Pulled By The Root - Amplifying Adoption Issues

Adrian Burks is currently working on a documentary called Finding Home which is a search for honest answers about family and identity. Adrian documents three adopted people (including himself) as he explores the different stages of connection with their adoptive and biological parents.

He is also a dynamic and rising talent in the world of film and television, known for his natural charisma, emotional depth, and powerful screen pres...

In this episode, Heather Sachs courageously dives into the issues surrounding adoption loss. Here are her words:

 I am adopted and see myself as a disrupter as well. The more we put our stories out there, the more we can change the narrative to being adoptee focused! I was adopted at two when my mother relinquished me to her then boss. Like many others, I didn’t even know that adoption/relinquishment was trauma until a therapist tol...

Dr. Deborah Sweet is a licensed Psychologist who specializes in adults recovering from childhood trauma. To treat trauma she uses Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, Brainspotting, the Havening Technique, IFS and the pit model.

She is also certified coach for personal growth. Before her career in mental health, she worked in the music and film businesses. She was the founder of the Trauma Counseling Center of Los Angeles and is currently wo...

Trigger warning:
In honor of Joshua’s life, Nicholas Fontana agreed to film with PBTR a few years ago to share his experience of losing his adopted friend Joshua to suicide. I ran into Nicholas at a mutual friends party a few weeks ago. Everything fell away as we began to speak about the effort to heal and all of the ways he has made progress. I asked Nicholas if he would be willing to be on the podcast to talk about the ideas ...

Ashley is a 40-year-old wife and mother of three. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ashley moved to New York City after college and has remained in the area ever since. She now resides in South Orange, NJ, a town she loves. She enjoys a balance of yoga and tennis and cherishes her friends and close-knit community. Professionally, Ashley holds a hybrid role that blends project management and executive support, allowing her t...

Scott, a high school math teacher from New Jersey, placed his daughter for adoption in the 1980s after a teenage pregnancy. In 2002, he reunited with her through an online search. Scott has three other children who were also part of the reunion. Lena, a domestic closed adoptee from New Jersey/New York, was adopted in the 1980s and raised as an only child by a family unable to have children. She reunited with her paternal biological...

Find our book using this link: Pulled By The Root

Bessel van der Kolk is a Dutch psychiatrist, author, researcher and educator. Since the 1970s his research has been in the area of post-traumatic stress. He is the author of The New York Times best seller book “The Body Keeps the Score.” He has spent his career studying how children and adults adapt to traumatic experiences, and has translated emerging findings from neurosc...

Anna Maria DiDio, MSW - is an adoptive mother and children’s author whose adoption-themed books encourage open and honest conversation between parents and children. Anna Maria was inspired to write her memoir, Love at the Border, An Adoption Adventure after her own family journey to Mexico.  Now her L.I.F.E.* Adventures children’s books feature stories about adoption from the point of view of the child. Anna Maria holds a BA in Psy...

We know the holidays can be a whiplash of emotions for our community. Elle Klassen has spent months recording long form conversations. Our amazing returning guests are: Moses Farrow, Megan Galbraith, Anne Heffron, Robert and Ken. This series is our gift to you! Pulled By The Root is so grateful to our loyal and brave audience. May you be comforted in knowing you are not alone! 

Click here to send us a text. Also, our book “Pulled By...

We know the holidays can be a whiplash of emotions for our community. Elle Klassen has spent months recording long form conversations. Our amazing returning guests are: Moses Farrow, Megan Galbraith, Anne Heffron, Robert and Ken. This series is our gift to you! Pulled By The Root is so grateful to our loyal and brave audience. May you be comforted in knowing you are not alone! 

Click here to send us a text. Also, our book “Pulled By...

We know the holidays can be a whiplash of emotions for our community. Elle Klassen has spent months recording long form conversations. Our amazing returning guests are: Moses Farrow, Megan Galbraith, Anne Heffron, Robert and Ken. This series is our gift to you! Pulled By The Root is so grateful to our loyal and brave audience. May you be comforted in knowing you are not alone! 

Click here to send us a text. Also, our book “Pulled By...

We know the holidays can be a whiplash of emotions for our community. Elle Klassen has spent months recording long form conversations. Our amazing returning guests are: Moses Farrow, Megan Galbraith, Anne Heffron, Robert and Ken. This series is our gift to you! Pulled By The Root is so grateful to our loyal and brave audience. May you be comforted in knowing you are not alone! 

Click here to send us a text. Also, our book “Pulled By...

Julie Brumley is a domestic infant adoptee who was adopted seven weeks after birth in 1973, following four relinquishments during that time. Her birth mother had attempted to abort her twice, between 12 and 16 weeks of pregnancy. Julie only became fully aware of the influence of the primal trauma she experienced about three and a half years ago, though her journey began in 2010. At that time, a professor in her master's counse...

In her first career, Zelly was a social worker in the adoption and foster care field. From there, she owned an online retail store specializing in hand-painted children’s gifts and party favors. Along the way, Zelly volunteered and raised funds for several non-profit organizations. In an alternate universe, she is probably an event planner. But once she moved to New York City, Zelly gave in to the compulsion to write women’s f...

Cathy Terkanian is the subject of the new Netflix documentary “Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter.” When Cathy received word that the daughter she gave up for adoption many years ago had disappeared, Cathy embarked on an extraordinary and tenacious journey to find her, steered by the unbeatable bond of a mother and child to discover the truth. The horror of what happened to her daughter is unimaginable.

In a recent post Cat...

Mark Wills is a true definition of what it means to turn trauma into triumph. He is one of the highest producing notary loan signing agents in the country. Owner of a national loan signing service, best selling author and the course instructor of Loan Signing System, the premier notary signing agent training to thousands of people coast to coast.

Mark was born in Korea and given up for adoption at the age of two years old...

Paul Fiscus, a devoted natural father, brings a unique perspective to the discussion on adoption and custody rights. His personal experiences have propelled him to become a passionate advocate for the rights of natural fathers. Paul's unwavering determination and in-depth understanding of the legal intricacies surrounding adoption highlight the hurdles that natural fathers can sometimes encounter.
His insights and commitme...

Sarah Reinhardt and Louise Browne, two adult adoptees and former business partners who had a successful ice cream truck in Los Angeles, team up again — this time in frank and honest conversations about adoption, centered on the adoptee experience.

Each season Sarah and Louise recap a chapter from a book focused on adoption and then interview a fellow adoptee.  

Sarah and Louise came out of the 'fog' in real-time through Sea...

Simon Benn was adopted at 5 weeks old, and is the founder of “Thriving Adoptees” podcast that honorably focuses on the issues adopted people face. Simon came out of the fog at 40 years old, and all was going well until he discovered that his teddy bear was a gift from his birth mother. This unleashed an eruption of anger, and feelings of rejection and of being unloved for Simon. This put him on his journey to heal and help others. ...