Adoption: The Making of Me. An Oral History of Adoptee Stories

Jeanette Yoffe, M.A., M.F.T. earned her Master's degree in Clinical Psychology, specializing
in adoption and foster care for the past 20 years. She treats children, teens, and adults
with serious psychological problems secondary to histories of abuse, neglect,
adoption, and /or multiple foster care placements. She is also an adopted person,
raised in foster care for 6 years.
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She is the Founder of Celia Center Inc., a non-profit organization in Los Angeles
supporting all members of the foster care and adoption constellation, which includes
birth parents, foster youth, adoptees, foster and...

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 Chin...

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...

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...

Season 12 Final: Jean Kelly Widner is the author of 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...

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 Jo...

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 have been adopted by such wonderful parents, she could only smile while thinking, You don’t know what it is li...

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 attach...

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...

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 f...

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 communi...

Diane, an accomplished artist who has created work for most of her life in the San Francisco Bay Area, was adopted in 1964 by a couple who thought they were unable to have children. 8 months later, her brother, a biological child, was born. Diane’s parents told her when she was 4 years old that she was adopted. She was curious about her birth parents, yet it was the one subject in the family that could never be discussed. As a result, Diane developed an avid practice of searching the drawers and cupboards in her family’s house, looking for information. Late...

Adrian Burks is a filmmaker, writer, director, producer, and recovery professional with more than 15 years of experience telling authentic, human-centered stories. He began his career as an actor before transitioning into directing and producing films that explore identity, resilience, healing, and the human experience.

As a domestic adoptee who spent time in the foster care system, Adrian found strength and purpose through sports, which became both an outlet and a form of therapy during his childhood. Later, filmmaking became another powerful way to process his experiences, express his creativity, and give voice to stories that inspire hope...

Christy Gilvear is the creator of The Rooted Petal, a plant-centered brand where she shares the connection between houseplants, healing, and personal transformation. Through storytelling, plant care, and everyday moments in her indoor jungle, Christy invites people to slow down and reconnect with themselves and the natural world. Christy’s work is deeply shaped by her experience as an adoptee and her personal journey of identity, belonging, and healing. During a period of deep self-reflection, she began practicing yoga and meditation and slowly filled her home with houseplants. Part of that journey was recreating the feeling of Brazil, where sh...

Patsy Brooks-Tallant is a member of the Baby Scoop Era, the mid-20th-century period when societal pressures often forced unmarried or young mothers to surrender their infants for adoption. Born to a 21-year-old mother already raising four children, Patsy’s pregnancy stemmed from an affair while the mother’s military husband was overseas. To this day—over 63 years later—he believes Patsy is merely a family friend, unaware she is his wife’s biological daughter and his stepchild. The couple remains married. Unable to keep her child, Patsy’s birth mother arranged a private adoption through a family connection. Her own moth...

A lifelong resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Susan "Cricket" Fedorko (Grand Portage Band of Chippewa - Oijbwe) has contributed her writing to four anthologies on the subject of being adopted and has done numerous media interviews.

Her Chippewa - Oijbwe, birthmother, a famous supermodel, died in 1997, a short distance from Susan's home.

Suzie always knew she was adopted out at the early age of 11 months. She discovers at the age of 40 who her biological family is. Suzie discovers her birth mother is the first native american supermodel "Cathee Dahmen". Suzie is currently 64 and has been reunited...

Jackson TerKeurst is an author, speaker, and adoptee originally from Liberia, West Africa. At seven years old, he was separated from his family during the Liberian civil war and spent years living in an orphanage. At age 15, Jackson came to the United States as part of the African Children’s Choir, where his journey eventually led to his adoption by an American family. Despite arriving with limited formal education, he defied the odds and became the first person in his family line to graduate from college. Today, Jackson shares his remarkable story to inspire hope, resilience, and purpose in ot...

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...

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 me...

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...

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...

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 tha...

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...

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...

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.

Season 12 Book: The Adoption Paradox by Jean Kelly Widner

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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 ofte...

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...

Born into Roma heritage and adopted at just six weeks old, Mioara was raised by a Canadian/New Zealand family, growing up between cultures while carrying a quiet curiosity about her own origins.

In 2018, with the help of her father-in-law, she reconnected with her biological parents—an experience that reshaped her understanding of identity, belonging, and the unseen threads that connect us. Through that journey, Mioara discovered she had a younger sister who had also been relinquished at birth and adopted to Canada. This is when the search for her baby bio sister began.

In 2025, sh...

Jeff was born in San Francisco in October 1962. He was relinquished at birth and placed with his adoptive family three months later, in January 1963. His family moved from the Bay Area to Southern California when he was five years old. His older sister was also adopted, and both children grew up in a caring, loving home. They were informed of their adoptions at an early age, and the topic was always discussed positively anytime afterward. Nevertheless, specific challenges often faced by adopted children led to behavioral issues for Jeff as a teen. Chameleon syndrome's survival mechanism existed strongly in...

Born in 1968 in Fargo, ND, during the Baby Scoop Era, Greta spent a month in foster care before being adopted. She was never touched or held by her first mother. Greta was raised in a dysfunctional family, which contributed to her pain and the deep loss she felt, wondering who her first mother was and why she didn't want her. Shrouded in secrecy, adoption was never discussed, and Greta retreated into the Ghost Kingdom — finding refuge in basketball and creativity. Greta received a full-ride college basketball scholarship and majored in theatre, people-pleasing, and perfectionism. She was plagued by feelings of...

Raven was born in 1949 in North Hollywood, CA. Released at five days old to the delivering doctor and his wife, she has no idea where she went or when her adoptive parents got her.

Raised in Balboa, CA, she always knew she was adopted because she was told her mother had died, giving birth to her.
This story left Raven anxious, guilty, and fearful throughout her growing-up years- that others would die, and she would be alone.

Her adoption into the family was difficult, unloving, and emotionally abusive by her adoptive mother. Though her...

Valorie was born in New Jersey, she was relinquished at birth and placed with her adopted family at 2 months old.  There were many difficulties and challenges growing up, it certainly was not a fairytale childhood.  Some of the challenges included not bonding with her adopted mother, problems at school with other children and authority figures, drug and alcohol addiction in her teen years.  Despite these difficulties she found sobriety at an early age, moved out at the age of 19 and started the journey of healing.  Although she did not actively search in her younger years, her biological family was ofte...

Emma was born in Tennessee in 1989 and flown home just two days later — on Valentine’s Day. As a child, her adoption seemed more like a fairytale than a lived experience. Growing up in the country in an old farm house in the rolling blue hills of Western Massachusetts, she spent most days drawing, writing or exploring the fields and woods. Despite her home and her loving and creative family, she began to experience persistent anxiety and depression that worsened with age.

Meeting her birth mother at around twenty set off a cascade of often severe mental heal...

Season 11 concludes with Monica Hall, Jesse Scott, and Liz Harvie discussing their powerful books - Practically Still a Virgin, You Can’t Get Rid of Me, and Unspoken - and exploring the many layers of the adoptee experience. In a deep and honest conversation with hosts Sarah Reinhardt and Louise Browne, themes of identity, belonging, truth, and voice are thoughtfully examined.

Each book offers a distinct and compelling adoptee perspective, contributing meaningfully to the broader adoption narrative.

Season 11: Adoptee Memoirs - books in order:

Practically Still a Virgin by Monica Hall

Yo...

Maria was born and raised in the SF Bay Area in a hippie town full of diversity and freedom.  Her journey began in a temporary foster home until she was adopted at about four months old from the Children's Home Society to parents who already had three older kids, all boys.  Her adoptive parents divorced when she was three, but co-parented as best they could.  She had a lifelong interest in her creation story, specifically why her olive skin was so different from her adoptive brothers. She always felt distinctly different.  When she was seven, her father gave her the...

In 1954, Jan was born in a Quaker unwed mother's home. She was relinquished at birth, and her adoptive parents and brother became her world. When Jan turned 38, she was inundated with what she calls "nudges" to locate birth mother. Meeting her birth mother and biological family led to a complex and incredible balancing act because both adoptive and biological families lived in the same city, She considers it a journey worth taking.

After retiring from her years of working in a classroom setting with children dealing with a variety of complex emotional and behavior issues, she decided to organi...

Content Warning: This episode discusses suicide and mental health struggles; if you or someone you know needs help, please call/text 988 in the US and Canada.

Neshia, short for Teneshia, is from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was apprehended from her biological mother due to neglect and entered the child welfare system as a Crown ward in the late 1980s. After being adopted in the early 1990s, she was later remade a Crown ward again in the mid to late 1990s. The systems meant to protect her did not simply fail—they turned away.

Neshia is of...

Content Warning: This episode discusses suicide and mental health struggles; if you or someone you know needs help, please call/text 988 in the US and Canada.

Kelly Jean Torres is an author, singer-songwriter, and trauma-informed storyteller whose work explores what it means to survive and heal. Raised in a web of foster care, domestic violence, addiction, and emotional neglect, Kelly grew up learning how to disappear in order to stay safe.

Born in Illinois and now based in Nashville, Tennessee, Kelly’s early life was shaped by instability and fear, but also by a fierce in...

Jackie’s life and work are rooted in the profound belief that every individual deserves a "brave space" to show up authentically, fully, and without judgment. As the Executive Director of a Hospice Home and the founder of Lega-C Healing by Jackie, she dedicates her days to guiding others through life’s most delicate transitions with grace, intuition, and deep compassion.

Her professional path is inextricably linked to her extraordinary personal journey. A survivor of orphan trafficking from the Dominican Republic under the guise of international adoption, Jackie was brought to the United States as a child, afte...

Born in England, to a young American Mother, Dean was adopted by a loving English couple who already had another, separately adopted son. Fully aware of being adopted from an early age, both siblings struggled for a sense of identity, and tension was ever-present in the family. Eventually, aged 33, Dean decided to attempt to find and connect with his birth mother and was eventually able to do so, aged 42. Reunification went very well for a few years, but eventually their relationship became toxic, and Dean decided to move on.

Season 11: Adoptee Memoirs - books in order: