Adoptees On

280 | Svetlana Sandoval We're back, and I'm sick again, and my voice is only going to be like this for the intro because luckily I was healthy when I interviewed this week's guest, Svetlana Sandoval. Svetlana is an international adoptee, adopted from Russia at about six months old. We talk about what sparked an interest to search for her biological family, how she navigated the language barriers using technology and a friend of a friend. Svetlana also shares about her decision to reclaim her original name. Due to the sensitive nature of her reunion during the war, she will not be commenting directly on the conflict. Full Show Notes Here Join our adoptee community on Patreon here Check out our upcoming live events here! This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice. Please seek out professionals in those fields if you need those services. The views expressed by the hosts of Adoptees On or any guests are their own and do not represent the opinions of any organization or other person unless otherwise stated.

279 | Reshma McClintock Oh it is such a delight to get to share this interview with you. Reshma McClintock, the producer and subject of the film Calcutta is My Mother is back with us today. Reshma is a transracial adoptee from Calcutta, India, and this incredible film documents her return to Calcutta for the first time since her adoption, and she would tell you that it also depicts a portion of her journey "out of the fog". I received permission to share the audio from her trailer, and I'm going to play that for you here, just before we get into the conversation about her story, some of her experiences in Calcutta, and some tips for transnational adoptees about preparing for a home country visit. We also get to talk about her upcoming documentary screening in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 4, 2024. I get the honour of hosting the Q&A for that event, so consider this my personal invite to you to come and join us to see the film and hang out with some fellow adoptees! Full Show Notes Here Join our adoptee community on Patreon here Check out our upcoming live events here! This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice. Please seek out professionals in those fields if you need those services. The views expressed by the hosts of Adoptees On or any guests are their own and do not represent the opinions of any organization or other person unless otherwise stated.

278 | Adrian Wills Today's guest is fellow Canadian, award-winning director and filmmaker, Adrian Wills. Adrian has a brand new documentary out called A Quiet Girl where get to follow his journey of a public search for his birth mother, and experience every new discovery along with him. Today we talk with Adrian about how his friends prompted his search and what he's discovered about the people of Newfoundland through his time there. We also discuss how we often create these mythical personas of our biological parents from a few short sentences in our non-identifying adoption information. Full Show Notes Here Join our adoptee community on Patreon here Check out our upcoming live events here! This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice. Please seek out professionals in those fields if you need those services. The views expressed by the hosts of Adoptees On or any guests are their own and do not represent the opinions of any organization or other person unless otherwise stated.

277 | John Gallaher, Ph.D. You're in for a treat today, we have award-winning poet John Gallaher with us! John's newest poetry collection, My Life in Brutalist Architecture releases this month and it's his first collection focused in on his experience as an adopted person. Even though he was a kinship adoptee, he still had to take a DNA test to find the family he was searching for. We talk about DNA, nature versus nurture, his search for the other John Gallahers of the world and what reunion really looks like for him right now. Full Show Notes Here Join our adoptee community on Patreon here Check out our upcoming live events here! This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice. Please seek out professionals in those fields if you need those services. The views expressed by the hosts of Adoptees On or any guests are their own and do not represent the opinions of any organization or other person unless otherwise stated.

276 | Sanjay Pulver Today's guest is Sanjay Pulver, an Indian adoptee who has become an outspoken adoptee advocate in recent years. We talk about the complexities of being adopted from an orphanage in a country that is not currently safe for him to return to as a queer trans man. We discuss the intersections between being transnationally and transracially adopted with being a trans person and Sanjay also shares about his experience with somatic therapy. Full Show Notes Here Join our adoptee community on Patreon here Check out our upcoming live events here! This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice. Please seek out professionals in those fields if you need those services. The views expressed by the hosts of Adoptees On or any guests are their own and do not represent the opinions of any organization or other person unless otherwise stated.

275 | Sara Docan-Morgan, Ph.D. Today's guest is Dr. Sara Docan-Morgan, professor of communication studies and author of the book "In Reunion: Transnational Korean Adoptees and the Communication of Family". Sara shares some of her personal story, and then we dig into her qualitative research from multiple Korean adoptees who have been in a relationship with their biological family for over a decade. There's a treasure trove of reunion wisdom in this episode, including a new term that so perfectly encapsulates the weight adoptees carry through the search and reunion experience. Full Show Notes Here Join our adoptee community on Patreon here Check out our upcoming live events here! This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice. Please seek out professionals in those fields if you need those services. The views expressed by the hosts of Adoptees On or any guests are their own and do not represent the opinions of any organization or other person unless otherwise stated.

If you'd like to be involved in the new show, you can email adopteesonadoption(at)gmail(dot)com with your skills pitch. Are you an audio producer? Investigative reporter? Narrative podcaster? I'd love to hear what you've got to bring to the table. Follow updates here: https://www.instagram.com/onadoption

274 | Julian Washio-Collette Today's guest is Julian Washio-Collette, a writer and monastic spiritual seeker, whose story includes the rarity of being relinquished and adopted twice. Julian shares what he hears when someone says the term "forever family", how building community was difficult here when seemingly no one else has had the same experience of being a double-adoptee, and we ponder what the spiritual implications of adoption may mean. Full Show Notes Here Join our adoptee community on Patreon here Check out our upcoming live events here! This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice. Please seek out professionals in those fields if you need those services. The views expressed by the hosts of Adoptees On or any guests are their own and do not represent the opinions of any organization or other person unless otherwise stated.

273 | SunAh Laybourn, Ph.D. We are so excited to welcome professor and sociologist Dr. SunAh Laybourn today! Sunah's brand new book is called Out of Place: The Lives of Korean Adoptee Immigrants and it is definitely one you're going to want to add into your collection. Today we talk about SunAh's research, the realization that heritage culture camps are prioritizing adoptive parents' comfort, and the public's perception of the still dire issue of adoptee citizenship. Haley finally gets to ask the question she's wondered about for at least five years: is being an adopted person a distinct culture of its own? Full Show Notes Here Join our adoptee community on Patreon here Check out our upcoming live events here! This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice. Please seek out professionals in those fields if you need those services. The views expressed by the hosts of Adoptees On or any guests are their own and do not represent the opinions of any organization or other person unless otherwise stated.

272 | James Cagney Today's guest is award-winning poet, James Cagney. Author of Black Steel Magnolias in the Hour of Chaos Theory and Martian: The Saint of Loneliness, James is known for his absolutely dynamic live poetry readings, and we are honoured with a reading in this very episode! We discuss how James came to find out he was adopted, and as usual we've got questions about why parents keep these things a secret. Full Show Notes Here Join our adoptee community on Patreon here Check out our upcoming live events here! This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice. Please seek out professionals in those fields if you need those services. The views expressed by the hosts of Adoptees On or any guests are their own and do not represent the opinions of any organization or other person unless otherwise stated.