to separate families with the stereotypes and the myth of Rescue that is presented to adopted people is an ongoing struggle for me.

As my (now retired) therapist used to ask: How is that story serving you?

The opinion of the host is just that, their opinion. The host is not a lawyer, a therapist or an adoption professional.

Thank you for listening! Please rate and review, as this helps to make the podcast more visible.

Please join me as I talk with mom Cindy Shultz about her experience with open adoption.

Cindy Shultz is a mother of church-coerced child loss who transforms lived experience into advocacy. Raised in the shadow of poverty and stigma, Cindy was a mother in crisis when Catholic Charities pressured her into relinquishing her son in a process she felt powerless to stop. This experience of unnecessary child loss is the foundation of her mission to support the systematically oppressed.

As the founder of Cindy's Family Preservation Alliance and a volunteer for Saving Our Sisters, she provides pregnant women the education and resource navigation she was once denied. Professionally, Cindy serves as a Wellness and Services coordinator at two local shelters, providing holistic case management for unhoused women. She is a certified Holistic Life Coach, Recovery Coach and Laughter Yoga Leader creating healing centered environments that honor the intersections of trauma, substance use, and family separation. Her work is a living testament that healing is possible and that family preservation is a fundamental human right that must be protected. If you are interested in Coaching or the healing power of Laughter Yoga, join her free Skool community Love Our Laughter.

https://www.facebook.com/familypreservationalliance/

https://www.skool.com/love-our-laughter-wellness-5520/about

https://savingoursistersadoption.org/

The opinions of the host and their guest(s) are just that, our opinions. The host is not a lawyer, therapist or adoption professional.

All resources shared are shared as a courtesy to the podcasts guests. The host encourages everyone to vet resources for themselves.

Thank you for listening!

Please join mom, adoptee advocate, writer and homesteader Dani Joy and me as we continue to explore the intersection of spiritual trauma and adoption through our conversation with the book Holy Hurt, Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing by Hillary L McBride PhD.

https://medium.com/@danijoy

https://hillarylmcbride.com/holy-hurt-book/

https://www.healthcentral.com/mental-health/get-help-mental-health

The opinions of the host and their guest are just that, our opinions. The host is not a lawyer, a therapist or an adoption professional.

Please join me as I speak with the board of Adoptees for Family Preservation. AdopteesFFP.org was formed with the goal of supporting advocacy and education about the way that the adoption industry functions today and to promote family preservation rather than family dissolution. The board members all bring their own lived experience as adopted people to the conversation, along with their skills as professionals in a range of career fields.

Please check out their bios at the non-profits website for more information about Sullivan Summer, Lora Alegria and Lilly Anspach.

Please share the links to adopteesffp.org with everyone you know! Be a part of something powerful.

https://www.adopteesffp.org/

Find them on Instagram @adopteesffp

Check out Haley Radke at: https://onadoption.net/

https://www.adopteeson.com/about

Donate and be a part of creating healthier communities at: https://www.adopteesffp.org/donations

The opinions of the host and their guests are just that, our opinions. The host is not a therapist, lawyer or adoption professional

First mom Dani Joy joins me as we discuss spiritual trauma through the lens of adoption. We are reading and discussing the book Holy Hurt, by Hillary L McBride PhD. We hope the listeners will join us in this journey to understand and to navigate adoption related spiritual and religious trauma.

https://medium.com/@danijoy

https://hillarylmcbride.com/holy-hurt-book/

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355967?cjdata=MXxOfDB8WXww&cjevent=acd48c2d0b8111f1804e00550a1eba24&cm_mmc=CJ-_-100357191-_-5250933-_-Evergreen+Link+for+Mayo+Clinic+Diet&utm_source=cj&utm_content=100357191&utm_capaign=3-months

https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/txessentials/complex_ptsd_assessment.asp

https://www.nicabm.com/program/a1-brain-trauma-fb2/?del=bing.1718.ptsd&network=o&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=530620131&ad_group_id=1351302280065123&utm_term=traumatic%20stress&utm_content=&del=bing530620131&msclkid=bee2c579db9c177b015bacea48f39198

https://www.mhanational.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/MHM-2025-Resource-List.pdf

https://rainn.org/

https://www.thetrevorproject.org/

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/vagus-nerve-reset

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/box-breathing-benefits

The opinions of the host and their guest are just that, our opinions. The host is not a therapist, a lawyer or an adoption professional.

Dani Joy, first mom, birthmothers rights advocate, adoptee ally. amazing friend joins me in reviewing the book Holy Hurt Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing by Hillary L Mc Bride PhD.

https://hillarylmcbride.com/holy-hurt-book/

We are reviewing the book from the perspectives of a mother of loss to adoption and a person lost to adoption. Religion contributed a great deal to the trauma we have both experienced and informs the family severance narrative to this day.

We hope you will join us in this journey.

Please be aware that the episodes will discuss things that may be triggering to many of our listeners. Please take care of yourself.

The host and their guest are not adoption professionals, lawyers or mental health professionals. Our opinions are just that, our opinions. They are informed by our respective educations and lived experiences.

This episode is the conclusion to my trip to Georgia, hoping to meet maternal family, and walk in circles for a lot of hours just in case no one showed up.

Day two here. My day to stretch out after traveling. One of my free time days that I hoped to meet family. I deliberately included a week day and a weekend day, because, timing?

Have you ever thought about the way you move? How some, any of your gestures may mirror those of a family member? How seeing them in yourself may make for a sense of belonging?

I would love to experience that. Have you?

This is a messy episode. I recorded this at the end of a very long day where i woke up at 2 am, drove an hour to an airport and then wore an itchy mask for ten hours to get to a place I am not sure I want to be in order to do one thing I want to do and feel conflicted about another thing I am not sure is going to happen or if I want it to happen if it does.

I am in Georgia for an Ultra. I am in Georgia to maybe, finally, meet my mom. And maybe my maternal siblings.

And also, the Ultra, which is put on by a group called Yeti Trail Runners and is called The Dark Anchor. If you have never done an endurance event-think about participating. Training to complete a marathon or an ultra or a century or, well, there are lots of options, teaches you a lot about yourself and about other people.