Adoption: The Making of Me: An Oral History of Adoptee Stories
On this podcast, two adult adoptees discuss all things adoption from the adoptee perspective.
Latest Episodes
S12, Ep. 16: Anne-Grete
Although born and adopted in London in 1967, Anne-Grete is a Norwegian adoptee. Her birth mother happened to be there when she gave birth, and her adoptive dad was stationed at the Norwegian Embassy at the time. She had two siblings, both adopted from different cities in Norway. After moving around the world with her family, she came back to Norway for good when she was 16. After finishing her studies and moving between jobs and homes several times, she finally settled in Mandal with her husband and their cat.
Anne-Grete was a "happy adoptee" until she reached her fifties, and had always associated her lack of roots and connection with her nomadic life in the foreign service. After being reunited with her birth mother for nine years in her twenties and early thirties, the reunion ended. It took 24 years and a better understanding of the consequences of adoption for her to try to reconnect with her. At the same time, she finally felt the need to find the other half and has connected with siblings on her birth father's side. She is still a secret in her biological family, but hopes that will change over time.
Finding the organization Adopterte played a large part in her coming out of the fog, and after being a member for two years, she was elected to the board. Adopterte is a non-profit organization working to raise awareness about the repercussions of adoption and spread information about the history and practice of adoption in Norway. They arrange meetups two to three times a year and also have a closed Facebook group where members can share their experiences and find adoptees in their area. Their website is www.adopterte.no
S12, Ep. 15: Samantha
Samantha (Sam) Shields was born in San Francisco in 1970 and adopted from foster care as an infant. She grew up in nearby Napa knowing she was adopted, and provided many of the same platitudes as a lot of other adopted people: She wanted you to have a better life. She did what was best for you because she loved you. But Sam was certain something was wrong with her. Why else had she been placed for adoption? Failure to bond with her adoptive mom and her adoptive dad's death when she was seven meant that Sam often fantasized about meeting her original mom. After a years-long search, Sam finally located her original mom in 1997 at the age of twenty-seven and was reunited with her until her mother's death in 2020. The relationship was both challenging and rewarding. Both she and her original mom carried the shame of what happened, making self-acceptance hard. Studies back this up: many adoption reunions break down within the first few years after making contact, and after eight years, nearly half of those in an adoption reunion have abandoned the relationship altogether. Ultimately, what allowed Sam to find acceptance in herself was by facing her father, the man who had sexually violated her mother. Sam is currently at work on a memoir about her experience of reuniting with her original mother.
S12, Ep. 14: Gabriel
Originally from Chicago, Gabriel is an adult adoptee, street dancer, reconnecting P’urhépecha native, founder of MoFundamentals - the only foster-adoptee-led dance program in the U.S.- and artivist dedicated to highlighting the resiliency of the foster-adoptee community in Los Angeles. His work includes visibilizing powerful narratives rooted in foster care memory while honoring P’urhépecha and street dance culture in conversation with lessons of manhood; experiencing houselessness; being his own financial safety net; and, through dance healing, processing the loss of his little sister.
Across 14 years, his contributions at the intersection of dance artivism, healing practices, and foster youth advocacy have led to: training at intensives hosted by Rennie Harris (founder of the first and longest running hip-hop dance touring company), hosting the first foster-adoptee dance festival in the U.S., representing LA City District 1 as an ACTIVATE Cultural Policy Fellow, recruitment to pilot re-entry through performing arts programs, and being a 2022 DanceUSA Fellow, and being a 2024-2025 MAP Grantee to visibilize P’urhépecha, foster-adoptee, street dance narratives.
Check out our MoFundamentals website here
S12, Ep. 13: Lynn
Born & adopted in 1970 as an infant, Lynn always knew she was adopted. Told the sweet stories of being chosen & special. Lynn’s story later revealed many secrets & lies. Lynn grew up in a middle-class family with both parents, teachers & a brother 8 years older, biological to her adoptive parents. The secret revealed at 16 yrs old was that this was a kinship adoption & she’d known her birth mother her whole life; only as a cousin, not her birth mother. So she didn’t have a reunion but more of a reintroduction to her BM.
Through DNA, she later found her BF in 2019 at age 49 & the last puzzle piece she desired for many years. Only to bring more secrets & lies revealed. This reunion started well, but has unfortunately faded. Both relationships with BM & BF are broken with a second rejection.
Lynn is also an adoptive parent with her husband of 37 years & shares the journey with her daughter’s birth mother in an open adoption.
Lynn’s heart is for clear truth for adoptees & education for adoptive parents before adopting. It’s not a blank slate.
S12, Ep. 12: Mary Lynn
Mary Lynn was born in March of 1966 and spent her first ten months in foster care before being adopted and brought to Pittsburgh as an infant. Her foster mother later sent a heartfelt letter to her adoptive parents, carefully recording early milestones—first steps, first words, favorite foods—clear signs that Mary Lynn was well loved from the very beginning. Still, one question stayed with her as she grew up: why hadn’t she gone home from the hospital with her adoptive family? The explanations she received never quite felt complete.
Decades later, with curiosity and a sense that time mattered, Mary Lynn decided to look for answers. Despite the challenges of closed adoption records, she began researching, taking DNA tests, joining online communities, and sharing her story publicly. For years, she followed leads with patience and persistence.
Then one evening, a simple online post changed everything—a birthmother searching for a daughter born in March 1966, with details that closely matched Mary Lynn’s own. With help from experienced search volunteers, connections were made, and DNA confirmed long-held questions about her biological parents.
Meeting her birthmother was meaningful and emotional, even as it revealed a complicated family history and long-kept misunderstandings. Over time, Mary Lynn chose balance and peace, carrying forward the clarity she had gained.
Most importantly, the journey gave her a new purpose. Guided by others who had helped her, today Mary Lynn is a search angel, paying forward the gift of truth, connection, and hope.
S12, Ep. 11: Diane
Adopted as an infant by a naval officer and his wife during the Baby Scoop Era, Diane Wheaton has always heard conflicting versions of the truth of her origins — but it’s not until she is forty-seven years old that she begins to search for her biological family in earnest. Amid search and reunion, however, Diane’s adoptive parents become ill — and while overseeing their care, she is told about a secret they have kept from her for over fifteen years. This shocking disclosure complicates her already complicated feelings for them, and she finds herself faced with an important decision — one that feels almost impossible to make, but which results in a level of healing she never could have anticipated.
A touching memoir of self-discovery, Finding Loretta is Diane’s tale of searching for history, roots, and family. Ultimately, she comes to accept the two distinct dynamics of the families who have helped make her who she is today, and in doing so, she learns to embrace herself and feel grateful for everything she has experienced — even loss.
Diane lives in Southern California with her husband and two Siamese-mix cats. Diane is a member of the National Association of Memoir Writers and was a contributing author to the AN-YA Project’s adult adoptee anthology, Flip the Script. Finding Loretta has recently been named a finalist in the 38th Annual IBPA Book Award in Parenting and Family.
S12, Ep. 10: Jae
Jae Carelli was adopted from Korea at 5 months old and is the oldest of 5 children adopted from Korea through Holt International. They grew up in New Jersey and Cape Cod, and attended the Boston Conservatory at Berklee for their Bachelor's. They struggled with mental health issues as a child and young adult, which sent them on a journey, reckoning with their adoption, through multiple unsuccessful search attempts. Jae is now living in Brooklyn, NY, and works as a vocalist, musician, songwriter, and voice pedagogue whose work examines duality and identity through voice and sound. Jae navigates the space across binaries to explore the capabilities of voice as one of the key markers of identity, which guides their artistic expression as a transracial adoptee and their research with trans/gender non-conforming singers in their Master’s program with the Voice Study Centre. Last year, they released an album, American Doll, and premiered their show solo, Homeward Bound: a Korean Adoptee exploring the longing for belonging in 2025, using the 7 core issues of adoption as the concept for the projects. You can find more about Jae at jae-ci.com
S12, Ep. 9: Virginia
Virginia McQueen Laney is an adoptee in a blended family who is building meaningful work through an adoptee- and queer-centered collaborative practice. Her work extends beyond individual mental health to include advocacy for adoptee rights, collaboration with tribal communities, and serving the LGBTQIA2+ community. She is the founder of the Bozeman Identity Counseling Center. She holds a Master of Science in Clinical Counseling Psychology and is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor.
S12, Ep. 8: Alex
At the age of sixty, Alex Blum made a life-altering discovery: he was the eldest of four biological
brothers he never knew existed. Born in 1955, Blum had always known he was adopted, yet the
secrecy of the era kept every detail of his origins sealed. Without a court order, he spent decades
without a single clue about where he came from—or why he had been given up.
Raised by a wealthy family on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Blum grew up surrounded by privilege
but plagued by a deep sense of disconnection. He often felt out of place and emotionally unmoored,
longing for a sense of belonging that never arrived.
Having built a career helping others tell their stories—first for brands as a commercial producer and
then as a feature film producer with credits including Behind Enemy Lines and Flight of the
Phoenix for 20th Century Fox—Blum finally turns the camera on himself in An Accident of Birth.
More than a memoir of adoption and reunion, An Accident of Birth explores the universal emotional
landscape shared by adoptees everywhere. With candid, affecting prose, Blum examines the
pressures of “adoptee gratitude,” the quiet ache of alienation, and the lifelong search for identity,
connection, and home.
S12, Ep. 7: Lisa
Dr. Lisa Chism is the Clinical Director of the Oakland Macomb Center for Breast Health. She holds four specialty certifications, including Menopause Practitioner through The Menopause Society, Sexuality Counselor through the American Association of Sexuality Therapists, Counselors and Therapists, and Breast Care certification through the Oncology Nursing Society after 15 years of caring for breast cancer survivors and patients at high risk for breast cancer. This past year, she also earned certification as a trauma-informed care practitioner.
Dr. Chism has established a dedicated menopause and sexual health clinic, caring for the menopausal and sexual health needs of women with a history of breast cancer or those at elevated risk. She has authored numerous publications in women’s healthcare, including serving as lead author of The Menopause Society’s 2023 non-hormonal position statement. She guest lectures at universities across the country, and her textbook, The Doctor of Nursing Practice: A Guidebook for Role Development and Professional Issues, is now in its fifth edition.
Dr. Chism is a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and was named Menopause Practitioner of the Year in 2011. She previously served on the Board of Directors for the North American Menopause Society and on a federal advisory committee with the CDC focused on breast cancer in young women. In October 2021, she was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.
Most recently, Dr. Chism published her memoir, The Adopted Nurse, and remains passionate about the care of adoptees through a healthcare professional lens.
