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August 20, 2025

In this continuing episode of Eternal Family Adoptions, Hosts Donna Pope and Nathan Gwilliam, Dr. Holly Richardson continues to share her extraordinary journey of adopting 20 children from seven countries spanning two decades. Dr Holly reveals the unvarnished truth about international adoption, special needs children, and long-term realities that adoption agencies rarely discuss. Talking about her journey that took her from Kazakhstan orphanages to Ethiopia, Holly guides listeners through failed adoptions, children born with severe medical conditions, and the ongoing challenges of parenting adult adopted children. She discusses reactive attachment disorder affecting multiple children, adult kids struggling with addiction and mental health issues, and the spiritual guidance that sustained her family through decades of crisis. Holly addresses the trauma inherent in all adoptions, offers practical wisdom for adoptive families currently in the trenches, and shares how some adult children still blame her for removing them from their birth countries. This unfiltered conversation covers managing her current family of 39 at get-togethers, burying her children, and accepting that not all adoption stories have fairy tale endings while maintaining faith in the long game of parenting.

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