Podcasts about Transracial

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down and react to the news of South Korea admitting to adoption fraud. It's not a light topic, but it is the Janchi Show so there's still a fair amount of laughs!Later, we get into HBAF Flavored Popcorn! Can someone tell us what the heck a “New York Cheeseburger” is?!Resources:The New York Times articleReddit Post with NYT article text (in comment)---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

In today's episode of Mind Your Own Karma - Beyond TheBandage, we're joined by Kellan Bacon, a transmasculine, transracial adoptee and holistic practitioner. Kellan shares their powerful journey of navigating life as a queer, trans person and how their experiences shaped their healing work. Through their practice, Kai Ming Holistics, Kellan uses compassionate,trauma-informed, and body-centered approaches to help individuals—especially queer and adopted folks—heal and reclaim their authentic selves.Kellan blends breathwork, polyvagal theory, parts work, and Root Cause Therapy to support nervous system healing and emotional release. They also dive deep into their own lived experiences as an adoptee and how their personal healing journey influences the work they do with others.In this episode, we explore topics such as:How being trans and a transracial adoptee intersects with Kellan's identity and healing journey.The power of breathwork and somatic practices in navigating trauma and reconnecting with the body.The importance of authenticity in healing and reclaiming one's true self.How Kellan's spirituality and healing practices have evolved over time, especially with Root Cause Therapy.And how we can heal from within by tuning in to our bodies and nervous systems. If you're someone who's exploring your identity, dealing with trauma, or interested in alternative healing practices, this episode will leave you with fresh perspectives and actionable insights for your own journey. Key Takeaways:• The intersection of adoption, queerness, and trans identity in healing.• Exploring alternative healing modalities like breathwork, polyvagal theory, and somatic practices.• The role of authenticity in reclaiming one's identity and healing from trauma.• How somatic techniques help to heal your nervous system and access emotional release. About Kellan Bacon: Kellan is a transmasculine, transracial adoptee from China and the founder of Kai Ming Holistics. They specialize in guiding queer and adopted folks through trauma-informed, body-centered healing using breathwork, polyvagal theory, parts work, and root cause therapy. Kellan's unique approach combines their own lived experiences with professional knowledge to create a compassionate, holistic space for healing. Connect with Kellan:Instagram accounts are: https://www.instagram.com/kellanbaconand https://www.instagram.com/kaimingholisticsKellan's Website: https://KaiMingHolistics.as.me/ Somatic Healing Journeys What if the answers you've been searching for aren't outside of you, but within? Somatic Mindful Guided Imagery® helps you access your body's hidden stories and begin real healing.Your body remembers what your mind has forgotten. Through Somatic Mindful Guided Imagery®, we listen, we feel, we heal. If your soul's been whispering for something more… follow the call at https://www.somatichealingjourneys.com/. Want to be a guest?If you're an out-of-the-box healer or someone with a unique perspective on healing—whether through somatic techniques, energy work, trauma-informed care, or any alternative methods—I'd love to hear from you! Reach out if you're interested in being a guest on Mind Your Own Karma - Beyond The Bandage.Email: mindyourownkarma@gmail.com#TransracialAdoptee #AdopteeVoices #Transmasculine#GenderExpansive #QueerHealing #AdopteeHealing #AuthenticSelf #ComingOutOfTheFog #BreathworkHealing #SomaticHealing #EmbodiedHealing #Transmasc #Nonbinary #NervousSystemRegulation #TraumaInformedCare #HealingJourney #MindBodyConnection #AsianAdoptee #ChineseAdoptee #AdopteeRights #TransAdopteeSpace #AdoptionTrauma #DecolonizeHealing #MindYourOwnKarma #HealingPodcast #QueerVoices #AdopteeStories #HolisticWellness #CommunityHealing #MindYourOwnKarma #Somatic #SomaticHealingJourneys #HealingPodcast

Send us a textIn this deeply personal and powerful episode of Teaching History Her Way, I sit down with my friend and colleague, Amy Mai Tierney, to discuss her experience as one of the many children brought to the United States through Operation Babylift at the end of the Vietnam War. Amy Mai shares her story of growing up as a transracial adoptee, how she uses history to understand her identity, and the questions that still remain. We explore why it's essential for history teachers—and all educators—to acknowledge and understand the unique experiences of transracial adoptees in their classrooms. You won't want to miss this conversation full of insight, emotion, and inspiration.Let's be friends and continue the conversation!Instagram: @teachinghistoryherwayX: http://www.twitter.com/historyherwayOn the Web/Blog: http://www.teachinghistoryherway.comFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/teachinghistoryherwayBlueSky: @historyherway.bsky.socialSupport the production of the Teaching History Her Way Podcast by purchasing some really great history tees. Click here to shop now or go to www.teachinghistoryherway.com and click on "Merch."

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down with Sara Docan-Morgan and talk about the burden of magical thinking while adopted, being in reunion with your birth family and how casual familial interactions can reduce the spotlight that is so often placed on adoptees when they meet their birth families.Meet Sara Docan-Morgan!Instagram: @in.reunionCheck out her book, In Reunion!---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

In March 2025, I am so fortunate  and honored to welcome some of the members of the Transracial Journeys Community, Co-Directors Mary Halm and Karen Thomas. We dive into this idea of luck in adoption and the blessings and burdens that come along with this experience. We also hear from one of the Board of Directors of TRJ, and adoptive parent, Michelle Daray. There are so many incredible gems in this one! For any member of the adoption community, this is a must listen episode.

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down and talk about storytelling, what it looks like in 2025 and all the stuff that goes into it.Me and Korea “Omma Poom” Art Installation: https://meandkorea.org/ommapoom2025---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down with our first guest in a while, Lynn Sando and chat with her about growing up (and living in) Minnesota, being a therapist and adoptee, and how important it is to be in community and what it means to “do the work.”Meet Lynn SandoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/sandowellnessInstagram: @sandowellnessWebsite: https://www.sandowellness.com/---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

Terria Roushun joins me today to dive into the heart of hair care and its cultural significance, especially for transracial adoptive parents of Black children. She emphasizes that caring for a child's hair is not just about styling—it's about recognizing and affirming their identity and heritage. Terria, a licensed cosmetologist and trauma-informed care expert, shares her journey from a corporate career to empowering families with the knowledge and tools they need to navigate cultural nuances in hair care. We chat about the importance of understanding the history behind Black hair and how it intertwines with self-esteem and pride. Plus, Terria offers practical advice for parents feeling overwhelmed by the challenges of caring for their child's hair, reminding us all that it's totally okay to learn and grow together in this journey.Terria Roushun, the founder of Hair Essentials and a certified trauma-informed care expert, joins Rachel for a rich discussion that goes beyond hair care – it's about understanding identity, culture, and love. As we kick things off, Terria passionately explains how learning about the cultural significance of hair is a vital part of parenting black children. She emphasizes that it's not just about keeping hair neat and styled; it's about making a profound statement to your child: “I see you, I value you.” With humor and insight, Rachel and Terria dissect the common fears and anxieties that adoptive parents face when caring for a black child's hair. It's like diving into a treasure chest of wisdom, where you realize that every coil and curl carries a story and a history.Throughout the conversation, they tackle the misconceptions surrounding black hair, dispelling the idea that it's a daunting task that requires some magical product. Instead, Terria encourages parents to view hair care as an opportunity for connection – a bonding time that can lead to deeper discussions about identity and self-worth. With relatable stories and practical tips, Terria inspires parents to embrace this journey with love and confidence, reminding them that learning how to care for their child's hair is not a chore but a beautiful act of love. The episode is not just educational; it's also heartwarming and empowering. It serves as a reminder that the journey of transracial adoption is filled with both challenges and immense joy. Listeners will leave feeling motivated to not only take care of hair but to also celebrate the unique identities of their children. If you're looking to enrich your understanding of hair care in the context of cultural identity, this episode is your golden ticket!Takeaways: Understanding the cultural significance of hair in black children fosters self-esteem and identity. Hair care for black children is deeply intertwined with history and personal pride, beyond mere maintenance. Transracial adoptive parents must actively engage in learning about hair care to empower their children. Creating a positive hair care routine can transform it into a bonding experience between parent and child. Parents often underestimate the emotional weight of hair care for their black children, leading to anxiety. Terria emphasizes that learning about black hair is a continuous journey, not just a one-time task. LINKS:Terria's websiteTerria's Facebook Group

In February 2025, I give you the 9th installment of How to Love a Transracially Adopted Person. In this part of the series I am joined by someone who, for the past year, has been on this journey with me in the most personal way: my boyfriend, David Sutphen. While he wasn't adopted, he has personal connections to adoption and knows what it's like to be part of a blended family. These experiences, I believe, have shaped his identity, his sense of belonging, and his capacity to love me, a transracially adopted person. Join us as we talk about connections in adoption, identity, and love. I also humbly share a very personal example of how my default setting of abandonment played out following a very special birthday trip with David.

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down and talk about our words / intentions for 2025, how parenting (unsurprisingly) can unearth a lot of extra feels around being adopted, and really just work to find our groove again.---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

In this episode of the Adoption Roadmap podcast, host Rebecca Gruenspan speaks with Jeff Dunn, an adoptive father of four, about his family's journey through adoption. They discuss the unique bonds formed through adoption, the challenges faced during the process, and the importance of open conversations about race and identity. Jeff shares insights on navigating the adoption process, the role of consultants, and the significance of supporting children through their unique experiences. He also discusses his children's book, 'A Buffalo Out of Water,' which addresses themes of belonging and identity in adoption. The conversation emphasizes the love and resilience found in adoptive families and offers valuable advice for hopeful adoptive parents. Links Mentioned Jeff Dunn A Buffalo Out of Water Allison Olson Relative Race RG Adoption Consulting The Adoption Roadmap Am I Ready to Adopt? QUIZ Chapters 00:00 The Adoption Journey: A Unique Bond 01:50 Navigating the Decision to Adopt 04:07 Communicating Adoption to Children 11:34 Facing Uncertainty in Adoption 13:57 The Role of Consultants in Adoption 15:08 Understanding Openness in Adoption 17:09 The Importance of an Open Heart 19:31 Building Connections with Other Families 20:49 Family Dynamics: Embracing Differences 24:39 Navigating Race and Identity in Adoption 28:29 Preparing for Conversations about Race 30:22 Creating Space for Hard Conversations 31:18 Introduction to Adoption Readiness 32:08 Discussing Race and Adoption with Biological Children 34:28 Navigating Cultural Awareness in Transracial Adoption 36:55 Honoring Birth Culture in a Family 39:20 Lessons Learned in Parenting and Adoption 42:34 Understanding Treacher Collins Syndrome 44:24 Family Dynamics in Diverse Households 46:18 Creating a Children's Book on Adoption 50:33 Themes of Belonging and Identity in Adoption 54:59 Advice for Adoptive Families 57:36 Future Projects and Closing Thoughts Tune in to The Adoption Roadmap Podcast every Wednesday and Friday mornings. If you like what you hear, I'd appreciate a follow and 5-star rating & review!  THANK YOU! For questions about adoption, episode suggestions or to appear as a guest on The Adoption Roadmap Podcast, email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠support@rgadoptionconsulting.com

In this episode of the Adoption Journey podcast, host Tarcia Smith speaks with William Uhrlaub, a transracial adoptee of Haitian descent. William shares his complex adoption story, detailing his early life in Haiti, the circumstances surrounding his adoption, and the challenges he faced growing up as the only black child in a predominantly white family. He discusses the impact of his upbringing in a fundamentalist Christian commune, the abuse he endured, and the ongoing struggle with his identity and cultural differences, particularly regarding hair care. William's journey highlights the intricacies of adoption, the importance of understanding one's roots, and the lasting effects of childhood experiences. In this conversation, William Uhrlaub shares his journey of self-discovery, navigating traumatic experiences related to his hair and identity, his time in juvenile detention, and the cultural awakening that followed. He discusses the challenges of growing up in a mixed-race family, the importance of understanding his black heritage, and the pivotal moment of reconnecting with his Haitian roots after years of believing his mother was dead. Through faith and community, he learns to embrace his identity and the complexities of his background. In this conversation, William Uhrlaub shares his profound journey of reconnecting with his biological family after being adopted. He discusses the overwhelming experience of meeting numerous family members, the challenges of navigating cultural expectations, and the complexities of his relationship with his biological mother. William emphasizes the importance of setting boundaries and understanding cultural differences, particularly for transracial adoptees. He also critiques the savior mentality often associated with adoption, advocating for a more nuanced understanding of cultural dynamics and the need for systemic change.

I found my way to Billie Oh via a beautiful article in the Huffington Post about their experience with Single Foster Dad Adoption. Billie began the foster journey with no intention of adopting, but life had other plans. No stranger to the foster care system, Billie grew up having foster children in the home. In addition, Billie's aunt and mom (the great writer Jeannine Ouellette,)had been in foster care as children themselves. Billie felt a calling to help. Suddenly welcoming a two year old into their home was a huge step. We talk about the chaotic first few weeks of bringing a toddler home as well as being a younger (20's), single, Queer parent and growing up trail by fire. In this rich episode, we also discuss:-Attachment bonding-Navigating a challenging system: the surprises, realties, and delicate dance of it all-Queer dating as a single parent -Transracial adoption and parenting and its unique demands.-Children with special needs, the importance of early intervention and utilizing all of the services available.

Summary In this episode of the Adoption Journey podcast, host Tarsha Smith interviews Jeff, an adoptive parent and author. Jeff shares his family's journey through adoption, including the emotional challenges they faced, the process of connecting with birth mothers, and the cultural considerations of raising children of different races. He discusses the dynamics of sibling relationships in an adoptive family and the inspiration behind his children's book, 'A Buffalo Out to Water.' In this engaging conversation, Jeff shares his passion for high-quality children's entertainment and how it inspired him to write a children's book about adoption. He discusses the importance of addressing sensitive topics in children's literature, particularly the complexities of adoption and the feelings that adoptees may experience. Jeff also reflects on his own family's journey with open adoption, emphasizing the value of maintaining connections with birth families. He offers heartfelt advice for prospective adoptive parents, encouraging them to approach the journey with love and openness, while acknowledging the challenges that may arise. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tarcia-smith0/support

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down and reflect on three years of the show, how our lives have changed since the trailer, and how the show (and the adoptee community) has changed our lives.Editor's note: I think we toe the line of conflating friends and fans of the show with the interracial, Asian adoptee community at large. For what it's worth, this was not our intent, and sometimes we fall into the trap of using the two somewhat interchangeably because of the time and nature of how the two entered our lives. We are certainly aware of (and grateful for) our elders in the adoptee space, and don't want it to seem like “the Janchi Show started this community” or that we did anything more than add some voices to the conversation.---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

Transracial adoption is not a new topic to The Riverside Project Podcast. We had the honor of speaking with Isaac Etter in a past episode on this topic and today we are talking with his adoptive mother, Julie.Julie Etter is an adoptive mom along with her husband. They have five children—two through adoption and three biologically. Julie is a beloved speaker on this topic of transracial adoption and the ups and downs her family has experienced. As a history teacher by trade, Julie loves to read and finds anything about history riveting. Her favorite way to spend her time is with her family and although she isn't supposed to have favorites, her grandchild holds a special place in her heart.In this episode, we continue the conversation on transracial adoption, the importance of mentors who can support you, some of the struggles parents and children may go through, key resources you should be aware of, and much more.Find the show notes and links to anything we discussed here: https://riversideproject.org/julie-etter-30Connect with us!Website: https://riversideproject.orgInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.riverside.projectFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/riversideproject.htx 

As childfree content creators, we often hear from folks who are considering fostering or adoption. That's why today, we're talking to probably one of the best voices on the topic. Angela Tucker, a transracial adoptee, is a filmmaker and author challenging the dominant adoption paradigms by centering adoptee voices in the mainstream. Angela is a Black woman adopted from foster care to a white family. Her story has been chronicled in ‘Closure', a documentary about the search for her biological parents, as well as in her book ‘You Should Be Grateful' which was released in 2023. She's also the founder of The Adopted Life, a consulting company where she offers workshops and mentorship, with a mission to help center adoptee stories and bring clarity and truth narratives about race, class, and identity. She has advised the writers of Broadway's ‘Jagged Little Pill' as well as NBC's ‘This Is Us'.  If you enjoy this episode, be sure to check out her podcast, ‘The Adoptee Next Door.' Angela lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband, Emmy-award winning filmmaker Bryan Tucker.Follow Angela on Instagram. Support this show. (We haven't launched the Patreon yet, lol) Our Switzerland trip + Portland meetups are officially *SOLD OUT.* Stay tuned for future trips! Wanna connect with us on social media? You can find us on Instagram and TikTok at @dinkypod. If you have a question or comment, email us at dinky@dinkypod.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dinky--5953015/support.

We're taking a break while our lives are as unstructured as they are. We'll be back, hopefully soon!

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down and talk about decompressing from KAAN, the adoptee conference we all met up at a month ago, re-entering non-adoptee spaces, and the mental fatigue that code switching brings.---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

DJ Supreme and TJ react to a story of Black joy where a Black hair care specialist opens a business to help transracial families learn about caring for Black hairSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Please jioin me and guest Dani Joy as we begin a conversation about deconstruction, about asking ourselves the hard questions and why doing so is so important. This is the first in a series of conversations with Dani and others about the intersection of adoption and religious trauma. Dani Joy is a mother of loss to adoption who has been on a deconstruction journey from narratives about race, adoption and religion. You can hear more about Danis experience on an earlier episode of the podcast. https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/IbncUWObGKb There are a number of resources available for people who are working to examine the beliefs they hold about the issues mentioned in the podcast. I encourage people to explore media being created by people of color, by adult adoptees and transracial and intercountry adopted people, by parents of loss to adoption, by former foster youth, and by former evangelicals and others who are challenging dominant historical and present day narratives. I also encourage people to create support systems as you move forward. Questioning can be scary, but is ultimately rewarding. Humans like to exist in binary systems of thought, and to categorize people and experiences. Doing so evolved as a survival strategy in a different time. Existing in those spaces can be valuable if used in the right context. Utilizing those structures in other contexts can lead to a stifling of creativity and to disconnection with ourselves and with others. Why Communication Matters | Psychology Today Being Antiracist | National Museum of African American History and Culture (si.edu) When Religion Hurts You: Healing from Religious Trauma and the Impact of High-Control Religion - Kindle edition by Anderson, Laura E.. Health, Fitness & Dieting Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. Transracial adoptees struggle to talk to their White parents about race - Washington Post Exvangelical (exvangelicalpodcast.com) the above resources are inadequate but a place to begin? Please visit The Adoption Files fb page and add links to resources that have helped you or others to navigate deconstruction. Thank you for listening!

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down with Jean and talk about Star Trek, KAAN, disability, queer identities and more! Jean is a Chinese adoptee from Wuhan and we talk about self-racializing in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic back in 2020.There's no snack and no Patrick this ep, but did we mention we talk about Star Trek? // Meet Jean!@dispacedklingon on Instagram---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down and talk about having dreams, incorporating our origin culture naturally, and how we find our history and place in America when adoption forcibly removes us from our own.Also, Happy Loving Day!Learn more about Loving Day here: https://lovingday.org/---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

Lilly Coleman Thinks Using The Word Nigga Is Edgy, Majority Of Conservatives Are Afraid To Use The Word Jew - That's The Real Edgy Word, Tide Is Turning On Political Correct Bullshit, Tide Is Also Turning On Pride Month - Nobody Cares, Normies, Israel Is Not America's Biggest Ally, Trump Bought And Paid By Israel, Lilly Coleman Has A Jew Nose, All Conservative Organizations Are Jewish-Controlled, You Can't Stand With Israel And Be “America First,” Republican / Israel Indoctrination, Tide Is Turning On Conservatives Backing Israel, At-Will Employment Is One Of The Dumbest Things In Society, Doxxing, Harrison Butker, Jews Responsible For Jesus Christ Erasure, How NORMIES Were During Covid, Misgendering, Freedom Of Speech, Job Interview Mode All Day Is Gay, Using The Term Genocide Is Anti-Semitic, Doxxing Comes From Liberals, Trans Racial, Body Positivity, Democrat Celebrating Fatness, Target Is A Liberal Store, Conservatism Is Anti-Establishment, + Much More Fuckery!   THESLYSHOW.COM: https://tinyurl.com/2p843vt3 TELEGRAM: https://tinyurl.com/dsyurdwr GAB: https://tinyurl.com/y9f58t6z X: https://tinyurl.com/yc87pwrr INSTAGRAM: https://tinyurl.com/yc8zvded FACEBOOK: https://tinyurl.com/596p4pt8 RUMBLE: https://tinyurl.com/st3xztdr BITCHUTE: https://tinyurl.com/3adyysbk SPOTIFY: https://tinyurl.com/2s44wvat APPLE PODCASTS: https://tinyurl.com/yh87mnve AMAZON MUSIC: https://shorturl.at/bzEP1 AUDIBLE: https://tinyurl.com/5fpakxd7 PANDORA: https://tinyurl.com/484ucdv9 IHEART MEDIA: https://tinyurl.com/bdzjzdvk TUNE IN RADIO: https://tinyurl.com/3z97fk9w

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 24! In this episode, we share a conversation with Sarah Myer, the Eisner Award nominated author and illustrator of the graphic memoir Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story, published by First Second Books. Other than the Eisner Awards, their work with Monstrous has gained attention with an L.A. Times Book Prize nomination and multiple starred reviews and recognition from a variety of places including a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, a Kirkus Best Teen and YA Graphic Literature of 2023, and numerous Best of 2023 lists. Sarah has also completed extensive work with IDW Publishing. They are currently the illustrator and cover artist of several comic issues of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures. Previously they were the colorist of TMNT vs Street Fighter and TMNT: Saturday Morning Adventures comics, as well as a variant cover artist of TMNT Usagi Yojimbo: WhereWhen issues. Additionally, Sarah is the writer and illustrator of their independent webcomic Cheer Up, Michael! Sarah's previous work includes Hello Kitty & Friends Coloring Book through VIZ Media and the Ringo Award Nominated Anthology Votes for Women: The Battle for the 19th Amendment published by Little Red Bird Press. In Votes for Women, they wrote and illustrated the installment “Asian American Exclusion.” We are also fans of Sarah's first graphic novel Maker Comics: Create a Costume! also published by First Second Books. You can keep up with updates on Sarah's work on her website sarahmyer.net and instagram @smyercomics. Buy Monstrous! It's amazing! If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or social media links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down with Amy Esposito and talk about growing up in a Korean immigrant community, finding your own way to be Korean, and then working a COVID floor in 2021 in North Carolina and experiencing a whole new world. // Meet Amy Esposito!She's on facebook but is kinda also a “digital hermit.”ResourcesTodd Heckert, Korean Adoptee tattoo artist | https://www.1tribeworld.com/ | @1tribeworld on Instagram---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

On this episode, I'm sitting down with Cameron Lee Small who is a licensed clinical counselor, national trainer, and adoptee advocate. As an adoptive parent myself, this topic is very near and dear to my heart, so I am so thrilled to have Cameron share his invaluable insights. Cameron's personal journey as an international adoptee from Korea informs his impactful work today. Through his private practice, Therapy Redeemed, as well as his upcoming book, The Adoptee's Journey: From Loss and Trauma to Healing and Empowerment, Cameron addresses the intersection of adoption, mental health, and social justice. Throughout our discussion, Cameron and I explore the complexities of adoption, from the need for safe spaces for transracial adoptees to the importance of normalizing conversations about therapy and mental health support. Cameron's dedication to elevating adoptee voices shines through as he shares his experiences and offers guidance for supporting children and families who are in the world of adoption. We also discuss the challenges that adoptees often face in finding their voices and identities, the significance of acknowledging their experiences, and the incredibly important role of caregivers and professionals in creating nurturing environments. Cameron's insights into supporting children in their journey towards permanency and self-discovery offer valuable guidance for anyone involved in the adoption process. From his own journey of self-discovery to his advocacy work today, Cameron embodies the essence of being "by their side." His commitment to supporting adoptees and fostering understanding and empathy within the adoption community is truly inspiring, and I am so appreciative toward his willingness to share his personal story on the show! Highlights: [2:36] - Cameron explains that he is a Korean American adoptee and is a licensed counselor working with adoptees and their families. [4:07] - Cameron adds that he works primarily with adult adoptees as a clinician, author, speaker, and trainer. [5:38] - Cameron primarily works with transracial international adoptees and some former foster youth. [6:33] - It's crucial to acknowledge a child's life before adoption and to normalize therapy for adopted children. [9:19] - Therapy ultimately benefits everyone and normalizes processing the lifelong impact of adoption. [11:48] - Cameron highlights the importance of recognizing cultural betrayal trauma and open conversations about the complexities of adoption. [14:36] - Cameron discusses his upcoming book The Adoptee's Journey. [16:06] - Connecting with other adoptees inspired Cameron to create safe spaces, support, and foster belonging. [19:35] - Cameron shares how a supervisor's openness about being a Korean adoptee inspired him to explore his heritage. [21:12] - Cameron further explains how that conversation with his supervisor was a turning point for him. [23:12] - Cameron points out how safe and brave spaces evolve through life; his individuation phase led to isolation and concealment. [26:12] - Advocates play a mentor-like role, offering support and guidance akin to Yoda guiding Luke Skywalker. [28:02] - Hear how Cameron closely examined storytelling in funerals, police stations, and late-night talk shows, emphasizing the need for safe spaces. [31:56] - Cameron emphasizes nurture to aid children's well-being, highlighting the important role of actively listening. [33:35] - Cameron stresses adoptee-driven narratives and awareness of adoptee consciousness stages. [36:13] - I discuss aiding foster children in developing their voices and understanding adoptee consciousness stages. [37:16] - Learn about Darla Henry's 3-5-7 model, aiding children's transitions to permanency through structured questioning. [39:00] - In supporting children towards permanency, it's crucial to be patient. [42:06] - Cameron argues that children want to be included in their own narratives. [44:53] - Cameron reflects on cultural perceptions of adoption, likening it to acknowledging separations such as divorce. [47:08] - Cameron acknowledges individuals who influenced his journey and highlights the importance of spousal support in his book. [49:51] - In closing, Cameron reflects on the intergenerational impact of adoption, especially regarding his daughter's questions about her Korean heritage. Links & Resources: Cameron Lee Small - The Adoptee's Journey: From Loss and Trauma to Healing and Empowerment Adoptee Consciousness Model Learning How to be a Critical Consumer of Adoption Research by JaeRan Kim Darla Henry's 3-5-7 Model

In this episode, I meet with Nikki Hunjan, MA CCC-SLP, to find ways we can be culturally responsive when for Asian-American transracial adoptees. Tune into this Youtube LIVE replay as we commemorate AAPI month and discuss: Nikki's journey as a TPT sellerNavigating imposter syndrome and microaggressions as a transracial adopteeQ&A with audience members about self advocacy in higher educationThe importance of representationsWays we can be more inclusive in the content creation spaceThis episode was previously recorded on the  Pediatric Speech Sister Network on Youtube. You can watch the visual episode HERE. ABOUT NIKKI: Nikki has been an SLP for 13 years. She lives in Virginia with her husband and two kids. Most of her experience has been in the schools, but she recently switched back to private practice.Get in touch with Nikki: Nikki Instagram: instagram.com/teachspeech365Nikki Website: http://www.teachspeech365.com Download her ROLL and PLAY FREEBIE here:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xTmyAE63VO1CxkB2WAeHFROZ7MAydSas/view?usp=sharingThis podcast is sponsored by the Pediatric Speech Sister Network© on YouTube Live. You can checkout the latest live replays here: http://youtube.com/@PediatricSpeechSisterNetwork _________________________________________________MORE FROM PEDIATRIC SPEECH SISTERFollow me on Instagram! http://instagram.com/pediatricspeechsister Check out the PSS Gift Shop: https://pedspeechsister.etsy.com Pediatric Speech Sister Show Podcast - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-pediatric-speech-sister-show/id1659114388 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Uqf5xU9edqc4W1VkhfZV9 Get your “5 Ways to Support BIPOC Children in Clinical and Education Settings” FREE Poster Here: http://tinyurl.com/supportBIPOCkids"Introduction to Cultural Competemility in Speech Pathology" eBook Pre-Sell: https://tinyurl.com/culturalcompetemilityGET HERE: CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS GLOSSARY: Start challenging your implicit biases with the “Empowering Inclusivity: Culturally Responsive Glossary with Implicit Bias Self-Reflection, 2LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and Disability TermsGet 10% OFF USING CODE PSS10 TODAY!FOR ASPIRING SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGISTSAre you an SLP2Be? Checkout Praxis Speech Sister on Instagram:http://instagram.com/praxisspeechsister Listen to the Praxis Speech Sister Podcast: tiny.url/praxisspeechsistermedia! FREE Mindset and Study Prep Mini Course Out Now: tinyurl.com/praxisminicourseMelanie Y. Evans - SLP L.L.C. is now accepting volunteer Influencer Interns! Find out more at tinyurl.com/pssinternapp. Preparing for the SLP Praxis Exam? Get your FREE Praxis Prep Guide Here: https://mailchi.mp/378fe4c47030/studyprep 

Due to the enduring EMOTIONAL FALLOUT that can be part of adoption, I highly support the GENTLE HEALING experience of SMGI: Somatic Mindful Guided Imagery. For more information on this groundbreaking and highly successful method, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.somatichealingjourneys.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donna is a transracial adoptee, born in the UK and raised there by a white family with lots of fostered children. While she was the only black child, all the children were from different backgrounds and were equally loved. While not emotionally close to her adoptive parents growing up, Donna has always felt their unconditional love.    Trauma still came her way, and Donna thinks she may have had less trauma if she hadn't kept quiet about traumatic events that happened to her during childhood. Donna has been slowly peeling the layers to her truth for 50 years. Learning to be a speaker led to her first talk about her adoption, and in 2020 she set up her Searching For Truth Podcast, doing interviews about various topics that touch on her own experiences. Donna also wrote a short memoir called "Lost and Found," published in the anthology The New Woman by Ritu Sharma in 2021.   Now in Dominica with her husband and Son, Donna has experienced the most extraordinary challenges that she now believes are lined with incredible gifts for her healing and expansion. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HealingAdoptee/  [Facebook Messenger is her preferred contact method] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@donnamariejoseph If you or someone you know would like to tell their adoption story on the podcast (anyone in the adoptee constellation), please send an email to mindyourownkarma@gmail.com, and your story will be considered for the podcast. _________ Please seek professional help if you find yourself struggling with some of the realizations that you may experience during this episode. This podcast's mission is on adoption education. If you have an expertise that you think would be beneficial to anyone touched by adoption and would like to be on the podcast, get in touch with me. I love to help fellow adoptees by helping to promote your latest project or expertise. It's time WE educate the world!! Check out the MYOK website for resources, ALL episodes of the podcast, and more about me! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.mindyourownkarma.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow me on Socials! MYOK on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/mind_your_own_karma⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ MYOK on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/mindyourownkarma⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ MYOK on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@MindYourOwnKarma⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #adopt #adoption #adoptee #adopteevoices #adopteesspeak #adoptionpodcast #adopteepodcast #mindyourownkarma #PrimalWound #adopted #adoptionjourney #thefog #adoptionfog #adoptiveparents #birthmother #whoami #mindyourownkarma #constellationconversation #firesideadoptees #hypnotherapy #adoptionawareness #birthfamily #biologicalfamily #adoptiontrauma #emotionaltrauma #emotionalhealing #findmyfamily #smgi #bekind #somatichealing #somaticexperiencing #listenable #listenablestory --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/melissa-ann-brunetti/support

Growing up as a transracial adoptee, Angela Tucker's friends, family, and even strangers would make comments and assumptions about what her life would have been like if she hadn't been adopted. Angela Tucker is the author of the book "You Should Be Grateful": Stories of Race, Identity, and Transracial Adoption and she is Executive Director of the Adoptee Mentoring Society. Today, we talk about the intricacies of navigating life as a transracial adoptee. For years, adoption stories have been told from the point of view of the adoptive parents. Angela says it's time to flip the script and let adoptees tell their stories. Later, we hear from an adoption agency and learn about the type of conversations they have with potential transracial adoptive parents. Check out the UConn Health Adoption Assurance Program to find more information about transracial adoption. GUESTS: Angela Tucker: Author of the book, "You Should Be Grateful": Stories of Race, Identity, and Transracial Adoption and Executive Director of the Adoptee Mentoring Society Laura Sullivan: Chief Program Officer at Just Choice, a pro-choice adoption agency Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode. Cat Pastor contributed to this show which originally aired December 8, 2023.Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: 인종간 입양인|The One with Christelle Pellecuer - Between Worlds: A Transracial Adoptee's Journey from Madagascar to France: Episode 2 (2024)In this episode, Christelle Pellecuer, a certified coach empowering black adoptees, joined us on The More Sibyl Podcast to share her journey of self-discovery and cultural identity. As a transracial adoptee (someone who has been adopted into a family of a different racial or ethnic background) from Madagascar raised in France, Christelle's narrative is one of resilience, growth, and the ongoing quest for identity.The conversation explored Christelle's experiences growing up in France, feeling disconnected from her Malagasy roots, and the complexities of transracial adoption. She shared poignant moments from her childhood, highlighting the challenges of navigating her identity in a predominantly white environment. Despite these hurdles, Christelle's story is one of hope and perseverance.One of the most powerful moments of the episode was when Christelle spoke about the joy of reconnecting with her African roots. She expressed the bittersweet realization of not fully embracing her heritage earlier in life, citing the "black tax" as a barrier to cultural understanding. However, she emphasized the importance of embracing one's identity and urged families to do better in fostering cultural connection. Christelle also shared her reflection on her journey as a mother. She candidly shared the challenges of raising her daughter while still grappling with her own identity. Through her experiences, Christelle learned the value of self-awareness and the importance of creating a supportive environment for her daughter's growth.Throughout the conversation, Christelle stresses the active involvement of adoptive parents in their child's cultural education, advocating for the incorporation of cultural elements into the home and participation in cultural events. She concludes by encouraging listeners to embrace self-awareness and explore their identities, highlighting the adoption journey as an opportunity for growth and self-discovery. Christelle's story serves as a powerful reminder that perseverance and self-reflection can lead to finding belonging despite the challenges of transracial adoption.

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down and talk about what's been going on in the last month and a half. Then, we get into our thoughts on whether the adoptee space online is getting quieter or if it's just the algorithm playing tricks on us, and what our role/responsibility is in that.Later, we try some Oriental Raisin Tea…..did we just drink tortilla chips?!ResourcesWe're giving away a ticket to KAAN 2024! Click here and fill out the form, then join us on Instagram April 26 @ 4:30pm Central to find out if you won!---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

Sexuality and Adoption: Insights from a Transracial Adoptee and Sex Therapist "For me, sexual and reproductive health or our sexuality is so connected with attraction, with attachment style, with self-esteem, with the wish for connecting and creating long-term bonds." -- Anna Linde Read the transcript: https://app.swellai.com/t/tp_01HVN38Q94D5ZXH9GR708NDX4E   Adoptive parents, you're invited to a webinar that Anna Linde will be leading on June 5, 2024. More information and register here: https://AnnaLinde.eventbrite.com

https://linktr.ee/TedJonesWorld⁠ 1:00- FLORIDA GUY 2:30- TANNING! 5:00- SUNGLASSES! 7:30- Playing Sports  9:30- Taking Adderol 12:40- Four LOKO!    16:20- Starting A Podcast 17:40- TransRacial  24:00- Drinking In The Sun 28:00- Loving NY NOW  30:50- What Is Barking?  45:00- BAD PIX! Follow My Stand Up Comedy Channel :) ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf535atx8dAeHlGrJSTm3vA⁠ Ted Jones World Podcast On Youtube ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBEOS7akat_zSXGDEif-y9g⁠ TEDJONESWORLD@GMAIL.COM https://linktr.ee/TedJonesWorld --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ted-jones-world/support

With the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015, queer families are more visible today than ever. But the path to becoming a parent is complicated for LGBTQ people.  Dr. Abbie E. Goldberg, psychologist and researcher, provides LGBTQ parents and prospective parents with the detailed, evidence‑based knowledge they need to navigate the transition to parenthood and help their children thrive. Her evidence-based research can benefit all families.    Transcript   ABBIE GOLDBERG: For me, it would have been a light bulb even to see one LGBT family and to know this was something that was real, and this was happening. But it wasn't being talked about. And the invalidation those families face is heartbreaking to me because it doesn't have to be this way. Everyone's families can be recognized as valid. We don't have to demonize certain kinds of families. BLAIR HODGES: When Abbie Goldberg was growing up with two moms, she didn't see any families that looked like hers. People had a lot of questions about LGBTQ families, like whether kids like Abbie would turn out alright being raised in a queer household. Today, Abbie's a clinical psychologist and an internationally recognized scholar of LGBTQ families. She's an expert on how queer families are made—especially the practical and legal obstacles they face. She also understands the strength these families bring to the family-making enterprise. In this episode, Abbie joins us to talk about her new book, LGBTQ Family Building: A Guide for Prospective Parents. There are many ways to be a family, and every kind of family has something we can learn from. I'm Blair Hodges, and this is Family Proclamations.   MAKING FAMILIES VISIBLE – 1:43   BLAIR HODGES: Abbie E. Goldberg joins us today on Family Proclamations. Abbie, it's really great to have you on the show. ABBIE GOLDBERG:  Thank you so much for having me. BLAIR HODGES: You've done decades of research, you've written a lot of journal articles, a lot of books and academic work about LGBTQ families. What inspired you to write about this topic and to research this as your career? ABBIE GOLDBERG: I'm going to go way back. I was raised in a queer parent family myself in the eighties, mostly in the suburbs of New York. I did not see my family represented in most media depictions of families and most of what we were reading about families in school. I grew up thinking a lot about what families are visible and what families are invisible. I was always really passionate about trying to understand and to make visible different kinds of families. BLAIR HODGES: Wow. That was well before, obviously, the legalization of same-sex marriage. What was that like for you? Were you only child? Siblings? What was the family like? ABBIE GOLDBERG: I have two brothers, one much older than me and one younger. We experienced our heterosexual parent's relationship dissolution at different times in our life. So it shaped us, I think, in different ways. Our family from the outside looked pretty typical, like a divorced family. On the inside, my mother was partnered with a woman. That was really not something most people knew. It was only something we started talking about when I went to college, maybe late in high school. A few people knew, but it was mostly a secret. I thought a lot about that over the last couple of decades, about how keeping those kinds of secrets—when there's really nothing wrong with your family as it is, it's that it's just not accepted in the broader society—how that can shape kids. BLAIR HODGES: That makes me think of two things. One, the fact that there's been a sea change here in your own lifetime, you're a part of a big change in visibility for families. Also, the fact that families like this have always existed in some way, or people have always been experiencing feelings in love, and trying to make that work in a society that hasn't always been accepting. The work you're doing for prospective parents in this book is really valuable. In a way your own family was pioneering things, and now you as a scholar are a pioneer in helping move that along. I didn't know that about you before I set up the interview. That's really fascinating. ABBIE GOLDBERG: Thank you. Oprah Daily did an interesting piece profiling my work and how my personal life influenced me and a little bit about my trajectory. It's a fun piece. It's done by a wonderful New York Times reporter I've worked with over the years and who I trusted enough to tell my story. It gives a little bit more detail.   GETTING PERSONAL – 4:26   BLAIR HODGES: Say a little bit more about that "trusted enough," because obviously this is a really personal thing. When you're thinking about being public about it, what was that like for you? ABBIE GOLDBERG: When I was earlier in my career, I was advised by some folks not to really talk about my own personal experience and how it shaped my interests and my trajectory. I think that's complicated advice. I'm not going to say it's bad advice. I think what people were concerned about is, so many of the high-profile researchers studying LGBT families were gay themselves and there was some concern that their work was invalidated because of that. Here comes this nice cisgender, straight woman, by all intents and purposes that's the way I am perceived, and so I can sort of elevate my work in a different way, and maybe be taken seriously and get the work taken seriously in a different way. I think because of that, there was a kind of excitement. On the other hand, I think the personal is important. I'm at a stage in my career where I don't really have concerns about sharing my story in the way that it could affect my access to certain opportunities, for example. BLAIR HODGES: That's interesting you got that kind of advice. We've seen a shift where people are a bit more confessional now in the academy. Scholars might be more willing to talk about where they're coming from, about their background, but there are ongoing taboos. I think this still exists, and there is a fear it could call into question people's research or something. On the other hand, I think knowing a little bit about your background helps because of who you are as a person. There have always been questions about whether non-heteronormative families could raise successful children, or what those families would look like, and so not only are you doing research, in some ways you yourself complicate stereotypes that way. Thanks for sharing that. I'll make sure to link to that piece in the show notes so people can check that out. This book is set apart from your other work because it's written for a broader audience. Doing academic research, an article might reach dozens, if you're lucky. [laughter] After so much work, you've turned to write for a broader audience for this. Talk about that decision a little bit and how that's been for you. AUDIENCE – 6:52   ABBIE GOLDBERG: My work has straddled both the traditional academic audience and the more popular press over the last ten years, but definitely I've been increasingly moving towards a more mainstream audience. I wrote a book in 2012 called Gay Dads, but it was with an academic press. A lot of lay people seem to have read it, because I still get emails about it. But it was more of a story about how do gay dads become dads. This is taking all the things I've learned in the last twenty years and saying, "Here's some information I hope will be helpful to you." There are stories in it, there are vignettes, there's a lot of data for people who want that. But there's a lot of guidance and exercises and thought questions, and really trying to make this information interesting and usable for a wider range of folks.   DECIDING TO BECOME A PARENT – 7:52   BLAIR HODGES: The questions you include for the reader are so helpful. Throughout the chapters there are different places where it'll just have a series of questions you can ask yourself, or you can talk to a partner about, about things like whether you want to have kids, or just a lot of different things. The kinds of questions that it's helpful to have someone who's spent so much time in this space give some ideas for people to discuss. To me, one of my favorite parts of the book were those question sections, because I'm cis-het—I have a partner and two kids. We look very "traditional." And even for me a lot of those questions were useful. ABBIE GOLDBERG: I think a lot of the questions are great for anybody to ask themselves. We need to start thinking about parenthood, I hope, as something people think through before they endeavor to pursue it. Do I want to be a parent? Do I feel like I need a partner? When do I want to be a parent? What kinds of things do I have to have achieved or reached personally before I pursue that? What's valuable to me? I think right now we're at a point where so many folks are really considering parenthood much more seriously in the sense that they're not just automatically assuming they'll do it. But they're thinking about the state of the world. They're thinking about climate change. They're thinking about things that make them pause a bit. I think that's great. I don't love the reasons for why people have to pause, but I love that people are really asking themselves, why do I want to be a parent? Is this an important part of my journey in this lifetime? BLAIR HODGES: One thing that really stood out to me in your chapter about deciding to become a parent is, when people are thinking about that question you suggest that LGBTQ folks are usually more likely to spend more time on this question, in part just because of being a new visible type of family system. Talk a little bit about that. There's probably been more deliberation for queer couples than for heteronormative couples. ABBIE GOLDBERG: A big piece is parenthood has not been expected. It's not seen as a normative life goal or transition, which of course is evidence of heteronormativity—the idea that's just something straight married people do. In a way that encourages that deliberation, that consciousness, but of course, there's also so many more practical barriers. Will my family support me? Will I be able to be a parent? Especially right now if I want to adopt, can I find an agency that will work with us? If I want to pursue biological means of parenthood, what are the implications, for example, of the Dobbs decision for my access to in vitro fertilization? Thinking through the many, many hurdles folks have to go through, inevitably it's going to be a much more deliberate ponderous process. BLAIR HODGES: It's much rarer to have an accidental pregnancy or something for queer couples. ABBIE GOLDBERG: Right. I mean, it does happen because there are so many bisexual folks, for example, and queer folks and people who have sex with people with different reproductive organs, that it absolutely can happen. In fact, there's some data showing that among young people, among teens, that queer and trans people are actually at a higher risk of unintended pregnancy because they don't experience or receive appropriate STI prevention that is geared towards their specific circumstances. It's all very heteronormative. Or they think they can't get pregnant.  That aside, there are unintended pregnancies, but it's not typical for the situation we're thinking about, which is a same-sex couples.   REIMAGINING THE FUTURE  – 11:35   BLAIR HODGES: One of the most moving parts, I don't remember who the person was—I think you were quoting someone who had grown up thinking it wasn't a possibility for them. It was a gay man who was saying he wanted to have a family but it just wasn't on the radar and so it was something he had emotionally relinquished with grief, and then realized the possibilities and was able to think about it again. What a gift for someone like that. ABBIE GOLDBERG: It can be a real roller coaster. For many of the men I talked to, especially those who grew up at a certain time, they buried their desire. There was a grieving process—"This isn't going to happen for me. I came out and everyone kind of grieved for me. My parents were like, oh, I'm so sorry, we love you, but we're really sad you're not going to be a parent." It was only when they reached adulthood and realized this was an option, they kind of reimagined this possibility for themselves. BLAIR HODGES: You interviewed a lot of people for this book as part of a broad survey. What kind of reasons did you hear from people about why they wanted to have children? ABBIE GOLDBERG: Many of the reasons would be exactly what you would find from cis straight people. A lot of them wanting to shape and have an influence on a young person, wanting to have some sort of legacy and live on, even an adopted child that wasn't necessarily through bloodlines or anything, but impacting another human being and having your influence live on. Teaching moral character. Some people joke, but I don't think it was entirely joking, that they wanted somebody to take care of them when they got older. But much of it, especially because so many LGBT folks adopt, a lot of it does come from altruism. We have a certain amount of resources, we've reached a certain level of stability in our lives, we want to give back, we don't want it to just be about us, and we would like to give a home and give a family, and provide for somebody who otherwise wouldn't have a family.   NAVIGATING DIFFERENT GOALS – 13:41   BLAIR HODGES: You also talk about how sometimes a gay couple has different levels of desire. One partner might be driven to have children, the other might be more ambivalent or even opposed to it. There's a great thought exercise you suggest in the book. I like this a lot. I think this could work for a lot of different people. You say, "Live in the ‘yes' for a week. Imagine you've decided to become a parent. And then live in the ‘no' for a week. Imagine you've decided not to. Write down all of your thoughts and feelings and questions. Write in a journal." You suggest using different colors when you're feeling more excited or when you're feeling more ambivalent or maybe even scared. Then after living in the yes and the no, to then evaluate that with your partner. How did you come up with that? That is such a great idea. ABBIE GOLDBERG: I drew from a bunch of different resources. I've been leading different workshops for many years, and I sometimes think my greatest ideas literally come on the spot. I'll be working with some parents or prospective parents and I'll say, "Okay, this isn't working. Try this,” you know, or, "Go home and try this." I think that particular exercise came from a couple different sources and then with my particular spin on it, which is usually to really be thinking about how there's really no single right answer. The idea that maybe you're not going to be a parent. Or maybe you're going to become a parent alone, maybe your partner is ultimately going to say, "I'm not doing this." It's looking at the reality head on and not necessarily making an assumption about what's going to happen. For some folks, they complete this exercise with their partner and they realize, "Wow, one of us is not so onboard and one of us is," and then there is a reckoning there where we either do this, and we do it not knowing really what will happen, or we're going to go our separate ways, or we're not going to do it, this relationship is the most important thing to me and I don't want to start this parenthood journey without a completely committed partner.   FACING BARRIERS – 14:29   BLAIR HODGES: So many people face these crossroads. It's a great opportunity for regrets, but this is life and the fact your book is guiding people and helping coach people through these questions, it's extremely valuable. What kind of barriers do LGBTQ folks talk about that get in the way of becoming parents? What are some of the responses you got to that? ABBIE GOLDBERG: There are the internal barriers, which are the things like, "I can't be a good parent, I won't be a good parent because I'm gay," or all this internalized homophobia or transphobia—the things we're getting from society saying you shouldn't be a parent. BLAIR HODGES: Or “you'll harm kids.” ABBIE GOLDBERG: You will harm kids, or most of them say, "I don't think I will harm kids," they haven't fully internalized that, but they think, "My kid will be teased, my kid will feel like an outsider, my kid will be bullied." They may actually be hearing that from their own families. Families will say, "I'm sure you would be a great parent, but it's other people I'm worried about. I'm worried about other people treating you badly. Your neighbors not accepting you, your kids' peers not accepting them, other parents being cruel to you." It's certainly that, but it's all the external stuff. It's the fact that in many states, it's really hard. There are many agencies that are either explicitly or implicitly biased against LGBTQ foster carers or adopters. Many of the folks I talk to face barriers where, even if they can find an agency that's willing to work with them, maybe they don't get any calls for prospective children, or birth family members don't choose them to be the adoptive parents in open adoptions. The stigmas sort of have many, many different tentacles of potential influence. There are all those structural barriers. For many folks, too, they don't really consider it until they're maybe older, and so that curtails their options a little bit more. They're in their forties, for example, then they're thinking, well, my reproductive options are more limited. Now I'm turning to adoption. Now I maybe face bias based on age as well as sexual orientation, as well as gender for many gay men because many people think men can't be as good of parents as women. There's all those gender related barriers as well. Then, of course, for a lot of folks, not all LGBT people have access to financial resources and they don't necessarily have supportive families. If you have limited income and you don't have family support, those can be significant barriers as well.   CHILDREN WITH LBGTQ PARENTS – 18:32   BLAIR HODGES: Let's spend a second, too, on—we've both mentioned this—the claim that children in LGBTQ families are at a disadvantage compared to children who are in other families. This is a big talking point amongst people who are opposed to marriage equality, for example—that this would be bad for the children. What does the data show about that? There's been research about this. What do we learn from that actual research? ABBIE GOLDBERG: We know from decades of research on kids with LGBT parents who were not married, and then we have some data from kids whose parents were married, that concerns about the wellbeing of children are unfounded, that children do fine. They show similar social emotional developmental outcomes. There are some places where they even arguably outperform kids who are raised in cisgender heterosexual parent families. It's not entirely clear why. For example, they may do better in certain areas because they are born or adopted to parents who have more resources. Because the folks who become parents are a little bit more rarefied, they're a little bit more select, because they have had to get through so many things to become parents, they may have more resources. That could help to explain that. It could also be the challenges their parents have had to face have built a certain resilience that those parents then pass onto their children. It could be they work harder in school, or have greater access to therapy because of their parents' alertness to the ways their families might be perceived. There are so many different reasons why, but they don't seem to show negative outcomes. They're not mad they have gay parents. The only challenges they experience systematically comes from outside. It comes from external judgment. Right now what we're seeing, as I'm doing a lot of work in Florida looking at how that legislation around the Parental Rights in Education Act is affecting LGBT families, those families, they are stressed. They are stressed by the fact that they now face pressure, for example, not to talk about their families in school or feel they can't be as open about their families. But that's coming from outside. The limited work we have looking at kids in married families, or what happens to kids when their LGBT parents get married, shows really positive outcomes. For kids, having one parent whose legal status might be tenuous or unclear, that was stressful too. Having a biological and a non-biological mom and only being connected to your biological mom—that's very stressful for families. Having some greater legal protections is incredibly beneficial. BLAIR HODGES: Speaking personally, what would it have meant for you to just see other families like yours when you were young? Because you talked about stressors and it's connected to visibility. Personally, what would it have meant to you to see more visibility growing up? ABBIE GOLDBERG: It would have been huge. At the time I don't think there was a single poster family of LGBT for our families, that happened much more in the nineties when Rosie O'Donnell and other queer parents became more visible. But there was nothing. For me, it would have been a light bulb to even see one and to know this was something that was real, and this was happening. It was something that wasn't being talked about. Secrecy and isolation breeds shame. For kids, for example, right now living in states where they're being told they shouldn't talk about their families, that could really turn inward to feel something is wrong with me, something is wrong with my family. The invalidation those families are facing is heartbreaking to me because it doesn't have to be this way. Everyone's families can be recognized as valid. We don't have to demonize certain kinds of families. BLAIR HODGES: There seems kind of a bad faith effort on the part of people who are already discriminating against LGBTQ families, to then try to say, "Oh, these outcomes are bad. Look, these kids are being hurt," when societal pressures and discrimination themselves are harming people. Any kind of negativity, or any kind of bad things that happen in the LGBTQ family can then be used as a referendum on the idea of marriage equality. Instead of saying, "Oh, here's some of the difficulties these particular families face. What can we do as a society? What can we do as therapists, whatever to help these families?" Instead, they're really talking about those things as a way to disqualify LGBTQ families, rather than address how to improve situations for LGBTQ folks. ABBIE GOLDBERG: One hundred percent, and I don't ever want to assume LGBT people are somehow immune from stress. We don't want to say that. Actually hard things do happen in these families. These families also, like straight cisgender families, experience challenges with mental illness and substance use and family struggles and dysfunction. All families struggle with those issues. Children with behavior problems, physical illness, and death—all of these things happen. It's not fair to take any family and look at something that's happening within it and blame that family structure for that thing, especially when we're denying them access to resources. If we see, for example, that queer parents in Florida suddenly report higher levels of depression, it would not really be fair or make sense to blame them for those high levels of depression and how it might be impacting their job performance or their parenting. It would make a lot more sense to think about the laws and the policies that are creating the circumstances where they are becoming so stressed that they're becoming depressed.   FIGHTING INTERNALIZED STIGMA – 24:35   BLAIR HODGES: How do you recommend LGBTQ folks deal with any internalized stigma they've grown up with? That sense of shame, or the questions they have about whether they would be fit parents because of stereotypes they've heard? What are some ideas for people as they're dealing with their own internalized stigma in deciding to become a parent? ABBIE GOLDBERG: Community support, so having access to other queer people and parents who have reached some level of security in themselves and who are confident and competent around parenthood, can be really powerful and empowering, to see role models and to begin to take those lessons on oneself. Access to LGBT competent therapists can be helpful in processing those feelings of inadequacy, doubt, self-doubt, doing a lot of that personal work, and being able to eventually situate those beliefs where they belong, which is that they're coming from out here. They don't have much to do with us in here. Could be society, but it could also be your parents, or your religion, or your extended family.   ADOPTION – 25:45   BLAIR HODGES: That's helpful. People can check out more in that chapter. Let's move to adoption here. Your second chapter talks all about adoption. You say LGBTQ folks are somewhere between four and ten times more likely to adopt than heterosexual couples. You've already touched on some reasons why that is, so let's talk instead about what kind of questions you suggest LGBTQ families think about when they're thinking about adoption as their option for expanding their families. What should they be thinking about together? ABBIE GOLDBERG: It's important to think about the basic question of how important it is to be biologically related to a child you are raising. For some folks, that is not an issue. They imagine parenthood not connected to having a child that looks like them or that will carry on certain characteristics. Some amount of flexibility, cognitive flexibility, emotional flexibility, is really important with adoption, because, hey, any of us who are parents know, you just don't know what you're going to get. Your kid could be so different from you. You're going to have so many things you never expected you'd be dealing with. But when a kid is adopted, that's kind of to the nth power. Just because you really love to read, and you love to do puzzles, you went to college, and you got your PhD, good for you. But your kid may have no interest in any of those things. They're not going to share, say, your whatever—your sense of humor, your attention span, who knows. To be open is really important. Then you start to winnow down into the other kinds of decisions around how important it is to have a child that is racially similar to me. How would that be for my extended family? What kinds of things am I open to in terms of prenatal drug exposure? Or an older child or sibling group? Where do my values and my sense of my own abilities and limitations, where do those fall? Having a sense of your own limitations is an important thing as a parent in general, but especially when you're thinking about adoption.   TRANSRACIAL ADOPTION – 28:05   BLAIR HODGES: You mentioned race. There was a section that talked about some of the anxieties that a particular couple talked about with you. Basically, the idea that this person wasn't sure if they were equipped to raise a Black child, for example, in the United States. It wasn't from a sense of racism in the sense of, "Oh, I don't like Black children," or whatever. But rather, "Am I equipped to raise a child. I'm white. I don't have that background. It would be in a white circumstance." One of our episodes is on transracial adoption, so this comes up. Talk a little bit about how LGBTQ folks might wrestle with that idea of race. There's this weird like, "Oh, I don't want to seem racist if I don't want to adopt children who aren't white or who aren't my same race." But at the same time there are real reasons why that can be a concern. Transracial adoption can be really difficult. ABBIE GOLDBERG: It's not fair to adopt a child of a different race than you are if you are not up for it and comfortable with it, period. That being said, most kids are not just in these little boxes. First of all, there's a lot of multiracial kids. We don't want to encourage a practice where people say, "Well, I will be open to adopting transracially if they're mostly white." That leads us down some not great paths. In terms of race, you need to be thinking beyond yourself. You need to be thinking about your community, your school, and your family. There are plenty of families that say, "I'm open to a white person adopting a child of color," but then they bring this child into their world and they live in a white community. Their children would be attending a predominantly white school, their extended family is white. It's important that parents do that work, to think, “Is this even really fair?” before they go down that road, because a child who, say, is Black and is living in a white town, white school—that's not great for that child. It's not fair as a parent to immerse that child in that world. You may need to decide, I'm going to move so I can have access to these resources. I talked to many parents who did make choices. I have a whole area of research about how parents choose schools for their kids. Many parents will say, "There's this school, which is mostly white, and it's a really good school. Then there's this school, which maybe has less of a great academic reputation, but my kids will be surrounded by people who look like them." That's more important.   UNIQUE STRENGTHS – 30:37   BLAIR HODGES: It's a helpful chapter. It talks all about different adoption options, public and private, international adoption, a lot of different things. People that are considering adoption, this is a great primer for that. What strengths would you say LGBTQ folks bring to the table when it comes to adoption? Are there any unique strengths you found as you were doing your research? ABBIE GOLDBERG: Many folks will tell you something they feel, which I do think is a strength, which is they have a history of being discriminated against, or being judged, or people making assumptions about them based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. That, in turn, makes them more open to adopting a child of a different race or with a variety of different potential differences. They feel like as somebody who's faced stigma in the world, or as somebody who has faced challenges, I could feel I can be a more sensitive parent because of that. It makes me more open both to adopting children, but it also makes me more open to dealing with whatever issues the child comes along with. The challenges they feel they faced in their life when they have actually made them better parents.   DONOR INSEMINATION – 31:51   BLAIR HODGES: Your book also talks about donor insemination and surrogacy. These are more ways LGBTQ families are formed. What kind of advice do you offer for people that are thinking about donor insemination when they're thinking about having children? ABBIE GOLDBERG: We're moving towards a place where, both in the adoption world and reproductive technologies, we understand kids will want information about their origins regardless of how their families are formed. There's a movement towards if you're going to pursue donor insemination, for example, people want to access donors where there's an option of them becoming known if they're not known already. For example, the child can contact them or know more about them at the age of eighteen. It used to be that we had mostly fully anonymous donors, and now we're realizing children eventually want to access that information. Likewise, in the adoption world we're really moving towards open adoptions, where children have access to their birth families, or at least birth family information. BLAIR HODGES: This is very child centered. Parents might feel protective or want to be like, "I just want separation from that." But then they're finding as kids grow they don't want that separation. There's a drive to know more. ABBIE GOLDBERG: Many parents would say, “Before I had a kid, before I adopted a kid or early on, it was very important to me to have those boundaries. We are the parents.” As they're parenting real human beings who have real questions, that becomes less important than helping that child access information. They realize all those concerns around boundaries, and who's really the parent—that's actually less important. BLAIR HODGES: Your chapter has a lot of great questions, again, for people that couples can talk about together, like, will we be genetically tied in some way? Who will? Why are we making that decision? How are we going to feel about that? Also, you talk about trans and nonbinary folks, and how providers who are helping people transition, especially younger folks who are transitioning, should be well informed about options for reproductive technologies to help them. If someone who's assigned female at birth is transitioning to male there are ways to preserve eggs, for example. They're not making a decision to use those eggs. They're just keeping those options open. Talk a little bit about that for trans and nonbinary folks. ABBIE GOLDBERG: First of all, trans and nonbinary folks may not know when they're teenagers, for example, or young adult if they even want to be parents. It is, as you said, a matter of keeping those options open and finding providers who will help them to make the kinds of decisions they may not know they might want later down the road. Helping to fully inform them of their options, what things are reversible and what things are not reversible. This isn't a barrier to getting the care they want, absolutely they should have access to the hormones, for example, that they want, but enable them to make those decisions that will help them have those options. For reproductive providers who are working with trans and nonbinary folks when they're actively trying to get pregnant, for example, we also need providers to be knowledgeable about that as well. What are the options? When does somebody need to go off of hormones? How can we support them in getting pregnant? What kinds of things can we do to make the birth experience more pleasant? To make visits more pleasant? How can we refer to body parts, for example, in a way that feels affirming and respectful and not alienating and offensive?   TRADEOFFS – 35:37   BLAIR HODGES: Chapter five is so good on this. You talk about how important it is for LGBTQ families to consider agencies they're working with to be tuned into where discrimination exists, and also recognizing they might have to make tradeoffs. They might have a provider they'll be working with who is throwing microaggressions around or making them feel uncomfortable, and there are tradeoffs that LGBTQ families end up having to make in navigating the medical system and the adoption system and fertility system as well. Spend a little bit of time on what kind of problems were waiting in the wings once marriage equality became the law of the land, for example. Now couples could be legally married and now they want access to these different services. What kind of issues are people still confronting, even though we're years past the legalization of marriage equality? ABBIE GOLDBERG: I could go in so many different directions. In terms of tradeoffs, people often make tradeoffs when they're building their families, when they're thinking about agencies or where to give birth, where to put their children in daycare or school, or where they live. It's all a matter of balancing. Say I have a black child who also has two dads and we live in a rural area. What am I going to do to create the best environment for my child? I probably won't send them to a top academic school that is very racially diverse and has lots of two mom families. What's most important for my child? What's going to help them to develop into a confident person? There's constantly that tradeoff. Likewise, if you're pursuing a birth—you're trying to figure out where to give birth as a trans person. You're balancing finances and geography and comfort, maybe a medical condition, maybe you're an older parent giving birth so you're also thinking about that. It's a constant place of tradeoffs. Right now we're at a place where there's the explicit barriers people face and then the more subtle or implicit barriers. You may go to a hospital, for example, or a school that says, "Oh, we're LGBTQ friendly", or "We have other two-mom families here." But what that looks like in practice can really vary. Likewise, you might be living in a red state that seems to have very little access to LGBT friendly providers. But you find a place and the people are quite wonderful and lovely. You just don't know. There's a lot of variability. Sometimes it's about finding the right people or the right person within a given agency who will be an advocate who maybe has a personal connection, maybe has an LGBT child themselves, who will be a warrior for you even in those places in the country where it can be hard to access formal supports. BLAIR HODGES: I like how you talked about the networking that LGBTQ families engage in as well. The internet makes it even easier than ever to network with people, to get advice, suggestions, to read reviews about different places and experiences people have. In some ways, despite ongoing discrimination, we're also at a time when people can feel more empowered because we can talk to each other and connect with each other and get ideas from each other too. Barriers, but also opportunities to navigate those because we can communicate more easily. ABBIE GOLDBERG: One of the suggestions I always tell—I do a lot of workshops with schools who are trying to become more LGBT affirming—I say just offer names and contact information to LGBT prospective parents so they can contact other folks who have had students at your school because that's the in-person version of the Yelp review. They can talk to another human being and ask questions and they can network. It also shows you're confident enough to be able to share that information, which is a good thing.   SURROGACY AND GENDER ASYMMETRY – 39:15   BLAIR HODGES: It's your own personal Yelp. That's great. Let's talk about surrogacy for a second. You say this is an option that's mostly chosen by gay, bi, or queer men in particular. What are some of the things people consider when it comes to surrogacy, so having someone can carry the child for a couple? ABBIE GOLDBERG: For folks who are pursuing surrogacy, I always have to start by saying it's about $150,000 or $200,000. It's really an option for a very small segment of the population, unless you do overseas surrogacy which has its own real ethical issues, which is less expensive but you're going to another country and paying a woman to carry your child. BLAIR HODGES: There may be safety issues. Your book goes into these. Inequality. ABBIE GOLDBERG: Travel. There's a lot that goes on there, and a lot of uncertainty in terms of that process. In terms of things to consider for folks who do pursue surrogacy, who go down that route, there's a lot of uncertainty there too. It may seem like the most obviously certain outcome versus adoption, where everything seems very unclear, but surrogates do not always get pregnant right away. They may not conceive. They may have a miscarriage. They're a human being. Just as many unexpected issues can come up there. Some folks really bond with their surrogates and other folks there may not be that same relationship. It is a relationship like all others. There's also so many people and institutions involved in surrogacy, there's so much legal interaction, that it's a very complicated process. It's not even legal in some states. BLAIR HODGES: There are legal issues. People that want to pursue it, again, your book does a fantastic job in a short chapter laying out a lot of questions. Not just about practical things but about emotional things. "Genetic asymmetry" is a term you bring up that I hadn't really thought of. We've touched on this a little bit, but the idea that if one partner is genetically related to a child and the other one isn't, that could cause complicated feelings people might not have anticipated before they actually have a child. ABBIE GOLDBERG: In many cases, if it's either surrogacy or conceiving, through donor insemination, there is usually one partner who is biologically related and one partner who is not. That's significant to the outside world in that we place a lot of emphasis on biology and to primacy of biological bonds, which can lead that nonbiological parent to either be perceived or to feel like less of a parent. I'm of the belief we shouldn't pretend those things don't exist, there are many ways to bond with a child and have a great relationship with a child. But we shouldn't say it doesn't matter because that's disingenuous. I do know of surrogacy families where they do not tell their child who the parent is that is biologically related to them. Which dad, for example, is biologically related. I have questions about that. To say it's not important kind of almost reaffirms how important it is. If we're not going to tell you it's clearly so important. As somebody who doesn't really like family secrets, I think it's more important to say he's the biological parent and we're a family, and here's all the reasons why we're both equally your dads.   TRANSITIONING TO PARENTHOOD – 43:15   BLAIR HODGES: So many things for people to consider. Again, a lot of the questions in the book will help people think through things they might not anticipate if they haven't talked to people about this or spent a lot of time thinking about it. That's Abbie Goldberg, clinical psychologist and professor. We're talking about the book, LGBTQ Family Building: A Guide for Prospective Parents. All right, there's a chapter on the transition to parenthood. You talk about the ways people can become parents, and then you talk about how becoming a parent is a huge transition for anybody. The book is helpful because it talks about the general life changes people can expect, but also what LGBTQ people in particular might face. You pay special attention to mental health, for example, and there's a stat here that really surprised me in this chapter. You say there are some studies that suggest that most parents, seventy-two percent of parents, said their life satisfaction increased during the first year of parenting. That's a really challenging year and that's a really high number. I'm interested in what you make of this life satisfaction increase. ABBIE GOLDBERG: It points out the importance of looking at different dimensions of change, because most people looked at stress and they look at mental health. You do see stress increase, and you do see mental health decrease. What we have to always think of is joy and life satisfaction are other components of life. You can have a really stressful job, for example, but have a lot of joy associated with your job, a lot of satisfaction associated with your job. To some people that's valuable. It's more valuable than having an easy job where there's very little stress, but very little satisfaction. It makes sense because most people will say “parenthood transformed me, it transformed my life, it's changed who I am, and I'm a lot sleepier, and our relationship is a little bit more tense, we don't have as much time together.” Really understanding parenthood causes changes in multiple domains. The ideal, of course, is that mental health will eventually recover, and often it does. We have to also know that some of those negative changes, they're really temporary. They're not always temporary, but they're often temporary. BLAIR HODGES: You lay out some of the stressors that happen. There's the obvious stuff that happens to every kind of parent—lack of sleep, redistribution of household work, which can be distressing. Whether LGBT couples take on traditionally feminine or traditionally masculine, provider/nurturer, or whether couples find ways to create their own family dynamics. What are some tips, some practices, some advice you would give to people to navigate those early parenting years? I know it's hard to rank that kind of stuff, but does something immediately come to mind that's like, this is a crucial thing for couples to do? ABBIE GOLDBERG: I think two things. One is that relationship is important. Presumably, if you are a member of a couple you want to stay together. So many couples I've interviewed have said, "We put our relationship on the back burner." You can only do that for so long. In an ideal world you will have access to some time alone where you can honestly just laugh or enjoy each other's company without the constant challenge of caring for another being's needs. Whether that means taking time at the end of the day to talk and sit outside and catch up, or going out, whatever. But making sure that relationship remains a priority. I think some flexibility and awareness that what things are now won't always be this way and being flexible to change things up. Especially around the division of chores, for example. Reevaluating and reevaluating how that is going, I've done so much work on the division of tasks, and how couples divide up chores. One thing that seems important is a lot of times nobody really likes most tasks, so it's really about who hates it the least. That's how I think about it. Who hates cleaning the litter box the least? Who hates unloading the dishwasher the least? Checking in about whether that's continuing to be a satisfactory and fair division of labor. When things feel unfair and when people feel unappreciated, that's when the problems start. If I feel like I'm doing seventy percent and I don't even feel like my partner appreciates me, I'm much madder than if I'm doing seventy percent and I feel like we're constantly acknowledging that I'm doing seventy percent because I'm maybe working outside less, for example, and how things need to change but this is the way it is right now. BLAIR HODGES: You say that, overall, studies show that same-sex/gender couples tend to share paid and unpaid labor more equally on average than heterosexual couples. Perhaps because they already have higher expectations for equality, or perhaps because they don't easily slot into your 1950s Leave it to Beaver view of how Mom and Dad should be. But also, you say there are some couples who do fall into these more traditional patterns where, let's say there's a gay couple who one partner has a higher paying job, they're gone more often. And then the other partner, he's at home doing more of the "domestic stuff," the unpaid stuff. Those circumstances, that doesn't mean one of them is necessarily more or less happy, you say differences in contributions don't necessarily lead to tension or conflict, it really depends on the particular relationship and how the couples actually feel about the stuff. Some couples might feel okay with a division like that. That works for them. It's not like everyone needs to fit a particular vision of marital equality. It's more about making sure people are informed and feeling they're treated fairly. That is what people should pay attention to. ABBIE GOLDBERG: It's really about the match between values and expectations than what the actual division of labor is.   ESTABLISHING A FAMILY STORY – 49:19   BLAIR HODGES: The last chapter talks about the early years. Let's talk about this briefly here. You encourage people to establish their family story really early with their children, to have a story of how their family came to be, what it is, especially because they're still living in a heteronormative society where a lot of people around them, a lot of peer children, might be casting judgment or even making comments like kids do. Like, “why don't you have a mommy” or “why do you have two dads?” You say communication with young kids is important. Some people might think, "Oh, I just want them to stay innocent and not even think about stuff until they get older," rather than establishing a family story early. Why do you think that might not be the best approach? ABBIE GOLDBERG: You can establish a family story early and do it in a developmentally appropriate and age progressed way. If you don't tell them anything or you avoid those questions, you're not being truthful, and so giving them a simpler story they can internalize and then maybe share with others, even if it doesn't have all the details, it may not be perfectly truthful for what they share with others— BLAIR HODGES: Every parent does this. [laughter] ABBIE GOLDBERG: Right, I was going to say. There's a lot of things parents are explaining to their kids, they're not going to give them the whole story because they're going to tell their friends or whomever, but they're going to give them enough information that they need. "I have two moms. We got help from somebody else to make our family." Okay. That's what you got. BLAIR HODGES: You also give great advice on gender expansive parenting practices, like using “they” pronouns for people that people don't know. So you can kind of normalize they pronouns so things aren't so binary essentialized. Also, actively challenging gender stereotypes. So if someone says, "Oh, boys can't have long hair," just say, "I actually think they can," or talk to your kids about those. Reading books that show diversity is really important and modeling some nonconformity and being conscious about that with kids. This chapter has a lot of practical advice on dealing with kids in their early years. That's where the book cuts off. It takes people through the process of deciding to become parents, the methods they can use to become parents, and then those early parenting years. It seems to me your overall hope in the book is that people will have choices, understand what the choices are, and be empowered to make those choices. That seems to be the driving purpose of your book. ABBIE GOLDBERG: Absolutely. For folks who can pick it up, they can pick it up at an earlier stage in their life, maybe when they're not even thinking about parenthood but are interested to know what the different pathways might look like in the future. Or folks who are at a crossroads in trying to figure out what they're going to be doing, as well as people who are already parents and maybe are thinking through their next transition of parenthood, or maybe they would like some guidance around supporting other people in their life around these decisions.   REGRETS, CHALLENGES, & SURPRISES! – 52:28   BLAIR HODGES: I can honestly say I found the book to be helpful. Again, my family—me, my partner, my two kids—there are questions we probably should have asked before we had our second kid or before we had our first child, but it's not too late to even address that, though. To think through those things together. Even though we've passed some of the chapters up, it still for me has been helpful to go back and look at some of these questions and to see how LGBT families are navigating them and what the differences are and the unique strength. I think this is a book with broad applicability. We need more books like this. So many of the parenting books are very heteronormative, which I think limits their strength. Now we're going to talk regrets, challenges, and surprises. You can speak to one, two, or all three of these. Is there something you would change about the book now that it's published? Or something that was challenging in the process of reading, or something that surprised you that sticks in your mind as “wow, I didn't expect that” as you were researching the book. ABBIE GOLDBERG: I'll speak to two. In terms of change, it's not that I would change it. It's just so much has happened since I wrote the book. We're in such a different state with respect to this country I probably would give more time to if you're living in a particularly challenging geographic area or state with respect to figuring out how you're going to become a parent, what are the things to think through in terms of relocation, or working with providers across state lines and the kinds of challenges that might come up there. Some of the challenges I talk about are intensified for certain folks. In terms of a surprise, it's hard to overemphasize how much money matters. How much your access to financial resources impacts everything from where you live, what options are available to you even as you start the family building journey, can you pursue private adoption, can you pursue infertility treatments, or are you working with the child welfare system? What kinds of access to therapies can you have if your child is having challenges? Can you think about private school if you're living in a state where you don't really want to send your child to public school because of what they might be exposed to in terms of ideas about their family? Just in terms of the access to resources, it shapes so much of what people have available to them. BLAIR HODGES: Your work continues, Abbie. What are you up to now that the book's done? You said you do workshops, you do a lot of things. What else is what else have you got going on? ABBIE GOLDBERG: One of the things I'm doing is I'm doing a lot of work looking at how the Parental Rights and Education Act, the "Don't Say Gay Act" has affected families in Florida, as I mentioned. Doing some research there. I'm also going to be writing a human sexuality textbook which really centers LGBT folks as opposed to them being off in the periphery. There are many human sexuality texts that don't give enough attention and foregrounding to how those experiences play out. I'm continuing to do different talks and workshops for folks, different audiences, a lot of lawyers, and the legal realm is very interesting to me, serving as an expert witness in trials where custody, for example, on same-sex couples is an issue. BLAIR HODGES: That's Abbie Goldberg, clinical psychologist and professor, author of the book LGBTQ Family Building: A Guide for Prospective Parents. She's also been featured in places like The New York Times, The Atlantic, USA Today, and more. She's director of Women's and Gender Studies at Clark University. Abbie, thanks so much for spending this time with us to talk about this great book. ABBIE GOLDBERG: Thank you so much for having me. BLAIR HODGES: Thanks for listening. Thanks to Camille Messick for being a wonderful transcript editor. You can check out transcripts of every episode on the website familyproclamations.org. I'm also grateful to longtime supporter David Ostler, who sponsored the first group of transcripts. I'm always looking for transcript sponsors so if you've got a little extra change rolling around in your purse, let me know. The email address is blair@firesidepod.org. You can also send me feedback about any episode to the same email address. There's much more to come on Family Proclamations. If you're enjoying the show, tell a friend. Get some podcast chatter going at your next family reunion. You can also rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. Check out this review from mountainbluebird: "Blair always finds the most fascinating variety of guests and does a stellar job guiding a conversation. I learn a lot every time I listen." Well thanks for that review. I learn a lot every time I do an interview. Thanks to Mates of State for providing our theme song. Family Proclamations is part of the Dialogue Podcast Network. I'm Blair Hodges, and we'll see you next time.   [End]   Note: Transcripts are edited for readability.

"I think everyone has had this experience of feeling like they're in two places or even more than that, but not quite enough of any." -- Anthony Lynch   Read the Transcript: https://app.swellai.com/t/tp_01HSYYTTTDQ2QVDVHZ079SXA3E Episode Summary: Beth Syverson, the host of the podcast "Unraveling Adoption," welcomes Anthony Lynch, a 24-year-old non-binary transracial adoptee living in London, as a guest on the show. Anthony is the co-founder of In Between Lines, an organization that empowers individuals with complex identities. Throughout the episode, Anthony shares insights into their personal journey as a transracial adoptee with Jamaican and white heritage, growing up in a multicultural family in London. Anthony discusses the challenges of navigating multiple identities, including being adopted, non-binary, and mixed race. They highlight the importance of embracing one's full identity and the complexities that come with straddling different cultural backgrounds. Anthony also sheds light on the concept of intersectionality and how it influences individual experiences and societal perceptions. The conversation delves into the significance of creating spaces for individuals with complex identities to share their stories and connect with others. Anthony shares about the work of In Between Lines, including an upcoming exhibition featuring individuals with diverse backgrounds and identities. They emphasize the need for a more nuanced understanding of identity and the importance of fostering inclusivity and acceptance. Beth and Anthony also discuss the upcoming parliamentary inquiry on adoptee voices in the UK, where Anthony is a steering group member. They touch on the mental health implications of complex identities and the role of policymakers in supporting individuals with diverse backgrounds. Throughout the episode, Beth and Anthony explore the power of authenticity, community, and understanding in embracing complex identities. They encourage listeners to reflect on their own identities and challenge societal norms that limit individuals to singular labels. The episode concludes with a call to share the conversation with others and continue the dialogue on identity and acceptance. ===============

This episode tells the story of Amy and Tiger, two creatives who "met old" and wanted to start a family. With money constraints, they found their way to foster-to-adopt, and after an arduous fostering process, were able to adopt their daughter. We discuss so many topics on this episode:-The feeling of "otherness" that can sometime occur as an adoptive family. -Transracial adoption and as white people, some ways to support an African American child. -Tokenism and representation in the media.-Their long journey through the difficult foster care system. The stress and trauma, and how they fought through it. -Visitations, overnight visits and the delicate and sometimes confusing relationship with their daughter's birth family.-"Bird-nesting" and co-parenting amicably through divorceSince recording this episode, I wanted to share some resources on the topic of transracial adoption. As a transracial adoptive family ourselves, my husband and I are committed to continuing education on this topic, including listening to adult adoptees. -The family camp I refer to in the episode: Pact Family Camphttps://pactadopt.org/pact-camp/I have since learned there are many of these types of camp. This one was recommended by our Foster Family Agency, Extraordinary Families. -An excellent resource regarding hair care and maintenance for white parents with black children is Ms. Terria Roushun Epting. She has a book, a workbook and a course (that I'll be taking soon!). For all her offerings, visit her website https://terriaroushun.com/ and follow her on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/terriaroushun -To learn about the life and experience of a black woman adopted by white parents, her search to find her biological parents and why white people need to be educated on the transracial adoptive experience, read "You Should Be Grateful" by Angela Tucker . I listened to the audiobook, which she does a great job of narrating! She also has many other offerings, including a podcast, which are discoverable here:https://www.angelatucker.com/ Follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/angieadoptee/I'm sure there are many more valuable resources out there, so please don't hesitate to share them with me and our listeners. It is a lifelong education process. If you feel we've gotten anything wrong in this episode, please call us "in" and let us know how we can do better. I'm committed to learning and growing in this space, as well as educating others. Thanks!

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys FINALLY sit down and catch up! We get into the Shattered Assumptions theory, we do a backdoor pilot for an adoptee-dad podcast, and we talk about some books! Later, we try out all three flavors of Ginsa! Thanks to our friend and Ginsa founder, Juliet Kim Blake for sending some along!ResourcesGinsa: Sparking Ginseng TonicShattered Assumptions Theory (Wikipedia Article)Here After by Amy LinWhen Religion Hurts You by Dr. Laura AndersonEverything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant by Curtis Chin---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife, cat and son. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

Shawn's Picks: Rachel Dolezal.Hey Streetwalkers. THANK YOU SO MUCH for inspiring me to get to 400 episodes! As you may have guessed; lm taking March "off" from releasing new episodes. HOWEVER; all month long, l will be releasing some of my wife's very favorite episodes, in a "Best Of" style.So expect a re-release of an older favorite every weekday; with an all new intro from my wife, explaining why she chose each specific episode.Keep in mind that these are in no particular order, and l'll be back in April with all new episodes. Like, follow, subscribe and tell a friend!-Steve Owens Fascination Street Podcast Rachel DolezalTake a walk with me down Fascination Street as I get to know THE REAL Rachel Dolezal. In this episode we chat about where she grew up and what it was like to grow up feeling like she did not belong. We also talk a lot about race and it's place in society; as well as some of the differences in which different people are treated. Of course we talk about the events that catapulted her name into the public eye, the family events that instigated that entire mess; and what she is doing now.I know a lot of folks have a preconceived idea about this young lady; but my hope is that you will listen to this woman's story with an open mind. Maybe, just maybe, by the end of this episode; you will have attained a touch more compassion and understanding about what she went (and is still going) through. This was a very big honor for me and my sincerest wish is that all of you enjoy it as well.Follow Rachel on social media:Twit: @RachelADolezalInsta: @RachelADolezalFB: @Rachel DolezalCheck out her website: RachelDolezal.com

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down with Kate Kelly and talk about coming to consciousness in China and how being a Korean American adoptee with an interracial family can be a lot of work in the identity department! // Meet Kate Kelly@katekellyadopteehealth---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys talk about voyeurism and whether or not we should even have a podcast?!Later, we get into some Basak Chips by CJ (CheilJedang).....does “upcycled” mean these are made of cardboard?! ---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down with Cosette (Eisenhauer) Epp and talk about growing up celebrating her Chinese and adoptee heritage, starting an adoptee blog at Six Flags, and getting married!Later we eat some Lotte Ghana Chocolate Biscuits! Is that how you spell hazelnut?.... // Meet Cosette (Eisenhauer) Epp!@navigating_adoption on IG || https://www.navigatingadoption.org/@cosetteeisenhauer on IG---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

Hey, Lightshiners! In this episode, I am interviewing Will Powerrr an adoptive father who went viral on TikTok for brushing his Transracial adoptee's hair. After going viral and facing backlash Will came onto my Tiktok Live to share his lived experience. Please be sure to check out the 2024 Black Mothers March on Washington Black Mothers March

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down and talk about what's going on with Kids Books these days!---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down with Dr. Kim McKee and talk about her new book, “Adoption Fantasies:The Fetishization of Asian Adoptees from Girlhood to Womanhood.” We go over her new book, living in Korea, and more! // Meet Kim McKee@adopteekilljoy on InstagramResourcesBuy the book, “Adoption Fantasies: The Fetishization of Asian Adoptees from Girlhood to Womanhood”  here. Use code “MCKEE” for 30% off!---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys kick off 2024 the only way they know how….with a solo! The Banquet Boys catch up with each other post-holiday season, if we had any adoption-related holiday situations, and how we navigate Asian spaces. They also look ahead at the year to come.Later, they snack on a drink (spoiler alert: it's watermelon-y!). Also, VOICEMAILS!// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.comSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportFacebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @janchishowJoin our Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867The Janchi Show Quick BioWe're three Korean Adoptees spread out around America and each of us are at different stages in life. We'll talk about the Korean adoptee experience from our perspectives and learn more about our shared culture, usually with food. And it won't just be the three of us; each week we'll have other adoptees from all over the world joining us to talk about what makes us similar and what makes us unique. So join the party!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan was adopted from Seoul at 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma by a loving family and non-biological adopted sister.  After college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He has a wife and 3 kids and has reconnected with his biological family in 2014.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives. Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.nathannowack.comLinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/nathann/Instagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickarmstrong219Instagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. RoelkeKJ was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days populating the internet with content.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeCreative Director: Michelle NamAudio & Video Engineer: K.J. Roelke & Patrick ArmstrongShow Art: Nathan Nowack

Transracial adoption has increased over the years and the experience of being raised by adoptive parents of a different race is not without complications. Host Roy Wood Jr. chats with author of the book All You Can Ever Know, Nicole Chung, and author of the book Surviving the White Gaze, Rebecca Carroll, about their first-hand experiences as transracial adoptees. They discuss their upbringings in predominantly white cities, why adoptive families often don't talk about race, and their lifelong journey navigating their racial identity.   Original air date: November 1, 2022See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on the Matt Walsh Show, a white male conservative Republican politician has made a stunning and heroic announcement: he is actually a woman of color. Yet for some reason his transgender and transracial intersectional identity is being hatefully rejected by leftists who are calling for his removal office. Also, Montana is the latest state to ban child castration and mutilation. Democrats in Nebraska weep tears of joy after a bill banning abortion after six weeks fails. Bill Maher wonders about the origins of the "woke mind virus." Speaking of which, the woke cult has now come for my favorite book series from my childhood, Frog and Toad. And now they've really gone too far. All of that and more today on the Matt Walsh Show.Click here to join the member exclusive portion of my show: https://utm.io/ueSEm - - - DailyWire+:Become a DailyWire+ member to gain access to movies, shows, documentaries, and more: https://bit.ly/3JR6n6d Pre-order your Jeremy's Chocolate here: https://bit.ly/3EQeVagShop all Jeremy's Razors products here: https://bit.ly/3xuFD43 Represent the Sweet Baby Gang by shopping my merch here: https://bit.ly/3EbNwyj - - - Today's Sponsors:ExpressVPN - Get 3 Months FREE of ExpressVPN: https://bit.ly/3VeHvZM RexMD - Get 90% off RexMD and only pay $2 per dosage with our exclusive link -> https://bit.ly/3VhjUaT #rexmdpod - - -Socials:Follow on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Rv1VeF Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3KZC3oA Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3eBKjiA Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3RQp4rs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the Matt Walsh Show, a white male conservative Republican politician has made a stunning and heroic announcement: he is actually a woman of color. Yet for some reason his transgender and transracial intersectional identity is being hatefully rejected by leftists who are calling for his removal office. Also, Montana is the latest state to ban child castration and mutilation. Democrats in Nebraska weep tears of joy after a bill banning abortion after six weeks fails. Bill Maher wonders about the origins of the "woke mind virus." Speaking of which, the woke cult has now come for my favorite book series from my childhood, Frog and Toad. And now they've really gone too far. All of that and more today on the Matt Walsh Show. Click here to join the member exclusive portion of my show: https://utm.io/ueSEm  - - -  DailyWire+: Become a DailyWire+ member to gain access to movies, shows, documentaries, and more: https://bit.ly/3JR6n6d  Pre-order your Jeremy's Chocolate here: https://bit.ly/3EQeVag Shop all Jeremy's Razors products here: https://bit.ly/3xuFD43  Represent the Sweet Baby Gang by shopping my merch here: https://bit.ly/3EbNwyj  - - -  Today's Sponsors: ExpressVPN - Get 3 Months FREE of ExpressVPN: https://bit.ly/3VeHvZM  RexMD - Get 90% off RexMD and only pay $2 per dosage with our exclusive link -> https://bit.ly/3VhjUaT #rexmdpod  - - - Socials: Follow on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Rv1VeF  Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3KZC3oA  Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3eBKjiA  Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3RQp4rs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices