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The Adoption Files
The Adoption Files episodes
- Interview with Rich ClarkRichard Clark is a screenwriter and film music composer. He was born and adopted in the state of Hawaii.Rich can be found on Twitter at @RCSoundworksMentioned in the interview:Hawaii Adoption Law: Hawaii Original Birth Certificates | Adoptee Rights LawAdverse Childhood Experiences (ACE): Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) | VitalSigns | CDCThe Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM): Psychiatry.org - DSMDepartment of Defense(DOD): U.S. Department of DefenseForeign Birth: Birth of U.S. Citizens Abroad (state.gov)The opinions of the host and thier guests are just that, opinions. The host is not a lawyer1 hr 8 min
- Interview with Mary Ellen Gambutti
Mary Ellen Gambutti is a South Carolina, Baby-Scoop Era adoptee. She is the author of numerous pieces in literary magazines, and the author of several books, including: I Must Have Wandered: An Adopted Air Force Daughter Recalls, Stroke Story, My Journey There and Back and Coming to Terms: My Journey Continues.
Her new memoir, I must have wandered, can be found at: https://books2read.com/ap/ngkMkl/Mary-Ellen-Gambutti
She can be found at : https://megam-author.com, https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-ellen-gambutti-author/, www.instagram.com/maryelleng.author, www.facebook.com/M.E.Gambutti.Author/, twitter.com/melcmg
Mentioned in the show:
South Carolina Adoption Law: South Carolina Original Birth Certificates | Adoptee Rights Law
Baby Scoop Era: Baby Scoop Era - Wikipedia
The age of reason in the Catholic Church: Age of reason catholic (elrenosacredheart.com)
Ghost Kingdom: the imgainary family created by adoptees to fill in for the missing family lost through adoption
The FOG: sometimes referred to as Fear, Obligation, Guilt. The Fog for adoptees are the coping mechanisms adoptees develop in order to deal with the trauma of adoption when they lack the language and support system needed to navigate the loss at the root of adoption.
The opinions expressed in the podcast are just that, opinions. The host is not a lawyer.
1 hr 24 min - interview with Annie Oxborough
Annie Oxborough is a New Zealand Baby Scoop Era adoptee. She is the author of the newly released book Where the Fuck is my Mother, illustrated by her brother Sparrow Phillips, a New Zealand artist. Annie can be found at:
annieo.co.nz https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083122489253 and insta handle https://www.instagram.com/the_adopted_girl/. https://www.amazon.com/Where-Fuck-My-Mother-grown-up-ebook/dp/B0BCQX87RC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1H2DEYSIRAGHH&keywords=where+the+fuck+is+my+mother&qid=1664391677&sprefix=where+the+fuck+is+my+mother%2Caps%2C258&sr=8-1
You can find Sparrow Phillips at: www.component.co.nz
Mentioned in the show:
The Adoption Act of 1955: Adoption Act 1955 No 93 (as at 28 October 2021), Public Act Contents – New Zealand Legislation
Royal Commission of Inquiry: Home | Abuse in Care - Royal Commission of Inquiry
Adult Adoption Information Act: Adult Adoption Information Act 1985 No 127 (as at 28 October 2021), Public Act – New Zealand Legislation
Bethany Salvation Army: Bethany Centre | The Salvation Army
Private Members BillMembers' bills - New Zealand Parliament (www.parliament.nz)
www.adopteereading.com
Mental health issues, including anorexia, bipolar disorder and depression. If you or anyone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, please reach out to your local mental health network. Listed here are just a few.
New Zealand Mental Health: Home | Mental Health Foundation
Australia Mental Health: Mental Health Australia | (mhaustralia.org)
United Kingdom Mental Health: Mental Health UK - Forward Together (mentalhealth-uk.org)
Canada Mental Health: Mental health services - Canada.ca
USA Mental Health: National Hotline for Mental Health Crises and Suicide Prevention | NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness
Disclaimers: the opinions voiced by the host and their guests are just that, opinions. The host is not a lawyer or a therapist.
1 hr 29 min - Interview with David LangPlease join me as I speak with David Lang, an adoptee from the state of Connecticut. We talk about pursuing identity prior to the changes in Connecticut law in July of 2021, family surprises, and transporting cremains across an international border.David can be found on Twitter at: @RevintheairMentioned on the episode:Connecticut Adoption law: Adoptions and Foreign Births (ct.gov)Catholic Charities: The Catholic church has been very active in facilitating adoption. If you were adopted through a Catholic agency, you can contact that agency or the Catholic Charities/Services where you were adopted and request non-identifying information and any documents they may have maintained. Access is dependent on the laws in your state or province. Unfortunately, the majority of records are closed. It never hurts to ask, though!Mental Health hotline informationUSA: NIMH » Suicide Prevention (nih.gov)Canada: Mental health support: get help - Canada.caAustralia: Crisis support - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (aihw.gov.au)New Zealand: Helplines | Mental Health FoundationUK: United Kingdom Suicide Hotlines - Suicide.org! United Kingdom Suicide Hotlines, United Kingdom Suicide Hotlines, United Kingdom Suicide Hotlines, United Kingdom Suicide Hotlines!The opinions expressed on the podcast are just that, opinions.Thank you for listening!1 hr 22 min
- Non Adoptee/ Adoptee Conversations: You were adopted a long time ago. Why are you still talking about it?
Please join me as i speak with:
Lynne Miller, Late Discovery Adoptee and writer at the blog adopteerevelations.com
Laureen Pittman: adoptee, author of the Lies that Bind
Andrea Coates: adoptee ally, search angel and LCSW
Lynn Grubb: adoptee, adoptee advocate, author of Hidden Identity
Plenary Adoption: plenary adoption, as practiced in many places including the United States, is a form of adoption that terminates the relationship between an adoptees family and the adoptee. Records are usually sealed and unavailable to the adoptee, even as an adult. In most cases, adoptive parents are given the option to replace the adopted persons original birth certificate with a legal fiction that changes the adoptees name and may also alter details such as place of birth, race and nationality,
The opinions of the host and their guests are just that: our opinions
Adoptee/non adoptee conversations are especially crucial as we confront the consequences of the recent ruling by the Supreme Court, overturning Roe v Wade. The decision has profound implications for adoption, the child welfare system, family preservation efforts and human rights. As the responsibility shifts to the states, adoptees will increasingly need kept people to ally themselves with the adoptee community to enact legislation protecting our rights to our own identities and agency. This statement does not ignore all of the other fuckery involved in the denial of womens reproductive rights. This is an adoptee advocacy platform. Adoption is not the solution to abortion. Stop conflating adoption with abortion. Thank you
1 hr 30 min - Interview with Dr. Kristy HowellDr. Kristy Howell is an adult adoptee in reunion. She was born and adopted in the sealed state of Mississippi. She is a Sustainability expert and trained historian. Kristy can be found at @kwittman on twitter and on instagram.Mentioned in the show:Mississippi adoption laws: adopteerightslaw.comISRR: International Soundex Reunion Registry: International Soundex Reunion Registry - ISRR This used to be one of the few resources available to adoptees hoping to find family. Today, DNA testing has largely made reunion registries unnecessary.Adoptee Rights Law: Attorney and adoptee Greg Luce maintains an up to date easily accessed list of the laws regulating adoptee access to records for every state. He includes links to the legislation which makes further research easier.Search Angels: Search angels are individuals with trainig and experience in conducting searches for adoptees. Search angels are FREE. Groups like the Search Squad on FB receive training in genetic genealogy, and have been vetted for reliability. Please do some research prior to sharing your personal information with anyone offering to be your search angel. DNA detectives on Facebook is a good group to join and ask for references. Search Squad is affiliated with them.The Adoptee Community, aka Adopteeland: there are a number of free, online resources for adoptees. Not every group will align with every adoptees needs, but groups exist for many different situations: Late Discovery, Anti adoption, Reunion support, Trauma support, LGBTQ adoptees, adoptee writers, artists, inter-country adoptees, transracial adoptees, etc. You may have to try a few before you find some that fit, but, for the most part, finding these groups can be a tremendous relief. Facebook, Tiktok, Instagram, Twitter are good places to look for groups.Adoptee-informed therapy: finding an adoptee-informed therapist can be a huge boon. The search can be lengthy. for a list of questions that can help you find a good fit in a therapist, please see the article linked here. https://theadoptionfilescom.wordpress.com/2021/06/17/healing-the-wounds/Adoptee-informed therapy: finding an adoptee-informed therapist can be a huge boon. The search can be lengthy. For a list of questions that can help you find a good fit in a therapist, please see the article linked here. https://theadoptionfilescom.wordpress.com/2021/06/17/healing-the-wounds/Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. Opinions voiced on the podcast by the host and their guests are our opinions.If you happen to recognize the book referenced by Dr Howell at the beginning of the podcast, please contact the host and let them know the title.If you woulld like to be a guest on the podcast, please let the host know. I am invested in amplifying the voices of adoptees, adoptee allies and others impacted by adoption law. Thank you for listening!1 hr 32 min
- Interview with Renee Gelin, founder and president of Saving our Sisters
Please join me as I speak with Renee Gelin, mom of a son lost to an unnecessary adoption. She is also the founder and president of the organization, Saving our Sisters. Renee and I discuss her experience with the adoption industry, which motivated her to advocate for other women in crisis. Renee is an avid ally of adoptees as well.
Renees' organization can be found at savingoursistersadoption.org Saving our Sisters works to assist pregnant women in making informed decisions about their pregnancies, and to provide assistance so that they can avoid applying permanent solutions to temporary situations.
Mentioned in the show:
Parentfinders: a website whose purpose is to funnel women in crisis into the adoption industry
Books: basically catalogs of slick advertising campaigns designed to persuade women in crisis to choose a prospective adoptive parent or PAP to raise their child
Gladney Adoption Agency: an adoption agency
Open Adoption: an arrangement whereby ongoing contact is maintained between the adoptee and their family of origin. These agreements must be written into the contract at the time of termination of parental rights. Even if this occurs, open adoption agreements are not generally enforceable. The adoption industry advertises open adoptions while actually using the idea of open adoption to persuade parents to surrender children. Their idea of open is to simply encourage adoptive parents to disclose the adoption to the adoptee.
The Primal Wound, by Nancy Verrier. A book written by an adoptive parent based on her observations of the effect of adoption on adoptees.
The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel Van der Kolk. The Body Keeps the Score - Wikipedia
Persuasive Coercion: coercive practices that are emotional and psychological in nature, rather than by force or threat of violence
Florida Adoption law: adopteerightslaw.com, Consumer Pamphlet: Adoption In Florida – The Florida Bar
Disclaimer: the opinions of the host and their guest are just that, our opinions.
2 hr 6 min - Non-Adoptee/Adoptee conversations: a talk with Andrea Coates about respectful dialogueAndrea is a licensed clinical social worker. She is also a search angel with the Search Squad. Andrea was one of the first people I interviewed when I began this podcast. A non-adoptee, or Kept person, Andrea has devoted a great deal of energy to an intentional exploration of adoptees lived experience. Through countless hours of reading adoptee memoir, blogs and articles; listening to podcasts and viewing recordings, and via her work as a search angel, Andrea has worked to become informed and to gain a greater understanding of how adoption impacts adopted people.Mentioned in the show/ Resources:DNA Detectives: a private Facebook group founded by CeCe Moore, genetic genealogist. The group is dedicated to assisting people with genetic genealogy workSearch Squad: Search Squad is a private Facebook group which provides free assistance for adoptees, birth parents, biological family through trained, vetted volunteersFamily Preservation: attempts to provide assistance to families with the intent of keeping families together.The Girls Who Went Away: by Ann Fessler. This book is an important discussion of the history of coercive treatment of unwed pregnant women sent away to give birth in secret in the decades prior to Roe v Wade. The children born were lost to adoption or to the foster care system.Adopteereading.com: a website dedicated to providing a list of books written by or recommended by adoptees.Finding Family: my search for roots and the secrets in my DNA, by Richard HIll. Hill's memoir recounts his use of DNA to unravel the secrets of his origins.Adoptee podcasts and blogs: There are many good lists of podcasts and blogs by adoptees that can be found by simply googling Adoptee podcasts and Adoptee blogs. I have partial lists included with these two blog posts:https://theadoptionfilescom.wordpress.com/2022/01/14/adoptee-podcasts/https://theadoptionfilescom.wordpress.com/2022/01/14/adoptee-blogs/Baby Scoop Era: a period from approximately 1946 to 1975(dates vary) where coercive adoption industry practices resulted in up to four million babies being given up for adoption in the United States alone. Similar practices occurred in other countries.1 hr 30 min
- 17 min
- Interview with Laureen PittmanLaureen Pitman is a Baby Scoop Era adoptee, born and raised in the closed state of California. Laureen is the author of the memoir The Lies that Bind. She is active in the adoptee community, writing for her blog adoptionmytruth.com, participating in roundtables like The Red Couch Rebuttal, contributing to the anthology The Adoptee Survival Guide, and in other projects.Mentioned in the podcast:California Adoptee Access laws: adopteerightslaw.com Adoption Records (ca.gov) Please be aware that each county may have slightly different procedures and forms available for adoptees. California is a sealed state.Waiver of Confidentiality: California requires adoptees and family members to file a waiver giving permission for contact to be included in the adoptees file. If the adoptee and a family member have both filed a waiver saying Yes, they agree to contact, the state is supposed to pass on the contact information.Non-Identifying information: California adoptees can contact the county where their adoption took place or go through the Adoption Records portal listed above to request their redacted information.Private Investigator: adoptees sometimes resort to hiring a private investigator to assist with searching for family members. This can be quite expensive. Always remember to check to see if the person is licensed, reputable investigator. You can go to bsis.ca.gov to check license status.Ghost family/Kingdom: first coined by Betty Jean Lipton, this refers to the fantasy family created by adoptees as stand-ins for the family we have been separated fromCUB, Concerned United Birthparents: a support group for parents and adoptees. concernedunitedbirthparents.orgCommercial DNA companies: there are a number of commercial DNA companies that are useful for adoptees. They have DNA tests as well as subscription services for their databases. The largest company is Ancestry.com. 23andme.com is popular for medical information as well as matches. other companies include My Heritage, Gedmatch, and FamilytreednaSearch assistance: on Facebook, there are the DNA Detectives, the Search Squad, the Search Co-op. There are others, but these are the three I am familiar with. A search angel provides assistance for FREE.Because there is a lot going on in the community right now with the SCOTUS announcement and conflation of adoption with abortion, and because this is going out on Mother's day, I am including the contact information for mental health hotlines. It is important that we be kind to ourselves and give ourselves permission to seek help when we need it.National Mental Health Hotline | 866-903-3787Mental health support: get help - Canada.caMental Health Helpline for Urgent Help - NHS (www.nhs.uk)Helplines - Immediate confidential free support | Mental Health Commission (mhc.wa.gov.au)Finding an adoptee competent therapist can be challenging. One source I have found is Growbeyondwords.com. I suggest asking specific questions to determine if a therapist is trauma competent. You can find support from the online adoptee community as well. Check out my earlier blog posts for lists of podcasts, and blogs.1 hr 31 min
About The Adoption Files
From the publisher's feed
The Adoption files seeks to provide a place for adoptees and allies to discuss the laws preventing adoptees from accessing their identities, and the emotional and physical challenges adoptees face in…
the process of dealing with the obstacles we face. We recognize the need to expose the problematic aspects of the adoption industry and the narrative they perpetuate. We will not only talk about the laws and the challenges they create, but also the ways that the mythology around adoption impacts the way we move through our lives, as adopted people and as mothers and other family members.
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