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What happens when you go from being an only child… to one of twelve overnight?

In this episode of Family Twist, and Kendall sits down with Elizabeth Barbour, an adoptee, adoptive mom, and reunion expert who has spent more than two decades living the reality so many are just beginning to face.

Elizabeth shares her story of searching in a pre-DNA era, making that life-changing phone call, and hearing the words many adoptees dream of: “I’ve hoped and prayed for this day.”

But this conversation goes far beyond the moment of discovery.

Together, they explore what happens after reunion. The emotional complexity. The shifting identities. The joy that exists right alongside grief. And what it really means to build relationships with people who are suddenly family.

Kendall opens up about his own ongoing experience with rejection from his birth mother, leading to one of the most honest and emotional conversations we’ve had on the show.

Elizabeth brings a rare perspective. She has lived reunion as an adoptee and as a parent. Through her work as a coach and practitioner, she helps others navigate this exact terrain with intention, care, and grounding.

This episode is about more than finding family.

It is about what comes next.

WHAT YOU’LL HEAR IN THIS EPISODE

• The moment Elizabeth found her birth mother and how it changed everything
• What it was like discovering 11 siblings after growing up as an only child
• The emotional reality of reunion after the initial excitement fades
• How Kendall continues to process rejection from his birth mother
• Why “family is addition” is more than just a comforting phrase
• What adoptees, NPEs, and donor-conceived people need most in reunion
• How to navigate identity, belonging, and grief all at the same time

WHY THIS EPISODE MATTERS

With more people discovering DNA surprises every day, reunion is no longer rare. But understanding how to navigate it still is.

If you are:

• An adoptee
• An NPE (Not Parent Expected)
• Donor-conceived
• Or someone supporting a loved one through discovery

This conversation will help you feel less alone and more prepared for what comes next.

Elizabeth Barbour, M.Ed. is an author, speaker, life coach, and shamanic practitioner who helps people navigate life’s most complex transitions with grounding and intention.

An adoptee reunited with her birth family for more than 26 years, Elizabeth is also an adoptive mother whose family is in reunion with their daughter’s birth family. Her lived experience, combined with her professional work, gives her a rare and deeply informed perspective on the emotional realities of adoption reunion.

Elizabeth supports individuals moving through grief, identity shifts, and relationship-building after discovery, using self-care, storytelling, and ritual as tools for healing.

She is the author of Smart Self-Care for Busy Women and Sacred Celebrations: Designing Rituals to Navigate Life’s Milestone Transitions, and is currently writing a book focused on adoption reunion.

She lives in Asheville, North Carolina with her daughter and two cats.

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What does adoption feel like for the person who never had a choice?

In this episode of Family Twist, Corey and Kendall talk with Leslie Pate Mackinnon, LCSW, a birth mother, therapist, and one of the most respected voices in the adoption and donor conception space.

As a teenager, Leslie placed her two firstborn sons for adoption during a time when young women were often given little say in the outcome. That experience didn’t fade with time. It shaped the course of her life and her work.

For more than four decades, Leslie has maintained a private psychotherapy practice, helping adoptees, birth parents, and families navigate the lifelong emotional impact of adoption, identity, and family secrets. She presents nationally and internationally on issues affecting families formed through adoption and third-party reproduction.

Leslie has been featured on Good Morning America with Robin Roberts, appeared on CNN discussing the impact of the internet on adoption, and was part of Dan Rather’s investigative report Adoption or Abduction. She also appeared on The Katie Couric Show alongside her oldest son, Pete. Her story is included in the book The Girls Who Went Away and the documentary A Girl Like Her.

This conversation goes where many don’t.

Leslie shares what it was like to lose her children without having a real choice, how that experience stayed with her, and what she’s learned after spending decades sitting with others navigating similar truths. She also talks about what therapists still misunderstand about adoption, and why education in this space matters more than ever.

This is a conversation about adoption stories, family secrets, and the emotional reality behind DNA discovery and identity.

If you’ve ever been part of an adoption story, an NPE discovery, or a donor-conceived family, this episode will hit close to home.

Listen now to hear Leslie’s story, and the truth she’s spent a lifetime helping others understand.

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What would you do if a simple DNA test revealed that the man you believed was your father wasn’t your biological parent?

In this episode of Family Twist, Corey and Kendall sit down with Laura Olmsted, founder of DNAngels, to talk about the moment a family history project turned into a life-changing DNA discovery. What began as a curiosity-driven test while building a genealogy scrapbook for her grandchildren quickly unraveled everything Laura thought she knew about her identity.

Laura shares the emotional journey of uncovering the truth about her biological father, confronting long-held family secrets, and learning that the answers sometimes come too late. But from that painful discovery came something remarkable. Determined to help others navigate the same confusing and emotional terrain, Laura founded DNAngels, a nonprofit that helps adoptees, NPEs, donor-conceived people, and others identify their biological families through genetic genealogy.

Today, DNAngels has helped solve thousands of cases around the world, reuniting people with their biological relatives and helping many finally understand where they come from.

Laura also shares practical insights about the DNA search process, why messaging your DNA matches matters more than you might think, and the steps people should take before beginning a search.

For anyone who has taken a DNA test and found unexpected results, this conversation offers both perspective and hope.

Learn more about DNAngels:
https://www.dnangels.org

About Laura Olmsted

Laura Olmsted is a world-renowned genetic genealogist and the Founder and Executive Director of DNAngels, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reuniting individuals with their biological families through the power of DNA. Since launching DNAngels in 2019, Laura has led the organization to remarkable success, with over 7,000 cases solved to date and thousands more people receiving answers about their origins.

Laura’s passion for genealogy began as a family project inspired by her Aunt Shirley. While creating a heritage book for her grandchildren, she took a DNA test and discovered a life-altering truth: the man she believed to be her father was not her biological parent. Determined to uncover her origins, Laura immersed herself in genetic genealogy. Within two weeks, she identified her biological father, gaining firsthand insight into the emotional complexities faced by adoptees, NPEs, and donor-conceived individuals.

That experience ultimately led her to create DNAngels, an organization that now helps people around the world uncover the truth about their biological families.

Topics in this episode

DNA surprise
NPE (Not Parent Expected) discovery
Genetic genealogy
Adoptee searches
DNA matches and family secrets
Finding biological parents
DNAngels nonprofit
Identity and family history