Jennifer Hiltebeitel (HILL-ta-bite-el) is a returning guest.

Jennifer is an adopted person on a lifelong healing journey. As an Enneagram Coach, she loves talking with other adoptees about how this tool for growth builds understanding and compassion for our whole selves. She believes healing happens in community and through the telling of our stories. You can connect with Jennifer on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/throughyourlensenneagram/, through email: jhiltebeitel@outlook.com or set up a free 30-minute Enneagram Coaching consultation with her at https://calendly.com/jhiltebeitel

Music by Corey Quinn

Original air date: October 25, 2022

During times in this episode, there is sensitive content that may be traumatizing to some audiences. Listener discretion advised.

Katie is an adoptee who has always known she was adopted. Abuse and neglect by adoptive parents growing up led her to feeling unloved or unwanted by them. As a younger person, Katie felt so broken and joined Al-Anon and (ACA) Adult Children of Alcoholics for healing. She still felt like something was missing in her recovery. A friend gave Katie the book, The Primal Wound by Nancy Verrier, and she then sought out podcasts about adoptees which all proved to be great resources.

Katie never had the desire to look for her birth parents, but an acquaintance insisted, and found maternal and paternal birth parents within days in 1996. She has met both birth families and have different relationships with them today.

Music by Corey Quinn

Debbie Nahid is a transracial intercountry adoptee born in 1968 in the UK. She was raised in foster care in a white English community and was adopted as a teenager by her foster mother. It was at this time that she also discovered the truth about her parents and heritage.

Debbie has spent her life searching for birth relatives and cultural connections and is the founder of Transracial Adult Adoptee Network (TAAN), a community of peers. She has created and facilitates two in-person support groups for adult adoptees in London and is also the co-founder of the Adult Adoptee Movement UK.

Debbie uses her lived experience to help others heal and inform of the dislocation, alienation and isolation that occurs from being raised in a white foster or adoptive home without a biological identity or same race role model.

Paul Sunderland Talks to Adoptees About HealingFrom Relinquishment Trauma and Complex PPTSD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8njTJVfsVA

Music by Corey Quinn

Linda Pevac (aka Emma Stevens) is a returning guest.

Linda is a U.S. domestic adoptee from birth and has survived layers of trauma that have put her on multiple journeys. She developed the inner strength and courage to surmount the many struggles she faced. Her traumas were born from being an adoptee who struggled with being forced to wear an impossible mask of playing the part of the “good adopted child.” Because being relinquished and adopted has colored her life, it’s Linda’s desire to be part of the movement that is dedicated to helping bring forth change to the way our world views the needs and support of adopted individuals. She believes strongly in adoptees finding their voice and discovering their truth to have a solid sense of self and to reclaim their identities. Through telling her story, Linda is dedicated to help redefine the narrative of adoption to include the entire complex truth.

This memoir is Linda Pavac (aka Emma Stevens’) third book. She has an undergraduate degree in journalism and has completed Master’s level course work in psychology, specializing in Marriage, Family, and Child counseling. She has two adult children and two cat children who she adores.

https://emmastevenswriter.com/

https://www.adopteetherapy.com/

Music by Corey Quinn

This solo episode embodies the anticipation of Autumn.

https://adoptee-voices.com/

Music by Corey Quinn

Original air date: April 5, 2022

Emma Stevens is a U.S. domestic adoptee from birth and has survived layers of trauma that have put her on multiple journeys. She developed the inner strength and courage to surmount the many struggles she faced. Her traumas were born from being an adoptee who struggled with being forced to wear an impossible mask of playing the part of the “good adopted child.” Because being relinquished and adopted has colored her life, it’s Emma’s desire to be part of the movement that is dedicated to helping bring forth change to the way our world views the needs and support of adopted individuals. She believes strongly in adoptees finding their voice and discovering their truth to have a solid sense of self and to reclaim their identities. Through telling her story, Emma is dedicated to help redefine the narrative of adoption to include the entire complex truth.

This memoir is Emma Stevens’ first book. She has an undergraduate degree in journalism and has completed Master’s level course work in psychology, specializing in Marriage, Family, and Child counseling. She has two adult children and two cat children who she adores.

"The Gathering Place, An Adoptee's Story" by Emma Stevens is available on Amazon.

https://emmastevenswriter.com/

Music by Corey Quinn

Astrid Castro, founder and CEO of Adoption Mosaic—an adoptee-led, BIPOC woman-founded nonprofit—has dedicated over three decades to serving the adoption constellation through innovative, adoptee-centered programs, events, courses, and consultations. Adopted from Colombia at the age of four (along with her older sister), Astrid’s life's work and interest in adoption shifted dramatically after reuniting with her birth/first mother in 2011, when she discovered she had been kidnapped and sold through the black market of adoption. Everything changed from that moment, reshaping not only her personal journey but also her professional commitment. Prior to creating Adoption Mosaic, Astrid worked in both the private and public sectors of adoption, including at the Oregon Post Adoption Resource Center (ORPARC), Holt International, and the Rocky Mountain Adoption Exchange. Her work continues to highlight the adoptee experience and expand access to essential post-adoption services for individuals and families.

https://adoptionmosaic.com/

Nomi Kaie is a Black same race domestic adoptee who enjoys connecting with others, daydreaming, delicious meals, the arts, and running fast, to name a few interests. https://www.onceuponatimeinadopteeland.com/episode/31-nomi-an-adoptee-and-writer-who-is-new-to-the-adoption-community

Music by Corey Quinn

Greta Handgis (Fadness) is a domestic same-race adoptee adopted through Lutheran Welfare Services in a closed adoption in 1968. She was relinquished immediately at birth and spent no time with her teenage biological mother. After a month in foster care, she was adopted. She was raised in a family with a younger sister, who was also adopted, and an older brother, who is the only biological child of her adoptive parents. She is in reunion with both her paternal and maternal families but is estranged from her birth mother after a 30-year relationship. She has two full-blood siblings, two half-blood siblings and is extremely close to her maternal aunt. Greta earned a degree in theatre and played NCAA women’s basketball on a full-ride scholarship. After college, Greta spent 10 years as an actor in Los Angeles before moving to Phoenix in 2001. She is a playwright, actor, acting coach and a former paralegal in the public defender system in Phoenix. She recently wrote and performed her award-winning one-woman show "Searching for Me in All the Wrong Places” in Los Angeles and is currently developing a new one-woman show that focuses on her adoption story as well as integrating other voices that make up the adoption constellation. In recovery from anorexia, Greta hopes that through her art she might help someone feel a little less alone as well as bring awareness to those who don’t know or understand the complexities of adoption and the challenges it can cause. Creativity, connection and community have been so healing in her navigating her own path, and also having an amazing husband, rescue dog and therapist doesn’t hurt either.

Website: https://gretafadness.com/

https://events.adoptionmosaic.com/wte-reg-disordered-eating

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/live-podcast-event-with-atmom-special-guests-tickets-1413096101479

Music by Corey Quinn