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Heather Schultz Gittens (she/her) is a transracial adoptee who grew up on Long Island, NY. She was born in Seoul, South Korea and adopted at four months old in 1984. At age 30, she visited her birth country, reconnected with her Korean roots, and searched for her birth mother in 2014. When she returned from this first motherland trip, she became involved with the adoptee community in New York City. Given her passion for adoption reform, Heather served as the Communications and Development Manager at The Donaldson Adoption Institute from 2016 to 2017. She also was on the Board of Directors of Also-Known-As, Inc. (AKA) from 2015 to 2016 and ran a monthly session for preteen adoptees for All Together Now in 2015 to 2016.In 2017, Heather transitioned from nonprofit communication to academia. She started her teaching journey as an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Communication Studies at CUNY Baruch College. In 2022, Heather was appointed to a full-time Lecturer position. She teaches Professional Speech Communication, Introduction to Business Communication and Business Communication. Her classes blend theoretical concepts in communication, career development skills including interviewing and networking, and self-care and self-love tools including positive affirmations and mindfulness. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Master of Public Administration from Baruch College.Heather is also the Founder and Owner of Huh Healing Hub LLC. She earned her Usui Reiki Master Certification from Lily Rubinstein at The Center of Inner Wisdom in 2018. After moving through feelings of abandonment, grief and shame as a Korean adoptee and motherless daughter, she is deeply devoted to helping others heal themselves through Reiki, meditation and writing. In 2019, Heather created her Reiki company (Huh Healing Hub) in New York City. She included her birth surname (Huh) into the business name to honor her motherland of Korea. She offers private Reiki sessions and leads Reiki circles and workshops focused on mindfulness, unconditional self-love and transformation.Aside from her teaching and healing work, Heather serves on the Advisory Committee of Also-Known-As. She also continues to facilitate virtual writing and meditation workshops for AKA.Heather lives in Queens, NY with her husband. She loves to explore different countries, hike, and connect to her inner child through coloring books.Here is a list of Heather's personal essays, podcast episode, blog post and video interview about her adoptee journey and Reiki company:October and December 2014NBCNews.com: A Korean Adoptee Starts the Search for Her Birth Family (personal essay)https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/korean-adoptee-starts-search-her-birth-family-n209891NBCNews.com: The Search for a Birth Family Leads to Seoul and Back Again (personal essay)https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/search-birth-family-leads-seoul-back-again-n258911December 2020Adapted Podcast (Season 4, Episode 8: Heather Schultz): Interview with Kaomi Lee (Host of Adapted) about Heather's adoption journey and mission to help others survive and move past pain and trauma (podcast episode)https://adaptedpodcast.com/2020/12/01/season-4-episode-8-heather-schultz/June...
Labor of Love: A Podcast for BIPOC Adoptees Navigating Parenthood
Joy Lieberthal Rho is a powerful Korean adoptee leader, founder, visionary, and community nurturer. Join us for the pleasure of listening to her share some of her personal parenting journey, her keen observations on motherhood milestones, and the importance of seeking prenatal, postpartum, and mental healthcare that centers the unique and specific experience of being a BIPOC adoptee parent. Joy Lieberthal Rho BioJoy Lieberthal Rho, LCSW-R is a social worker/counselor in private practice and also at the Juilliard School in NY. She has been involved with the international adoptee community for over 25 years, as a founding member and former president of Also-Known-As, as a policy analyst at Donaldson Adoption Institute and as staff at a private adoption agency in NYC. Joy created the original mentorship program for Also-Known-As and also for Spence-Chapin Adoption agency. Dedicated to working within the Asian American and adoptee community, Joy worked as a clinical supervisor at the Korean American Family Service Center, a domestic violence service organization and co-directs Sejong Camp, a culture camp for Korean adoptees and American born Korean children. She is one of the creators of IAMADOPTEE.org, an online mental health and wellness resource for the international adoptee community. Joy is adopted from Korea, was found by her birthmother and has been in reunion with her for over 25 years.Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn ParkMusic: Mike Marlatt & Paul GulledgeEditing: Federico aka mixinghacksArtwork: Dalhe KimListen on: iTunes & SpotifyInstagram: @laboroflovepodcastVenmo: @laboroflovepodcast
Hollee A. McGinnis, MSW, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Social Work. She is a prominent scholar, policy expert, and community organizer on adoption and child welfare. Her research examines social and cultural determinants of children’s mental health, with a focus on improving outcomes for youth and adults with histories of childhood trauma and involvement in systems of child welfare locally and globally. Her current study will explore adult outcomes of adopted and foster care alumni. Prior to obtaining her doctorate in social work at Washington University in St. Louis, Dr. McGinnis was the policy director at the Donaldson Adoption Institute, a national organization focused on adoption policy and practice in the U.S., where she headed a national study on adoption and racial identity among adopted adults. She received her Master of Science from Columbia University School of Social Work (New York City) and completed a post-master’s clinical social work fellowship at the Yale University Child Study Center. In 1996, she founded Also-Known-As, Inc., a non-profit adult intercountry adoptee organization providing post-adoption services to international adoptees and adoptive families. Dr. McGinnis speaks regularly at national conferences and organizations, and has numerous published scholarly articles, book chapters, and essays. In 2008 she was recognized by the U.S. government with a Congressional Angel in Adoption award for her work in adoption. She is regularly sought out by the news media including interviewed about her research on South Korea’s child welfare system and overseas Korean adoptees by the New York Times Magazine, BBC News, and NPR.
Unknown. A word that can be used to describe much of her early beginnings, especially her experience related to adoption. She said, “There is so much that's lost because my birth mother is no longer on the planet.” A person, with whom April Dinwoodie wishes she had developed a stronger connection with. A person, who may have helped April find answers to some of her burning questions, such as “Were my birth parents in love? Were they connected in some significant way? Was there a forced sexual experience?” A list of questions that will always remain a part of her identity. An identity that was formed by taking bold steps forward, not backward. Helping her gain significant experience in the process, including CEO at The Donaldson Adoption Institute, founder of Adoptment and host of the rapidly growing podcast, Born in June Raised April. Leading her to experiences that have helped her position herself as a thought leader within the adoption and foster care community. A thought leader, whose efforts continuously challenge the norm. A thought leader, whose efforts could be looked upon as inspiration for future leaders. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: On Claiming Identity: Embrace your differences On Transracial Adoption: Be fierce about protecting your child, physically and emotionally On Qualities of Great Mentors: Commitment, Patience, and Presence On Advocacy: Strive to become an influencer
I want to invite you into a discussion about relationships with ourselves, through the lens of identity and race. April Dinwoodie shares her journey of growing up brown in a white family, navigating relationships with her adoptive family and how she has come to claim her own identity. We also touch on the recent closure of the Donaldson Adoption Institute and what April sees as the way forward in the advocacy movement. Full show notes here Connect With Us April Dinwoodie: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | aprildinwoodie.com Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Monthly Newsletter Send a Note or Record a Voicemail Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Google Play | iHeart Radio | Spotify | Stitcher | YouTube Listener Meet-Up | Write or Die Class on May 20, 2018 Support Adoptees On One Time Donation | Monthly | Secret Facebook Group
In this episode, Kyle takes a deep dive into one of the most polarizing topics in modern culture: abortion. We will tackle the scientific definition of "life", the reality of what's going on in the womb, the methods of an abortion, what Roe v. Wade accomplished, the arguments for abortion and why they're wrong, and what our role as warriors of God is in the fight for life. Let's get into it... Quick Resilience Boost materials for your review: - Methods of An Abortion: https://www.all.org/learn/abortion/methods/ - Life Begins at Fertilization by Princeton University: https://www.princeton.edu/~prolife/articles/embryoquotes2.html - The Sanctity of Human 2015 Life by Matt Chandler: https://www.tvcresources.net/resource-library/sermons/the-sanctity-of-human-life-prayer-2015 - Ben Shapiro Destroys the Abortion Argument: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDmwPGrZkYs - Details of Roe v. Wade: https://www.oyez.org/cases/1971/70-18 - Ten Legal Reasons to Reject Roe by Susan Wills: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/abortion/ten-legal-reasons-to-reject-roe.cfm - My Body, My Choice: http://abort73.com/abortion/mothers_body/ - What Happens Month-by-Month Within the Womb by Francis Beckwith: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/what-happens-month-by-month-within-the-womb/ - Ben Shapiro's Argument Against Sentience Constituting Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbNYOyPRpgg - Statistics on Hard Case Abortions by William Robert Johnston: http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/abreasons.html - Ben Shapiro's Argument Against Hard Case Abortion Argumentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkONHNXGfaM - Answers to Pro-Choice Questioners by the Human Coalition: https://www.humancoalition.org/2014/05/27/huco-helps-unravel-thorny-pro-abortion-arguments/ - Adoption Statistics by Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute: http://abort73.com/abortion/abortion_alternatives/ - Statistics on Live Births by the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/unmarried-childbearing.htm - The Pro-Life Movement Needs More Wilberforces by Gracy Olmstead: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/pro-life-movement-leaders-wilberforce/ - ICU Mobile: http://www.icumobile.org/ - Science is Giving the Pro-Life Movement a Boost: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/pro-life-pro-science/549308/ Web: www.undaunted.life Follow us: - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/undauntedlife/?hl=en - Twitter: https://twitter.com/UndauntedLife - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/undauntedlife Podcast: - Apple Podcasts/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/001-intro-to-undaunted-life/id1326692289?i=1000397608644&mt=2 - Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/I6e3gv4fgs7kv4a33h22lm3kctq - Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-184516957 Free YouVersion Devotionals: - A Man's Devotional: https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/2613-undauntedlife-a-mans-devotional - An Undaunted Marriage: https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/9192-undauntedlife-an-undaunted-marriage Follow the host Kyle Thompson: - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kyleokc/?hl=en - Twitter: https://twitter.com/kyleokc?lang=en Intro/outro music: Artist: August Burns Red Track: King of Sorrow Album: Phantom Anthem iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/phantom-anthem/1261508580 Listen on Apple Music and Spotify!
"Little April gets healed every time I engage in a conversation or action with a family of adoption or the community as an adult." ~April Dinwoodie April Dinwoodie is the adoptive daughter of a loving family in Rhode Island, a family she says created a center of gravity for her, a safe space. While Dinwoodie, who now lives in Harlem, New York, is grateful for a home where she felt grounded, accepted and loved, she always felt pulled to discover more about herself. That pull has been with her since she was a child, growing up as a biracial girl with her within a white family. And that pull is with her still today, fueling her passion to be a voice for adoptive families, adopted and foster care children and children within transracial families as Chief Executive of the Donaldson Adoption Institute and the founder of several programs and organizations around adoption. On this episode of the Support is Sexy podcast, April speaks about her personal journey of self discovery and navigating the world as an adoptee and as a Black woman, how her work in the adoption field began because she was solving a problem for herself in her journey to find her birth family, and how her passion for creating programs and spaces that support adoptive and foster and families has evolved into her purpose. What you'll learn... How growing up adopted pushed her to learn some coping mechanismsApril's advice of when to tell your child they are adopted.How she had to overcome the fear of "leaving home."How to create programs and opportunities that align with your personal experience, passion, purposeThe moment she began to shift from individual work to focusing on impact.The ways race, class and culture plays into adoption, foster care and women's reproductive health.How secrecy and shame play into the adoption process.What work she's doing today to preserve families and affect policy.What she wants people to know at transracial adoptions.How creating her podcast, Born in June, Raised in April has been cathartic for her and how she plans to grow moving forward.How self care is crucial to her.Resources for those on adoptions -- including movies and TV shows she recommends related to adoption.Subscribe to Support is Sexy podcast on iTunes or on Stitcher Radio! Thank you for listening! And hey, if you love it, please click here to leave us a Rating & Review on iTunes! Show notes, links, contacts and resources for this episode may be found at supportissexypodcast.com. [Music: “Easy” by SPCZ]
Join Pam Kroskie as she intervierws Marcie Keithley about her search and reunion for her daughter. Marcie J. Keithley is a retired bank manager and licensed Investment Representative with over 32 years of experience in sales, marketing, management and operations. In 2010, Marcie founded and operated her own grassroots organization and held an Adoption Awareness weekend in Kentuckiana, partnering with The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute and Indiana University Southeast. A birthmother in reunion since 2008, Marcie is a member of Concerned United Birthparents, American Adoption Congress, and currently serves as the Vice President/Treasurer of HEAR (Hoosiers for Equal Access to Records). She has held numerous board positions in her community such as Treasurer of Kiwanis International, United Way, Chamber of Commerce and Habitat for Humanity. Her personal story has been covered by the media, TV, radio, as well as the cover story for Southern Indiana Living Magazine. She is the author of the soon to be released memoir, “The ShoeBox Effect.”
Heather Schultz is the communications and development manager at The Donaldson Adoption Institute and freelance writer. She has covered a wide array of beats including bridal technology, criminal justice, pop culture, direct marketing, legal technology, digital marketing and interior design. Her articles have been published in The New York Times, NBC News, New York Daily News, St. Louis-Post Dispatch, Kollaboration New York, WhoSay, Library Journal, Direct Marketing News and Law Technology News. She has also written columns on reproductive health for the Center for American Progress and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Aside from her professional writing career, Heather is working on a memoir about her journey for unconditional self-love and acceptance from the lens of an adoptee and domestic violence survivor. She received both a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and Master of Public Administration from Baruch College in New York City. In her spare time, Heather serves on the volunteer Board of Directors of Also-Known-As, Inc., runs a pre-teen adoptee support group for All Together Now, and participates in the annual MS Walk at Jones Beach State Park in memory of her mother. You can find her at www.heatherjschultz.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @heatherjschultz, and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/heather.j.schultz/. She also helps run DAI's "Let's Adopt Reform" town halls, which you can live stream from http://www.letsadoptreform.org. Songs from A Collective Effort are available at SoundCloud (Http://soundcloud.com/acollectiveeffortmusic/sets/a-collective-effort-mix-bag) and other music of the podcast comes courtesy of Needle Drop Records by The Bell. Follow me on Twitter @TheRamblerADHD, email me at TheRamblerADHD@gmail.com, and like/share me on Facebook at Facebook.com/TheRamblerADHD. If you like the podcast, please be so kind as to leave a nice review on iTunes. Thanks for listening!
Guest: Adam Pertman Tune in and hear as our host Mardie Caldwell interviews Adam Pertman. He is the author of “Adoption Nation” and Executive Director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. The post Open Adoption & Upcoming Legislation appeared first on Let's Talk Adoption.
Creating a Family: Talk about Infertility, Adoption & Foster Care
Should you adopt out of birth order? What risks should parents be aware of. How can adoptive parents make it easier for their children if they adopt a child older than one of their existing children. Our guest will be David Brodzinsky, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Clinical & Developmental Psychology at Rutgers University and currently, Research Director of the Donaldson Adoption Institute in NYC. He is internationally known for his research, training, and clinical work in the area of adoption and has published five books, including Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self. foster care adoption, adopting older children, international adoption, orphan care, special need adoption, Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here: Blog summary of the show Highlights More Creating a Family resources on adopting out of birth order can be found here.Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)