Mal + Kate talk with Annie Compton about profile books.

Annie's Bio:
Co-owner of Cuore (Core - A) Mio Co… working alongside her cousin Julia. Annie lives in Los Angeles with her husband Matthew, daughter Theo and furbabies Lou and Junie. Though she has lived the city life for 18 years, she still gets homesick for her hometown in rural Wisconsin. Annie's creativity has taken her down many paths, most notably her career in the entertainment industry as an Emmy-nominated and Writers Guild Award-winning writer and producer. Now she is thrilled to utilize her creativity for Cuore Mio Co., a company straight from her heart, and inspired by her journey to becoming an adoptive mother.

Connect with Annie here:
Website: https://www.cuoremioco.com
Instagram: @cuore.mio.co

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Listen as Mal + Kate chat with Brittany Salmon about her new book, It Takes More than Love: A Christian Guide to Navigating the Complexities of Cross-Cultural Adoption.

Brittany's Bio: BRITTANY SALMON is a professor, writer, and Bible teacher. She has a MA in Intercultural Studies from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, a MA in Teaching from North Carolina State University, and is currently pursuing her doctorate from Southeastern Seminary where she is doing research on racial representation in Christian children's literature. Brittany is passionate about taking theology and applying it to everyday lives. And yet the people closest to her think of her as the friend who loves oversized sweatpants and a great conversation over coffee. She lives in Abilene, Texas with her best friend, Ben, and their four children.

You can connect with Brittany here:
Twitter: @brittanynsalmon
Insta: @brittanynsalmon
website: www.brittanynsalmon.com

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Listen as Mal + Kate chat with Susan about open adoption. They talk about the benefits of having open adoptions and bust myths surrounding them.

Susan's bio: Susan is a licensed social worker and works as the Consulting Director at Christian Adoption Consultants. She has been working with birth and adoptive families for over 20 years and has a passion for equipping, training, and supporting families on their journey towards adoption. Susan lives with her husband and two kids in the Kansas City area. In addition to adoption, she’s also passionate about good coffee, musical theatre, and belly laughing with friends.

Resources:
Book: The Open Adoption Experience 
Book: The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption: Helping Your Child Grow Up Whole
Website: BraveLove
Article: Contact Between Adoptive and Birth Families: Perspectives from the Minnesota Texas Adoption Research Project

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Mal + Kate talk with Amy, Executive Director of Connecting Hearts Adoption Services, about the Home Study. They discuss Kate's experience with her own home study and what others can expect throughout the process.

Amy's bio:
Amy Imber is the Executive Director of Connecting Hearts Adoption Services and has worked in the adoption field for over 20 years. Amy has been the Director of Connecting Hearts Adoption Services since its inception in September 2008. She has been honored to be a small part of countless adoption journeys. Connecting Hearts Adoption Services is a licensed adoption agency in the State of Florida and focuses on adoption home studies for domestic adoptions. Connecting Hearts clients take their studies across Florida and across the country adopting their children.
Amy works out of the Orlando office, which is the home base for Connecting Hearts. She and her team of 12 Social Workers serve families across the State of Florida. Connecting Hearts Adoption understands the home study process can be an overwhelming experience, but it doesn’t have to be!

Follow along on Instagram @connecting.hearts.adoption
Follow Connecting Hearts on Facebook
Check out Connectingheartsadoption.com for more info.

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Mal + Kate discuss the intersection of race, identity, and adoption with Jonathan Adam on this episode of the Funding Love Podcast.

Jonathan's Bio: My name is Jonathan Adam, I am a transracial adoptee of African American and Caucasian descent. I was adopted on June 4th, 1986 a few days after my May 31st birthday. In October of that year, my parents went on mission to Pakistan where my sister was born. In 1986, we moved back to the USA and moved to Alpharetta, GA, just north of Atlanta. My mother had my two younger brothers after that. We grew up in Alpharetta and stayed until high school. I attended an all-boys boarding school, Riverside Military Academy, where I graduated in 2005. After attending college at Covenant College, I went on mission in Thailand and worked with rural agriculturalists in community and economic development work. My wife and I live in Houston, Texas. We have a son, Israel who is in middle school, and another one on the way. I currently work in digital marketing SEO and my wife is an elementary school reading specialist.

Resource: Jonathan’s article, A Transracial Adoptee’s Perspective on Juneteenth Day. 

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Listen as Mal + Kate chat with their husbands Tim + Adam about fatherhood and adoption. Both men share their initial hesitations of wanting to adopt, but being married to a spouse that felt called to it. They bravely verbalize the things that many people feel embarrassed or shameful to admit, and share how those feeling have changed or shifted throughout the process.

Adam is married to Kate and is an author, speaker, and host of the The Volunteer Guy Podcast. He is founder and President of the nationally recognized travel company, Travelmation, and leads over 800 agents as they book their clients’ dream vacations all over the world. Adam loves his family, his sweet dog, Dottie, and Disney’s Country Bear Jamboree. 

Tim is married to Mal and has been Travelmation’s Top Selling Agent for the past four years in a row. He is passionate about helping his client’s make lasting memories on dream vacations. Tim also loves being a dad-of-four and traveling with his own family. He loves tacos and iced coffee, sports and music, and you can find him almost any day of the week, eating chips and salsa while planning his family’s next getaway. 

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Travel expands our comfort zone through experiences with the unknown and helps build relationships with our travel companions. Our guest, Julie, discusses with Mal + Kate why this has been crucial for her family, even while they were fostering two children. She shares with us her tips on how to make travel more approachable and why we have chosen travel as part of our Funding Love programs.

Julie is a wife and mom of four who is passionate about adoption. Her children are 10 and under and two of her four children were adopted through foster care. Their family is passionate about travel because it helps them focus on each other and creates a bond while adventuring together.

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Listen as Mal + Kate talk with Kay Wilkoff about the realities of Foster Care.

More about Kay: 
Kay is a foster, adoptive, and biological mom who works to promote hope and health in the foster parent community in her county as a mentor and Co-Chair of the Foster Parent Advisory Board in Monroe County, NY. Kay and her family have provided support to over 25 kids in care over the last decade.

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Listen as Mal + Kate discuss why Disney is the destination of choice for Funding Love trips, why Walt Disney is connected to the adoption community, and how so many Disney movies have a theme of adoption. 

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Most people can understand that adoptees and birth moms experience loss in adoption, but people often don’t realize that adoptive families do, too. Listen in as Mal + Kate wrap up the third part of the Adoption is Loss series with adoptive mom, Katie Brown, as she shares her story. 

Katie is a follower of Jesus, wife to Garrett, mama by adoption to Theo, and travel agent with Travelmation. If we're talking personality tests, she’s a HARD enneagram 7/8, a strong yellow-red, and if you need something done, let her turn her woo on because she can make it happen. When Katie is not planning travel or hanging with her main men, you can find her drinking a McDonald's Diet Coke, watching true crime and Broadway documentaries, and occasionally keeping her performer hat on by gracing the stage of some of her local community theaters.

Instagram: @itskatiejobro

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