ABOUT
About Adoption: The Making of Me
Two adult adoptees, Sarah Reinhardt and Louise Browne, delve into all things adoption, from their perspectives as adult adoptees, to DNA testing, to nature vs. nurture and beyond.
Each season Sarah and Louise recap a chapter from a book centered on adoption and then interview a guest. Sarah and Louise come out of the 'fog' in real-time through Seasons One and Two and are advocating for change in the adoption industry. They want to give voice to all adoptees. Adoptee stories are needed to reframe the narrative around adoption.
Sarah and Louise, two former business partners who had a successful ice cream truck in Los Angeles, team up again — this time in frank and honest conversations about all things adoption. Both were adopted shortly after birth, but they had very different experiences.
Each season Sarah and Louise recap a chapter from a book centered on adoption and then interview a guest. Season One broke down The Primal Wound by Nancy Newton Verrier, Season Two tackles Journey of the Adopted Self by Betty Jean Lifton and in Season Three they discuss three adoptee memoirs . These will be intimate conversations, but also fun — Sarah and Louise know how to lighten things up and have a good time. They also have an uncanny ability to get to the heart of a subject with anyone that crosses their path, so conversations will take many turns.
About Co-Host Louise Browne
Louise Browne is a co-host of Adoption: The Making of Me, and she is an adoptee, dog and animal lover, hiker and kayaker, Executive Operations at a fin-tech company, former owner of a gourmet ice cream truck (with her awesome podcast host) and supporter of women and and all people.
Louise was adopted a few days after birth in 1968 into a loving home in a suburb of Denver, Colorado and lived there until graduating from high school. From the time she was young, she always knew she was adopted and wondered about her birth parents. She had some verbal information about them from her adopted family, but her records were sealed as in the case of so many other adoptees.
When Louise’s only son was born, she was in awe, as many adoptees are, at having her first known biological relative. Staring at her son in the delivery room she said, “I know him.” This sparked an intense desire to discover her true nature, beyond her nurture and adoption, and how everything since her birth led to the making of Louise.
Then, when Louise was 32, her biological family found her and called her at home in Los Angeles. It was then that she found out that her birth mother had died in a tragic accident in 1975. This piece of information proved to be a touchstone between the guiding and protective voice in her head and the events of the past.
Hosting Adoption: the Making of Me has brought questions and past feelings to the surface about why she had always felt the way she did. Sharing this journey of discovery with the adopted community has proven to be a life-changing experience.
Louise’s Journey in Photos
About Sarah Reinhardt
Sarah Reinhardt is a co-host of Adoption: The Making of Me, and she is a writer, empty-nester, OCD dog parent, and adoptee.
Sarah was born in the baby scoop era in St. Louis, MO, but only by chance — her birth mother’s water broke on the ascent from JFK to St. Louis. When Sarah found that out later, her lifelong obsession with New York City made sense.
Sarah grew up in a small town in Missouri with a younger brother who was adopted, and younger twins (brothers) who were the biological children of her adopted parents.
It was only when Sarah was pregnant with her own child that she began to wonder 'who' she was. The search for her biological roots began.
What followed was a reunion with her birth mother and siblings and the discovery that her birth father had died before she was able to locate him.
It wasn’t until starting the podcast and reading The Primal Wound that, in the adoptee universe terms, Sarah’s ‘fog’ began to lift.
Sarah loves providing a platform for adoption stories, and she hopes to be involved in adoptee advocation for years to come.
Sarah’s Journey in Photos
