Adoptees On

217 | Lisa Bird-Wilson I am thrilled to introduce you to today’s guest, Lisa Bird-Wilson, the author of the phenomenal novel, Probably Ruby. We talk about what it means to be Indigenous and adopted into a white family and how she has now spent decades exploring her Metis identity. Lisa shares some behind-the-scenes info about the process of writing Probably Ruby, why she’s currently writing a memoir, and the importance of having that history preserved for her children. During this interview, there were some challenges with sound, and unfortunately, I was distracted by my ailing dog and didn’t do my best work. I apologize to Lisa that I didn’t catch some poor audio quality moments that I normally would have caught during recording. Full Show Notes Here Recommended Resources Probably Ruby by Lisa Bird-Wilson Just Pretending by Lisa Bird-Wilson The Red Files by Lisa Bird-Wilson The Sixties Scoop Foundation: www.nationalhealingfoundation.com Connect With Us Lisa Bird-Wilson: lisabirdwilson.com | Probably Ruby- Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio | Spotify | Stitcher | YouTube Support Adoptees On One Time Donation | Monthly | Secret Facebook Group Connect Occasional Newsletter | Send a Note 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.

216 | Annalisa Toccara Today guest host Lisette Austin speaks with Annalisa Toccara, the co-founder of the UK organization, Adoptee Futures. Annalisa shares about the complexities of her relationship with her adoptive family, and her experience coming “out of the fog.” Lisette and Annalisa also discuss grief and loss, they’ve both lost an adoptive parent within the last year or two. Annalisa talks about the loss of her adoptive mother in 2021, what the grieving process has been like, and the profound gifts at the core of the journey. Full Show Notes Here Show Notes Recommended Resources Healing After Loss by Martha Hickman The Joy of Being Selfish: Why you need boundaries and how to set them by Michelle Elman Connect With Us Annalisa Toccara: Twitter | Instagram | www.adopteefutures.org Lisette Austin: Twitter | Instagram | travelingmyroots.com | The Globetrotter Lounge Podcast Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio | Spotify | Stitcher | YouTube Support Adoptees On One Time Donation | Monthly | Secret Facebook Group Connect Occasional Newsletter | Send a Note 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.

215 | Lee Herrick Today’s guest is the exceptional poet Lee Herrick. If you haven’t read any of Lee’s work, today is the day to make a purchase at your favourite bookstore! Lee is a Korean adoptee and shares how he found out later in life he was born in a completely different city than he was told. We discuss poetry as a social critique, surviving feelings of deep despair, and how writing poetry and finding the adoptee community has been such a gift. Full Show Notes Here Show Notes Recommended Resources Scar and Flower by Lee Herrick Gardening Secrets of the Dead by Lee Herrick This Many Miles from Desire by Lee Herrick First Person Plural (documentary by Deann Borshay Liem) - www.newday.com/film/first-person-plural Connect With Us Lee Herrick: Twitter | Facebook | www.leeherrick.com Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio | Spotify | Stitcher | YouTube Support Adoptees On One Time Donation | Monthly | Secret Facebook Group Connect Occasional Newsletter | Send a Note 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.

214 | Sunny Reed We are thrilled to talk with Sunny Reed while she’s right in the midst of her Ph.D. program developing a new transformational framework for transnational adoption. We believe her focus on connecting critical adoption research studies with existing child-focused and child-centering scholars is going to be revolutionary over the next decade. Haley and Sunny discuss some of what that means, as Sunny gives us a preview of her framework, but we also get personal talking about some health challenges she’s had and the pain of working in advocacy when it all comes back to our personal experiences with loss. Full Show Notes Here Show Notes Recommended Resources Journal article “Their reward will be a lovely daughter": The Mobilization of "Hard to Adopt" and the Portrayal of Adoption as a Gift. Adoption & Culture. 8. 227-244. Hepburn, Taryn & Bendo, Daniella & Spencer, Dale & Sinclair, Raven & Bennett, Jacob. (2020) Childhood in a Global Perspective by Karen Wells Connect With Us Sunny Reed: sunnyjreed.blog Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio | Spotify | Stitcher | YouTube Support Adoptees On One Time Donation | Monthly | Secret Facebook Group Connect Occasional Newsletter | Send a Note 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.

213 | Kendra Mylnechuk Potter Guest host Lisette Austin speaks with Kendra Mylnechuk Potter, actor, yoga teacher, Native adoptee, and subject of the documentary, Daughter of Lost Bird. Kendra shares her powerful adoption and reunion story, about navigating identity issues while claiming her cultural heritage, and what it was like to reunite with her biological mother, family, and community as part of filming a documentary. Kendra also talks about the painful and abusive U.S. policies around Native children and adoption, how she practices self-care while integrating the reality of generational and historical trauma into her personal story, and much more. Full Show Notes Here Show Notes Recommended Resources Daughter of a Lost Bird - Documentary - www.daughterofalostbird.com Dawnland - Documentary - upstanderproject.org/dawnland Blood Memory - Documentary - www.bloodmemorydoc.com I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk Try out an embodiment practice for healing work Connect With Us Kendra Mylnechuk Potter: Instagram | www.daughterofalostbird.com Lisette Austin: Twitter | Instagram | travelingmyroots.com | The Globetrotter Lounge Podcast Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio | Spotify | Stitcher | YouTube Support Adoptees On One Time Donation | Monthly | Secret Facebook Group Connect Occasional Newsletter | Send a Note 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.

212 | Mary Anna King Today the author of our April Adoptees On(ly) book club pick, B______s is with us! Mary Anna King was one of our very first podcast guests almost six years ago on season one. We discuss the challenges of being a kinship adoptee, the things that are often overlooked (like estrangements and other conflicts) that can force children to be unfairly used as weapons. We also talk about what it feels like to be a generational trauma cycle-breakers as Mary is expecting her first child. Full Show Notes Here Show Notes Recommended Resources B______ by Mary Anna King (Listen to her first [Episode 7] and second appearances [Episode 67] on Adoptees On) What Next? The Adoptee Rights Podcast - episode 6 “Cleanup” with the Vermont Adoptee Rights Working Group Vermont Adoptee Rights Working Group Adoptee Rights Law Hear more about Greg Luce on his Adoptees On episode 182 Connect With Us Mary Anna King: Twitter | maryannaking.com Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio | Spotify | Stitcher | YouTube Support Adoptees On One Time Donation | Monthly | Secret Facebook Group Connect Occasional Newsletter | Send a Note 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.

211 | Sullivan Summer Today’s guest is the brilliant Sullivan Summer! Growing up as a black transracial adoptee with white adoptive parents, Sullivan was actively discouraged from identifying as black by her adoptive mother. She shares about her recent decision to change her full name as a sign of identity reclamation and we also discuss the intersection of adoption, race, and the United States’ history of slavery. Full Show Notes Here Show Notes Recommended Resources Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption (re-release 2021) edited by Jane Jeong Trenka, Julia Chinyere Oparah, and Sun Yung Shin University of Minnesota Press podcast episodes with the editors of Outsiders Within: What society gets wrong about transracial adoption: Sun Yung Shin, Shannon Gibney, and JaeRan Kim. Korean and Vietnamese adoptees on the intimate racialized politics of transracial adoption: Jane Jeong Trenka, Indigo Willing, and kimura byol-nathalie lemoine. Outsiders Within: Korean adoptees Jane Jeong Trenka and Ami Nafzger share their stories. National Association of Black Social Workers 1972 Position Statement on Transracial Adoption (a direct download is available here: https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.nabsw.org/resource/collection/E1582D77-E4CD-4104-996A-D42D08F9CA7D/NABSW_Trans-Racial_Adoption_1972_Position_(b).pdf ) Connect With Us Sullivan Summer: Instagram Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio | Spotify | Stitcher | YouTube Support Adoptees On One Time Donation | Monthly | Secret Facebook Group Connect Occasional Newsletter | Send a Note 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.

210 | Stephanie Drenka Today’s guest is the incredible Stephanie Drenka, and we say incredible because she saw the need for an online platform for underrepresented communities and went ahead and built VISIBLE magazine in one night. Stephanie talks about her shifting view of adoption over time, how being raised in a predominantly white community caused her to experience internalized racism, and why sometimes when you see a need in the community, you’ve got to be the one to go ahead and fill the gap. Full Show Notes Here Show Notes Recommended Resources VISIBLE Magazine (mentioned: article by Gracie) and VISIBLE on Instagram Somebody’s Children: The Politics of Transnational and Transracial Adoption by Laura Briggs Taking Children: A History of American Terror by Laura Briggs Mentioned: Adoptees On episode addressing internalized racism (177 Healing Series Internalized Oppression) Connect With Us Stephanie Drenka: StephanieDrenka.com | [VISIBLEmagazine.com] | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio | Spotify | Stitcher | YouTube Support Adoptees On One Time Donation | Monthly | Secret Facebook Group Connect Occasional Newsletter | Send a Note 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.

209 | Dr. Hollee McGinnis The indomitable Dr. Hollee McGinnis is on the podcast today! Many of you have definitely heard of Hollee and her immense contributions to the adoptee community both academically as a scholar and as a community builder which includes starting the adoptee-centric organization, Also Known As, over 25 years ago. Today we get to talk about some deeply personal topics to Hollee, which of course includes community building, but we also discuss how Hollee’s perspective on adoption has changed over the years. Hollee shares how sometimes, who we see as the “high-performing adoptees” may be trying to outwork some internal struggles. Make sure you stick around until the end of the show as Hollee shares a poem she wrote about kimchi and how her breast cancer diagnosis lead her to a rediscovery of Korean food, this time as a cook! Full Show Notes Here Show Notes Recommended Resources Adoption Initiative Conference: The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives - March 25-26, 2022 Also Known As iamadoptee.org Rudd Adoption Research Program for scholarship on adoption Connect With Us Dr. Hollee McGinnis: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio | Spotify | Stitcher | YouTube Support Adoptees On One Time Donation | Monthly | Secret Facebook Group Connect Occasional Newsletter | Send a Note 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.

Guest host Lisette Austin interviews her close lifelong friend Iana, who helped Lisette find her birth father using genetic genealogy. Iana shares her adoption and reunion story, and what led her to “come out of the fog” and begin exploring adoptee issues. She also shares what led her to become interested in genealogy, the importance of having a close adoptee friend, and what her top adoptee resources are. Together Lisette and Iana share some of the story behind their detective hunt, including a few of their favourite highlights. Full Show Notes Here Recommended Resources IFS Therapist Directory: https://ifs-institute.com/practitioners Adoptees On episodes about IFS: 69, 71, 135 and 180 with Marta Isabella Sierra. Also discussed in episodes 70 and 175 Connect With Us Lisette Austin: Twitter | Instagram | travelingmyroots.com | The Globetrotter Lounge Podcast Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio | Spotify | Stitcher | YouTube Support Adoptees On One Time Donation | Monthly | Secret Facebook Group Connect Occasional Newsletter | Send a Note 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.