Diego Vitelli, LMFT
Adoptees On
318 | Diego Vitelli, LMFT Today I’m joined by Diego Vitelli, a Colombian adoptee and adoptee-focused therapist. Diego shares his own adoption story with us, including what it has looked like for him to have been assigned an artificial date of birth. We also talk about the accuracy of using terms like “reunion” and “adoption trauma”. This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice. Please seek out...
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Kailee Pedersen
Adoptees On
317 | Kailee Pedersen Today’s guest is the multifaceted Kailee Pedersen: from software engineer to opera singer to novelist! Kailee shares about being adopted from China, growing up in Nebraska, navigating racial isolation and the complexities of searching for family across borders and systems. We also talk about her debut gothic horror novel Sacrificial Animals—how family legacy and intergenerational trauma show up on the page—and her upcoming novel The Minimalist, which features adoptee characters. There is one brief mention of suicide in our conversation. ...
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Jennifer Lauck
Adoptees On
316 | Jennifer Lauck Today we are honoured to have with us New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Lauck, whose memoirs have shaped how so many understand the adoptee experience. Her landmark book Blackbird is celebrating its 25th-anniversary edition this year. In our conversation we talk about Jennifer’s childhood, how she first met Nancy Verrier, and her synchronicities in her reunion with her birthmother, Catherine Diane. We mention abuse at multiple times during this conversation, including sexual abuse, so please take care when listening. ...
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Alé Cardinalle, MSW
Adoptees On
315 | Alé Cardinalle, MSW Today’s guest is Alé Cardinalle, an adoptee advocate who has taught millions of people on TikTok about the complexities of adoption. We talk about what reunion is like when it’s international and everyone speaks a different language. One of my favourite things about Alé is how much she loves her adoptive parents, she will loudly say how she had a privileged, love-filled life and even with all of those positives, adoption is still a trauma and has deeply impacted her. We also talk about pregnancy loss and how Alé’s experiences make her uniquely suited to talk...
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Nik Chang Hoon
Adoptees On
314 | Nik Chang Hoon Today’s guest is memoirist and poet, Nik Chang Hoon. Nik shares his journey of identity and language reclamation, including returning to Korea and reuniting with his birth mother in secret. We also talk about estrangement, healing, and his powerful writing that invites us to look deeper at the pain and resilience of finding one’s place between families and cultures. This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological,...
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Molly Gaudry
Adoptees On
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. ...
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Bonus: Adoptees for Family Preservation
Adoptees On
Bonus | Adoptees for Family Preservation This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice. Please seek out professionals in those fields if you need those services. The views expressed by the hosts of Adoptees On or any guests are their own and do not represent the opinions of any organization or other person unless otherwise stated.
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Lynelle Long
Adoptees On
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...
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Sasha Hom
Adoptees On
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. This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as...
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Mirella Stoyanova
Adoptees On
310 | Mirella Stoyanova Mirella Stoyanova is our guest today, and I don’t normally say this, but this was one of my favourite conversations in recent memory. Mirella is a therapist and writer, and her insights dazzled me. We talk about her experience being adopted at age 5, and what coming to America from Bulgaria was like. We discussed the what-ifs of kinship adoption, living in the both/and of grief and gratitude, and she shares an insight that stops me in my tracks: do adoptees reflect an existential crisis back to society? This podcast is for educational and...
info_outline314 | Nik Chang Hoon
Today’s guest is memoirist and poet, Nik Chang Hoon. Nik shares his journey of identity and language reclamation, including returning to Korea and reuniting with his birth mother in secret. We also talk about estrangement, healing, and his powerful writing that invites us to look deeper at the pain and resilience of finding one’s place between families and cultures.
Full Show Notes and Transcript Here
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This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice. Please seek out professionals in those fields if you need those services. The views expressed by the hosts of Adoptees On or any guests are their own and do not represent the opinions of any organization or other person unless otherwise stated.