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
S13, Ep. 3: Wilson
Wilson Munsterman is a 20-year-old author and adoptee who uses his experiences to bring greater attention to the complexity of adoption and the adoptee perspective. He is the author of Marked by Adoption: 10 Key Insights from an Adoptee’s Perspective, an Amazon #1 New Release that has reached readers internationally and been accepted into the Library of Congress. His advocacy has been recognized by the Nebraska Legislature through Legislative Resolution 483, along with letters of recognition from Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen and State Senator Rita Sanders. His story has also been featured across television, radio, and podcasts.
Adopted from China as an infant, Wilson believes adoption is not a one-size-fits-all experience. At 17, he testified before the Nebraska Legislature on adoption and continues to support the adoption community through writing, advocacy, and mentorship with younger adoptees.
Rather than defining adoption as entirely positive or negative, Wilson encourages space for the different experiences and emotions that come with it. At the center of his work is a larger question: even when we cannot control every part of our story, can we still build meaningful lives? Wilson encourages others to acknowledge their past, focus on what they can control, and recognize their ability to shape what comes next. Wilson's Website
S13, Ep. 2: Candi
Born in the Baby Scoop Era in 1969, Candi was adopted at five days old in a closed adoption. While loved by her adoptive family, adoption was rarely discussed beyond the narrative of being "chosen." She grew up with two older brothers who were biological to her parents, and a sister who was adopted 18 months after her.
When her adoptive mother passed away from cancer during Candi's junior year of high school, the profound grief overshadowed and masked the underlying trauma of her relinquishment. After several early search attempts, a 2017 DNA test finally helped her connect with her biological family, though in-person meetings were delayed for several years. Today, she cherishes the meaningful relationships she is building with her biological relatives and their families.
It was only two years ago that Candi finally learned the language to express how adoption has impacted her life. Discovering that there wasn’t something “wrong” with her but instead she was having normal reactions to what happened to her — was incredibly freeing. Since that breakthrough, Candi has immersed herself in adoptee-centered healing, education, and rights advocacy. Founding an in-person adoptee peer group and participating in community events have become the most transformative parts of her ongoing journey.
Professionally, Candi has worn many hats, working in various positions across different businesses throughout her career, although her favorite title is mom to her three children.
S13, Ep. 1: Samantha
Samantha Verrone is an interdisciplinary artist. Exploration of how time is spent, what holds our attention and a slow, mindful method using plant and mineral dyestuffs, hand stitchwork and foraged materials form the taproot of her process.
Sam is a baby scoop era adoptee from New York City, raised in Northern Westchester, NY along with her brother, Dave (S11, Ep. 14). After reunion, it took another 2 decades for the FOG to lift. As Sam discovered, the closed adoption system is built upon a foundation of shame, secrecy, identity erasure and forced gratitude. It takes time, determination, resilience and connection with other adoptees to dismantle.
The experience of coming out of the FOG has illuminated how deeply relinquishment and adoption have affected Sam’s life. Her lifelong fascination with found objects and materials marked by time and imperfection reflects an ongoing exploration of identity, belonging, loss, fracturing and connection. She works with foraged fragments without erasing histories, instead blending, mending, rearranging, deconstructing and reconstructing, transforming them into something new, collaborating with the past. Her work considers what we inherit, what we claim and let go and centers integration.
Through caring for her adoptive mother with dementia, Sam developed a method of supporting people experiencing cognitive decline. This work has deepened her understanding of care as a creative, relational practice—one that honors identity and preserves the dignity of the individual. Again, integration is the nexus. Care, craft, and culture are intertwined. Art is powerful healing.
S12, Finale: Jean
Jean Kelly Widner wrote The Adoption Paradox: Putting Adoption into Perspective, a powerful exploration of the complex realities of adoption. Born in 1965 and adopted at birth in Washington State, Jean lives the paradox she writes about-experiencing both love and loss, belonging and separation. In her book, she shares stories from all sides of the adoption triad: adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive families, alongside insights from mental health experts.
Jean brings clarity and compassion to a subject often wrapped in silence and misconception. With a background as a marketing consultant and joint venture affiliate marketing expert, she and her husband have built and sold two successful e-commerce companies. She also owns a local news and storytelling blog in Boulder City, Nevada, where her love of writing continues to grow.
Jean lives in Southern Nevada with her husband and two dogs, and often escapes the desert heat in their camper van, where they work remotely and explore new places. Through her writing, she invites readers to see adoption not as a simple narrative of rescue or loss-but as a layered, human experience that deserves honesty, empathy, and ethical reflection.
S12, Ep. 28: Pushpa
Pushpa Devi is an author and creative director whose work explores identity, belonging, courage, and the meaning of home. Born in India, she was adopted at age six and traveled from Calcutta to rural America in 1968 to join a family she had never met. English was her fourth language, and storytelling would later become her way of giving voice to the memories and emotions of that life-changing journey.
Pushpa first shared her story in her memoir, The Lucky Lotus. She later turned to children’s literature, transforming her childhood memories into the Blue Bear Series. Beginning with Journey Home, the series follows a young girl and her powder-blue teddy bear as they navigate uncertainty, change, and new beginnings. Other titles include My New World and What the Ocean Brought Me.
S12, Ep. 27: Janice
Janice Jones was adopted in 1947 at age four-and-a-half months by charismatic doctor and surgeon, Ralph Beare and his socialite wife, Lou, of Celina, Ohio. Jones grew up as a lonely, only, privileged child who found herself an outlier in her family and at school. While her adoption was no secret, discussing it was taboo. To be curious was to be ungrateful. When she was often reminded by those who admired her parents that she was a lucky girl to be adopted by such wonderful parents, she could only smile while thinking, You don’t know what it is like to live with them.
As an adult, Jones has had a long career as a freelance writer and editor. She has also been a dog-obedience instructor, children’s book buyer for a large, independent bookstore, and inventor of jigsaw puzzles that teach reading skills to children. The two things she values most in life are truth and connection to others. She considers the world at large to be her big, human family. Dr. Beare’s Daughter: Growing Up Adopted, Adored, and Afraid is her fourth published book.
S12, Ep. 26: Bryan
Bryan Post is a leading expert in child behavior, adoption trauma, and love-based parenting. A former foster child himself, Bryan has dedicated over two decades to helping families heal through connection, compassion, and regulation. He is the founder of Fear to Love, LLC, Bondify.ai, the Post Institute for Family-Centered Therapy, and the nonprofit Leaf Wraparound. His pioneering “Fear to Love Method” and the “Stress Model” empower parents to respond to challenging behaviors with understanding rather than fear or punishment.
Bryan’s approach blends neuroscience with timeless spiritual principles, particularly the teachings of Jesus, to address trauma and attachment disruptions in children. He has authored several influential books, including From Fear to Love, The Great Behavior Breakdown, and Parenting Softly, and co-authored the bestseller Beyond Consequences, Logic, and Control.
Through media appearances, live seminars, online trainings, and digital platforms, Bryan has impacted thousands of adoptive, foster, and biological families worldwide. His AI-powered parenting app, Bondify.ai, offers real-time, trauma-informed support, making expert guidance accessible to parents everywhere. Bryan’s central message is simple yet transformative: all behavior is communication, and true healing begins with love. Learn more at www.feartolove.com and www.bondify.ai.
S12, Ep. 25: Laurie
Born in 1968 during the Baby Scoop Era, Laurie was placed in foster care after birth and adopted at six weeks old by a loving family who had already adopted two other children. Though deeply loved, she always wondered about her origins and where she came from. At age 25, Laurie began searching for her birth mother with the help of an intermediary. Her birth mother provided the name of the man she believed was Laurie’s biological father. His family refused contact, believing it would bring a “black mark” to their family. Laurie never felt a connection to him and always questioned whether he was truly her father. At age 52, Laurie took an Ancestry DNA test. The results confirmed there was no biological connection. Instead, DNA led her to her biological father and three siblings. Although her relationship with her biological father eventually ended because of political differences, she remains close with one half-sister. Another unexpected discovery revealed a sister her birth mother had placed for adoption just 18 months after Laurie was born. The sisters found each other and remain very close today. Laurie has discovered six half-siblings and has relationships with two of them. Recently, after the passing of her half-brother, she attended a family picnic surrounded by biological relatives. For the first time, Laurie did not hide. She stood tall. After a lifetime of questions, searching, discoveries, and unexpected relationships, Laurie finally knows who she is—and she embraces her story with courage, gratitude, and pride.
S12, Ep. 24: Elle
Elle is a baby-scoop-era domestic adoptee born in NYC in May of 1969. She was adopted 2 months later into what was supposed to be a stable, religious family. For as long as she could remember, she was aware that both she and her older brother were adopted, but the details ended there. It was understood that questions were not welcome regarding the story of their adoptions. Growing up, Elle always knew she was radically different from her adoptive family, both physically and in personality and character. With violence and dysfunction in the home, ceasing somewhat when her adoptive father left the family when she was in grade school, she could never understand why people would say, “You should be grateful”. This tumultuous upbringing and lack of familial connection fueled her years-long search for identity and her birth family. Encountering many twists and turns along the way as well as some heartache and joy, Elle was able to meet with some biological family members while being repeatedly rejected by others, a situation that continues to this day. In a story that spans over 30 years, Elle was able to get most of the answers she was looking for and a small bit of closure. “Coming out of the fog” has allowed her to find healing and to assist others by sharing her story and lived experience. She is currently living in New York and working on a memoir, tentatively titled “Adopted AF – Confessions of a Mad Ungrateful Adoptee.”
S12, Ep. 23: Mischelle
Mishelle: The name on her birth certificate was Baby Girl Powers. A name that meant nothing at the time—just a placeholder. But the powers she gained through adoption—the ones she had to build to survive everything that followed—became very real. For years, she carried that strength without understanding its source. Strong, resilient… and still disconnected. Still alone. It wasn’t until The Making of Me that something shifted. There, in the stories of others, she began to see it clearly—the origin of her strength, hidden in plain sight for decades. Through this community, through these shared stories, she didn’t just understand her power— she finally harnessed it.
