Adoption conversations, centered on adoptee voices.
Since 2021, Lanette and Shaun Nelson have been interviewing adoptees, birth parents, adoptive families and researchers to learn what openness really looks like, and how to do it well.
Finding Home: Identity, Reunion, and the Complexity of Adoption with Jay Barbanel
In this conversation, Shaun sits down with adoptee and author Jay Barbanel to explore the complexities of identity, belonging, and healing through adoption.
Play episodeWhere would you like to start?
Everyone is welcome here. Wherever you sit in the adoption constellation, we hope you’ll start by listening to adoptees.
I’m an adoptee
Adoptees of every age on identity, search, reunion and belonging.
I’m a birth parent
Birth parents share their stories, and what child-centered openness can look like.
I’m an adoptive or hopeful parent
What openness asks of you, why it matters for your child, and how to keep it going.
I work with families
Research, language and practice for social workers, therapists and agencies.
Open adoption is more than visits.
Openness has two sides, and adoptees need both. You can’t always control contact. You can always keep the conversation open.
Communicative openness is even more clearly related to outcomes.
Conversations to begin with
All 130 episodes →Challenging the “Lucky Adoptee” Narrative with Allison Olson
Adoptee Allison Olson, author of the children’s book “Surrounded by Love,” discusses the impact of the “lucky adoptee” narrative and adoptee wellness.
Listen · 61 minWhy Open Adoption?
There are two kinds of openness in adoption—structural and communicative.
Listen · 36 minOpen Adoptee Roots with Devanie Roberts
Devanie grew up in a very open adoption during a time when open adoption was so rare that a Seattle news station flew into California, where she grew up, and did a specia
Listen · 73 minAdoption Through a Scholarly Lens with Professor Abbie Goldberg
Doctor Abbie Goldberg is a professor at Clark University in Massachusetts.
Listen · 32 minAdoptee-Centered Language
In this episode we discuss the history of different schools of thought regarding adoption language, including Positive Adoption Language and Honest Adoption Language.
Listen · 31 minDisenfranchised Grief
We wrap up National Adoption Month with a discussion about disenfranchised grief and some highlights and lessons learned during 100 episodes of the Open Adoption Project
Listen · 37 minIn their words
“Adoption is a lifelong journey. It ebbs and it flows.”
“The adoption story belongs to the child, not to you.”
“Don’t think that you’re broken or any less of a person because you’re hurting.”
The Openness Guide for Adoptive Parents
Lanette wrote the book she wished we’d had when we adopted our first child: the roles you play beyond “mom” or “dad,” the honest questions to work through, and how to keep openness centered on your child. Grounded in the voices of adoptees and birth parents. All proceeds from the book go right back into the podcast.
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