Adoptees On

Bonus | Introducing Adoption Pop!

001 | Elf (2003): Adoption on the Big Screen

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is by singing loud for all to hear! Whether it's your first time watching this holiday classic, or your fiftieth, you've probably never watched Elf like this before. Podcast journalist Haley Radke, filmmaker Kristal Parke, and cultural critic Sullivan Summer–all adoptees themselves–explore the adoptee experience alongside adoptee Buddy the Elf, including adoptee terminology, biological parent fantasies, cultural identity struggles, and more.

313 | Molly Gaudry

Today's guest is Molly Gaudry, author of Fit Into Me: A Novel A Memoir. This interview is one of the first ever Molly has given surrounding her adoptee identity. Relatable to anyone who has contradictory or missing narratives in their origin stories, Molly shares the complexities of using literary defense mechanisms in her writing to push readers away from her personal truth. We also talk about her brain injury and recovery, how that physical vulnerability and even intimacy sometimes felt safer to share about than her adoption experience.

Bonus | Adoptees for Family Preservation

312 | Lynelle Long

Lynelle Long has been an adoptee advocate for nearly thirty years. The founder of Inter-Country Adoptee Voices (ICAV) Lynelle has built a network of thousands of adoptees around the world to both connect with each other and to effect change at each level of government, as high up as the United Nations. Today we get to hear some of her personal story, including her choice to have her adoption discharged in 2022, and about her role as an active observer to the Hague Convention. Lynelle also has some advice to adoptee advocates for our efficacy and longevity in adoption reform spaces. We do mention sexual abuse at a couple of points in this conversation, so please take care when listening.

311 | Sasha Hom

Sasha Hom lives an extraordinarily unconventional life. I'm so excited to introduce her to you. She's a writer, goat farmer, mother, and her new book Sidework is incredible. Today we talk about her experiences as a Korean adoptee, adopted to a Chinese American couple in California. Sasha tells us about her trips to Korea and China, we talk motherhood as adoptees, and how important writing is in her life.