S12, Ep. 1: Emma

Emma was born in Tennessee in 1989 and flown home just two days later — on Valentine’s Day. As a child, her adoption seemed more like a fairytale than a lived experience. Growing up in the country in an old farmhouse in the rolling blue hills of Western Massachusetts, she spent most days drawing, writing, or exploring the fields and woods. Despite her home and her loving and creative family, she began to experience persistent anxiety and depression that worsened with age.

Meeting her birth mother at around twenty set off a cascade of often severe mental health challenges and a long search for understanding. Over the fifteen years that followed, she unraveled defenses and began to face the hard truths inherent in her story — the hard truths the “chosen baby” narrative had so neatly disguised.

 Emma on YouTube

Season 12 Book: The Adoption Paradox by Jean Kelly Widner

EVENTBRITE LINK - AUSTIN, TEXAS - LIVE PODCAST EVENT: 4/17 & 4/18 2206!

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Thank you to our Patreons! Join at the $10 level and be part of our monthly ADOPTEE CAFE community. The next meeting will be Saturday, March 7th, at 1 pm ET.

RESOURCES for Adoptees:

Adoptees Connect

Adoptee Mentoring Society

Gregory Luce and Adoptee Rights Law
Fireside Adoptees Facebook Group
Dr. Liz Debetta: Migrating Toward Wholeness Movement
Moses Farrow - Trauma therapist and advocate
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1-800-273-8255 OR Dial or Text 988.

Kristal Parke Because She Is Adopted

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Season 11 Finale: Monica Hall, Jesse Scott & Liz Harvie