An adoptee spends their lifetime navigating the complex trusts of how being adopted impacts their identity. For transracial adoptees, which is defined as a person who is raised by someone of a different race, another layer of confusion is added. On the Adoptee Voyages podcast, I and others will share our stories surrounding first culture, birth families, adoption trauma, and more.
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Join us for the final episode of Season 3. Amber and I discuss what chosen family means to us and how it relates to interacting with our family units. Along with this, we share some of our closing thoughts about the entire season.
Community Resources with Joy Lieberthol Rho (00:31:33)
Joy is the CEO of IAMAdoptee, an online non-profit that provides resources for adoptees. She speaks on how this non-profit can help adoptees navigate their adoption journey in regards to the family unit as well as sharing a bit about her expertise in this work.
Unpacking Family Reunion with Mireille Adele (00:31:21)
Mireille Adele is a transracial adoptee from Canada. She was adopted with her twin sister and they had an interesting introduction to their birth mother at a young age. Listen in as she shares her story on reuniting with her birth family.
Future Generations (00:30:59)
As far as family goes, the older you get the more likely you will experience the question "do you want kids?". For adoptees that question may seem more complex as we try to understand how or if we want to have children. Listen in as Amber and I discuss our own experiences and season of life exploring this idea of "the next generation".
Exploring & Belonging with Owen Knight (00:28:11)
Owen Knight is a transracial adoptee from Korea. He was also a contestant on Survivor Season 43 where some of his story about being a transracial adoptee was shared. Listen in as he talks about his childhood, his adoptee identity, and the various ways he's navigated his adoption journey.
Her Homecoming with Darci Siegel (00:31:57)
Darci Wen Siegel is a Chinese adoptee from Huangshi and identifies as a transnational adoptee, activist, and advocate, whose dedication to examining the relationship between gender, race, and policy is driven by her personal experiences stemming from China’s One-Child Policy. Listen in as she shares her story of returning to China along with seeing how her adoptee identity has impacted her perspective on herself and relationships with others.
Culture Clash with Eric Bartram (00:37:04)
Continuing on the focus of romantic relationships tune in to this episode where Eric Bartram, a Korean adoptee, shares his experience navigating his adoptee identity while in relationship with his wife who is also Korean.
Romantic & In-Law Relationships (00:31:05)
Join us this week as Amber Davies-Sloan and I discuss how our adoptee identity might have impacted some of our previous romantic relationships. We also briefly talk about our spouses and what our experiences have been like not only sharing our adoption journey with them but also with others like our in-laws.
For My Younger Self with John McCormick (00:30:47)
Joh McCormick, a transracial adoptee from Colombia, shares his story about reuniting with his birth family. He discusses different resources that supported him through his journey and talks about his most recent visit to be with his birth family.
Cultural Respect with Sam Severns (00:26:27)
Listen in while Sam Severns, a Korean adoptee raised in Colorado, discusses his birth family reunion story. While Sam also shares about his story, he adds in about a non-profit that impacted him from childhood to now.
Reunion Journey with Sarah Anderson (00:26:30)
Sarah is a Transracial Jamaican adoptee who was raised in Lancaster, PA. She shares about her adoption background and provides insight into the past 12 years of being in reunion with her birth family.
Family Unit Introduction (00:32:12)
In this episode, Amber joins the conversation about what the family unit means. We discuss topics like what we believed the family structure was suppose to look like due to media influence, to our thoughts regarding our adoption and birth families.
Meet & Greet with Amber Davies-Sloan (00:28:52)
On today's episode we are meeting Amber Davies-Sloan, my co-host for a few episodes this season. Amber is a Korean transracial adoptee whose experience and research provides a new depth to this season. For today, listen in as you get to know parts of her adoption journey, perspective, and experiences.
Season 3: You, me, and family (00:01:27)
Join me this season as transracial adoptees share their experiences and story regarding different ways their family unit has impacted their identity. Along with hearing those stories, I have the privilege to go deeper into topics like our foundational concept of family, relationships we hold close to our hearts, and navigating our chosen family with my new friend- Amber Davies-Sloan. Her voice and perspective as not only a Korean transracial adoptee but also as an educator who has studied how the adoptee identity effects interpersonal relationships is so vital to these conversations this season. I look forward to sharing new episodes with you each Wednesday from April 5th till June 28th as the adoptee voyage continues.
Family, Culture, and Me with Mandy Dortschy (00:26:24)
For this week, join myself and Amanda (Mandy) Dortschy. She is a transracial adoptee from Lima, Peru, grew up in Charlotte, NC and now is located in San Diego, CA. Mandy's adopted mom is from the States and her adopted father is from Germany, giving her citizenship in all 3 countries. Mandy is thankful to have an opportunity to share her adoption story and how it has made her the person she is today. It's taught her to always stay curious with an open mind, to planning an upcoming trip back to Peru (for the first time) to meet her biological family. We discuss how these different cultures shaped her, some experiences she had in Charlotte, and this new curiosity to understand her adoption story has made her who she is today.
Reflecting About Me with Kate McCann (00:25:57)
In this episode, Kate McCann, a Korean adoptee speaks about her experience interacting with her first culture. Being adopted and growing up in Minnesota gave her feelings of wanting to just belong and fit in with the other white kids in her community. While seeing many other Korean adoptees, she feels like it wasn't until 2020 that she starting recognizing her Korean culture. Listen in as she speaks about the journey of getting to know herself better as she processes this piece of her identity.
Down the Hill with Kecia Weltz (00:23:29)
This week’s guest is Kecia Weltz, an adoptee from India who was raised in Mount Vernon, WA. Her mom, who recently passed, raised her and her sister who is also adopted from India. Kecia’s story includes some work experience supporting families in the adoption and foster community. Tune in as we discuss her childhood, work experience, and current interactions with her first culture.
Exploring More with Adrian Carlos Vanillacourt (00:20:30)
Adrian is a Peruvian adoptee who grew up in Canada. He has been on a journey to reconnect with his roots and has made some great memories from it. Listen in as he explains his love for Peru, his culture, and his experience.
Gift of Identity with Jennifer Lee (00:22:16)
On this episode, join Jennifer Lee, a Korean adoptee who was raised in the Greater Seattle area. She discusses her story, the difficulties on navigating her ethnic identity, and how she is passing the gift of being Korean onto her daughter. Jennifer is a single umma (mother in Korean) and has been estranged from her adoptive parents by choice for 5 years. For the past 20 years she has worked in the immigration law sector. Her work to reclaim her lost identity and culture inspired her to found a run a Families of Color group at her child's school, serve on Racial Equity and Educational Justice school committees, and form connections with her adoptee community. She's an avid runner and podcast listener, and hopes to find her lost biological family one day.
Returning Home with Sarah Guimond (00:28:03)
Sarah Guimond is a Peruvian adoptee who was raised in the Boston, MA area. She grew up with her sister who is also a Peruvian adoptee. When in college, she studied abroad in Peru and once she received her degree a year and a half later, she decided to move back to Peru permanently. Now, she supports the adoptee community through Peru Datos, which helps Peruvian adoptees locate their birth families or obtain dual citizenship; and Rewriting Adoption, which is a place where her sister, her, and other adoptees try to raise up adoptee voices and show more adoptee centered narrative. Find out more about her journey as you listen to today’s episode!
Navigating It All with Alexis Bartlett (00:23:52)
Alexis Bartlett is an adoptee from South Korea who was raised in Sydney, Australia. As a child she felt very little support from her family or community to understand her adoptee identity and birth culture. Once she began attending University she had various experiences engaging her birth culture. Now, after some newer experiences interacting with her first culture, Alexis resides in California with her husband and son. Hear more about her journey on today’s episode!
Culture Challenges with Joanna Jackson (00:21:00)
Joanna Jackson is a Peruvian adoptee who was raised on the East Coast. She has an open adoption so learning about her culture was a very open topic in her family unit. Throughout her life she was able to visit Peru and be in touch with her birth family. As an adult, she has her Masters in Social Work and is in the process of returning for her Doctorate in Social Work with a focus on adoption, relinquishment trauma, and identity development during adolescence into adulthood. Outside of pursuing this education opportunity, she loves being a mom to her 12 year old son. Listen in as she explains some challenges she faces when exploring her first culture.
Embracing Culture with Erika Lorenz (00:23:45)
Listen in to the heart behind why it's important for transracial adoptees to share their journeys as they embrace their first culture. The founder, Erika Lorenz, also speaks to her experiences over the years engaging with her birth culture in various ways. We also would like to say, some TRAs don't explore their first culture, and that is completely ok; however, the stories you will hear this season will be of TRAs who have decided to.
Trailer for Season 2: Exploring Our First Culture (00:01:31)
Join me October 5th for another season of The Adoptee Voyages Podcast. This season various transracial adoptee express their experiences of when, how, and why they decided to explore their first culture.
09. Foundation of Resources with Kelli Hall (00:25:57)
For the final episode of Season 1, Kelli Hall, a licensed independent clinical social worker who specializes in trauma informed therapy with foster and adoption children, joins me. She not only works as a resource to the adoption community, but adoption also is a part of her story since she is a domestic adoptee. Listen in as we discuss ways a piece of her story, common challenges adoptees face, and options for adoptees to continue their healing journey.
