S9, Ep. 9: Andrea

Born in 1976, Andrea is a same-race, domestic adoptee with international roots. Andrea's birth mother was from Greece and traveled to Sacramento, California, where she gave birth to and relinquished Andrea before promptly leaving the U.S. Raised as an only child in her adoptive family, Andrea spent most of her life understanding her adoption story as a single narrative about how a couple who couldn't have a child of their own "chose" her. It wasn't until the birth of her daughter in 2010 that Andrea started asking questions about her relinquishment and her birth mother's story. Andrea reunited with her birth mother Voula in Greece in 2019, three years before Voula died.

Andrea has spent the better part of her forties uncovering the details of Voula's journey to the United States and back to Greece, in an effort to understand where Andrea can call home. Ultimately landing halfway between California and Greece, Andrea has made her home in Queens, New York, where she lives with her husband and daughter and teaches academic writing to college students. She has begun writing about her adoption journey for the Adoptee Voices E-Zine. She is grateful for adoptee communities, like the one created by Adoption the Making of Me, where adopted people can share their stories.

S9, Ep. 8: Shawn

"Just a quick note - this episode contains language some listeners might find offensive -- regarding experiences involving racism."

In 1963, Shawn was placed for adoption because his white mother's family didn't want a biracial grandson. As an infant, he passed for white, and he was adopted by a racist, rural Indiana family who didn't realize that he was black. Ashamed of his ethnicity, his mother concocted lies to hide his race from everyone, including Shawn.

This lack of racial identity caused depressing confusion and conflict with his education, relationships, and career, but his mother insisted that he was not to search for his birth family until after she died.

Around age 40, Shawn and his wife decided that he was well-suited to adopt other biracial babies. Through the adoption process, he discovered clues that helped him locate and reunite with his biological family.

S9, Ep. 7: Lisa

Lisa was born in 1958 and grew up in Franklin, Indiana. She was the youngest of two children, both of whom were adopted. As far back as she can remember, she always knew she was “chosen.”

With no real information to go on, and after submitting her DNA with no close family matches, her husband spent hours putting together a family tree. Through this effort, they were able to identify her biological father. She believes they have identified her biological mother as well, but they have not yet attempted to make contact.

Lisa now lives in the St. Louis, Missouri area, where she has two wonderful children and a grandson. She also has bonus children and grandchildren, whom she enjoys spending time with. She currently works as a software consultant but is on the verge of retiring. In addition, she has two Bernedoodles that keep her very active.

Finding this podcast has finally helped her feel that she is definitely not alone!

S9, Ep. 6: Matt

In 1983, Matt’s mother delivered him in a metro Detroit hospital. Within a week he was relinquished to Catholic Social Services, and moved into foster care to spend the first three months of his life.

A married couple, unable to have a natural child themselves, adopted and raised him lovingly as their first child. While growing up, Matt always knew he was adopted, but besides this knowledge, his family rarely discussed the topic of adoption.

Matt has been in reunion since 2009 with members of his biological family on his maternal and paternal side, including his first mother. Only since 2022, though, has ‘The Fog’ over his eyes begun to lift - that of the dominant narrative surrounding the American adoption system.

Today, Matt lives in northwest lower Michigan with his girlfriend, their two cats, and his two biological sons. He is writing a memoir about his life as an adoptee.

S9, Ep. 5: Jennifer

Jennifer is an adoptee born in Orange County, California, in 1963. The first six weeks of her life remain a mystery. Although she was adopted by a loving family, her journey has not been easy. As part of the Baby Scoop Era, she was relinquished at birth and spent her early weeks in foster care.

Her adoptive family, led by the daughter of a well-known artist and former model, provided a stable home, but Jennifer always felt like she wasn’t enough. She grew up as the middle child with two brothers: her older brother, who was also adopted, and her younger brother, the biological son of her adoptive parents, who had been surprised by his arrival, as they had previously been told they couldn’t have children.

Jennifer always knew she was adopted, though she can’t remember being explicitly told. As she grew older, she became curious about her origins and began wondering who she might resemble. This curiosity led her down a destructive path, turning to drugs and alcohol as a way to cope. Years of rebellion, running away, and conflicts with her parents culminated in her legal emancipation at age 15.

Things continued to spiral out of control until she ended up in a treatment center in Portland, Oregon. Once she had regained clarity, Jennifer realized she needed to understand her medical history, and so began a search for her biological family. Remarkably, it only took three hours for a search specialist to find them.

However, not all reunions are as heartwarming as one might hope. Jennifer’s birth mother, sadly, had no interest in reconnecting and refused to meet her. Despite this, Jennifer did find a half-brother with whom she still maintains a relationship. Tragically, her birth mother passed away in 2023, never having met the daughter she had given life to in 1963. In Jennifer’s words, “It’s her loss.” Coincidentally, just weeks after her birth mother’s death, Jennifer’s adoptive mother passed away as well.

Today, Jennifer has come to terms with the reality that she will never know the woman who gave birth to her. Meeting other biological family members has become a meaningful part of her journey. She is currently working on her memoir, Sometimes You Just Need a Lollipop: A Very Adult Story of My Spiritual Awakening, a candid exploration of her life’s struggles, her search for self, and her spiritual growth.

S9, Ep. 4: Adam

Adam was adopted from Huentitán el Alto, in Jalisco, Mexico. Ron and Wendy had already adopted a son so they planned on adopting a girl as their second child to be named Amy but she suddenly passed away and out of distraught they told the lawyer to give them the next baby available, me. They changed names from Amy to Adam.

Adam always felt different, like from another world. He exhibited signs of abandonment issues early on never allowing his mother to leave him without crying. In hindsight, he can say it was because he didn’t think she would come back. Not in the sense that other kids cry for their mom to pick them up, he thought she might never come back. This fear of being left developed well into his teens and adulthood in the form of abusive relationships which he would never leave and manifested into several life-threatening situations. 

To couple this, Adam experienced an Identity crisis and at the age of 17, he felt as if his name no longer fit him. He wasn’t Juan Carlos anymore (his birth name) but he no longer felt comfortable claiming the full name his adoptive parents gave him. He legally changed it to keep Adam and to have Esparza Plascencia as his surname, given to him at birth. Maybe he could feel as if he was a part of both. He knew his name because he kept his adoption certificate, more or less a one-page contract that his birth mother signed in pen, Maria De Jesus Esparza Plascencia. At times when he was left alone with his thoughts he would trace the engraved ink on the parchment to bring him closer to her. To try and feel her sentiment. 

Adam works as Director for a CBO (Community Based Organization) specializing in youth outreach in elementary schools through the Queens, NY borough and is licensed by the OCFS (The Office of Children and Family Services). As his journey to reunion continues he is also happy to announce a new position as one of several Ambassadors representing The Adoptee Mentoring Society, a community giving light to the adoptee narrative and providing support for adoptees, by adoptees. 

Through his catharsis and above all else he has come to the realization that the road back to oneself is not external after all but inside each and everyone of us just the same. For Adam, it was time to let go of “being let go of”. By sharing his own healing process he hopes to enable other adoptees along the winding road we all have in common. 

S9, Ep. 3: Melissa

Melissa was adopted at birth in 1965 in Little Rock, AR. Her adoptive parents were able to take her home at five days old straight from the hospital since it was a private adoption facilitated by the doctors and lawyer. Understanding the signs of the times as she grew, she never felt rejected by her birth mother. Her life has been full and blessed from the beginning. For most of her life, she declared there wasn’t a desire to search when asked. However, searching for familiar faces in a crowd and then internet and social media searches crept throughout different periods of her lifetime. Holding her daughter and then her son two years later increased her desire to have biological connections that had been missing in her life. When her adoptive father began having health problems, she knew it was time to get serious about her search. 

S9, Ep. 2: Michelle

Michelle Rice-Gauvreau is a native Mohawk woman born in 1969 in Canada and raised in Connecticut via an illegal adoption, which was commonplace for many Indian babies throughout many years across North America.  She is the author of Who Am I? Native American Child Taken From A Reservation And Raised In White America. Michelle is a compassionate advocate for all adoptees looking for their own truth, peace, and hope. She hopes to instill her strength to any adoptee struggling to find their way.
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Michelle now works as a legal professional for a prestigious law firm. She resides in Connecticut with her husband of many years and her two senior cats.  She enjoys traveling and learning more about native cultures far and wide.

S9, Ep. 1: Rebecca

Rebecca is an adoptee, mother, teacher, historian, and award-winning author of the recently published ‘Who Is a Worthy Mother'? An Intimate History of Adoption.’ Rebecca was driven to write a history of adoption in the United States from the perspective of an adoptee and to honor the memory of her older sister and the truth of brave women everywhere. Rebecca teaches in the School of Education at the University of Puget Sound and lives in Seattle with her husband and two daughters.

S8, Ep. 20: FINALE: Ann Fessler

Ann Fessler is an author, filmmaker, and installation artist. Her work addresses the gap between the authoritative history one learns in history books, and that same history as understood by those who lived it. She has spent more than thirty years bringing stories of ordinary people, and the first-person narratives of adoption, into the public sphere through her visual works and Writing.

Fessler traveled the country to interview more than 100 women who lost children to adoption during the 28 years that followed WWII when a perfect storm of circumstances led to an unprecedented 1.5 million non-family surrenders. With the support of a 2003-04 Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard, Fessler researched the history of the era and later combined her research and interviews in a non-fiction book, The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Lost Children to Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade (The Penguin Press, 2006).

The book, which places the women’s stories within the social history of the time period and her own story as an adoptee was called “wrenching, riveting” by the Chicago Tribune; “a remarkably well-researched and accomplished book” by the New York Times; and “a blend of deeply moving personal tales, bolstered by solid sociological analysis—journalism of the first order” by the San Francisco Chronicle. The Girls Who Went Away was chosen as one of the top 5 non-fiction books of 2006 by the National Book Critics Circle and was awarded the Ballard Book Prize, given annually to a female author who advances the dialogue about women’s rights. In 2011, The Girls Who Went Away was chosen by readers of Ms. magazine as one of the top 100 feminist books of all time.