Adoptees Crossing Lines
In this podcast I deconstruct the romanticism holding up the adoption industry and expose the lies, abuse, and pain that gets silenced. I'm here to unwrap the shiny bow around adoption and speak my truths as an adoptee. In doing so, I explain what it means and what it feels like to “come out of the fog”. This isn't your feel good podcast, I am an angry, healing and honest adoptee.
Episodes
Keshia
The child welfare system is waging war on Black families, and Keshia Adeniyi-Dorsey is on the front lines. In this episode, she shares her journey from foster child to family defender, exposing the racist roots of CPS and the urgent need for change.
Keisha breaks down her tactics for protecting families during CPS investigations, from refusing home entry to shutting down fishing expeditions. H...
Benjamin
Words matter. Especially when it comes to adoption. Benjamin Lundberg Torres Sanchez isn't just "adopted" - they were separated from their first family for 28 years.
In this episode, we unpack how the language we use shapes our understanding of adoption. Benjamin shares their journey of rejecting industry terminology and embracing more accurate descriptions of their experience.
...
Henry
What happens when a Black child is adopted into a white Mormon family?
The Mormon church silenced Henry's identity as a Black transracial adoptee, but he's done being quiet. From "colorblind" racism to the weight of forced gratitude, he exposes the ugly truth behind his adoption.
We explore the impact of media representation, the importance of acknowledging adoptee anger...
Fai Knudson
Fai Knudson grew up in a white, conservative town, always feeling different. As a biracial, transracial adoptee, Faye faced racism and isolation.
Leaving their hometown ignited a journey of self-discovery, leading to advocacy and therapy focused on adoptee mental health.
In this episode, Fai shares their powerful story, the challenges of being a transracial adoptee, and how they now ...
1 Year of No Contact
It's been 365 days since I cut ties with my adopters to protect myself.
A year of healing, self-discovery, and finding my voice.
In this episode, I share my no contact journey, the reasons behind my decision, the process of healing, and the freedom I’ve found.
Hear my story of setting boundaries, seeking safety, and reclaiming my identity.
What we discussed
Amanda Wallace
Amanda Wallace helps families powerfully stop Child Protective Services from stealing their children. In this episode she talk about how you can do it too, how her organization reunited 20+ families, and why we should abolish the belief that the CPS system should even exist.
Listen and let’s stop CPS.
What we discussed
(00:22) Who is Amanda Wallace?
(01:25) Why she wants to sto...
Abolition is Not A Part Of God’s Plan
People who adopt say it’s God’s plan for them to adopt. But, they almost never say that God’s plan is for them NOT to have children. This is just one of the many ways people use religion to justify human trafficking.
I found out, through an archived article, that I was trafckied into adoption by the Church through the One Church, One Child movement which operates...
Mila's Truth: Navigating Adoption, Liberation, and Community
The Church does an excellent job of silencing you if you oppose them. They’d even hire a marketing company to rebrand adoption so that their business as adoption middlemen can continue to thrive. But, it’s not just the Church. The dominant culture is to silence anyone who speaks up against adoption. To make them feel shame. To gaslight them...
My Journey To Abolition
Every adult in my childhood has failed me, none of them did what they’re supposed to. Every part of the system failed me…it did exactly what it’s supposed to. The system kills children and breaks families, it must be abolished. In this episode, I share how I gradually evolved towards this deep belief starting from a school trip to juvie when I was just 10. I talk about my encounter...
Josh Lamers
Adoption is trauma. How do we help surviving children heal the wounds they’ve sustained from the child welfare system? Josh Lamers, a transracial adoptee, is public enemy #1 for child welfare agencies in Canada. He joins the show to discuss what adoption and child welfare are like in Canada; and how his organization, Collective of Child Welfare Survivors, advocates for child welfare survivors ...
Adoptees & Community
Before I found other adoptees online I was lost. I wanted to know where I came from, and I wanted to know others like me. Most adoption communities center adoptive parents and foster parents. We are left out of the picture. This doesn’t make sense. This episode is a collection of my thoughts on this matter.
“One of the most vital ways we sustain ourselves is by building comm...
Confronting the Racist Legacy of the American Child Welfare System
It was when Alan arrived at a home with the cops to remove a child and heard his mother say “Charles, run, they're coming to take you and they're going to sell you to the white people” that he realized how the trauma of slavery cannot be disentangled from the trauma of family separation. It was in this moment that he realized the...
Unveiling Roots: The Journey of Gregory D. Luce, Attorney and Advocate for Adoptee Rights
Us adoptees have to pay thousands of dollars and jump through hoops to unseal our records. This robs us of autonomy, dignity, and equality. Gregory D. Luce is an attorney who helps adoptees all across the US go through this hurdle.
In this episode we discuss Greg’s personal adoption journey that made him so pass...
Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families--and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World
More than anyone else, black women get their children kidnapped by the state, by the child “welfare system”. This episode is about the whys and hows of abolishing a system built to strip families away from their children.
Through discussing Torn Apart by Dr. Dorothy Roberts, we examine the hist...
Reuniting with his birth family showed John McCormick, a transracial adoptee, a new world. He physically felt a relaxation he had never felt before, he connected with music and art like never before, and he started to own who he is - confidently - even when others denied his identity.
This is the story of how John’s reunion with his bio family was a healing journey that led him to reclaim an identity he w...
Emily's Journey: Identity, Language Learning, and Adoption Realities
After 9 months of living with monks, Emily Harris was adopted from China. She was left behind by her bio family due to the One Child Policy. To process her loss of identity, she has started to learn Chinese with a community of adoptees.
In this episode, she talks about how language learning helps, why she wishes she was white...
Lina
Though Lina Vanegas was born to a Colombian family, she was forced to assimilate as a white jewish person. 38 years later, she’s unable to fully connect with her bio family nor speak their language. Forced assimilation is trauma.
Her mission is to educate people on adoption trauma. In the episode, she gives a crash course on why adoption is trauma, what to do if you want to adopt in a trauma-inf...
Navigating the Complex World of Adoption: Unveiling Azriel June's Journey
They were told they’re white. They aren’t. They were told they’re Jewish. They aren’t. They tried to erase her heritage over and over again. They couldn’t…so they “gave her back”. This is the story that explains how US adoptions human rights violations - they’re genocide.
This is Azriel’s story - a transcultural adoptee fr...
Should you cut off your adoptive parents?
Should you “go no contact” with your adoptive parents?
“Oh hell no. Not this time. I’m done.” That’s what we felt before cutting off contact with your adoptive parents. Sometimes, the healthies thing we can do is to go no contact with our adoptive parents. Escaping abuse. Escaping racism. Escaping pain.
In this episode we share what made us go no contact, dis...
Reclaiming Identity: Dr. Amy Ritterbusch on International Adoption & Abolition
Dr. Amy Ritterbusch was stolen from Colombia as a child and forced to live in the United States with her adoptive family. Foreign land, foreign people, foreign language.
But, her longing for where she came from and who she came from never died. She spent the rest of her life trying to find her way back home.
In th...
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