Healing the Child Within, ACE Scores & Please Hear What I Am Not Saying
On page one of Charles L. Whitfield’s “Healing the Child Within,” a book that has sold millions of copies since it was published in 1987, the author writes: “Denial of the Child Within and the subsequent emergence of a false self or negative ego are particularly common among children and adults who grew up in […]
Adoption Reunion: Why I Celebrate My Conception Day
Through my adoption reunion, I learned that my conception took place along the banks of the San Bernard River in Brazoria, Texas.
CUB Retreat 2024: A Transformative Experience for This Adoptee
As an adoptee, I recently had the privilege of attending the CUB (Concerned United Birthparents) Retreat 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri. Having attended two Untangling Our Roots conferences, I had met several first mothers who encouraged me to join them at CUB. I knew this event would be wonderful and healing, as it provides an inclusive space for first parents and adoptees to connect, share, and learn from eachother.
Three Don’t Miss Adoption Books
I am excited to share with you my thoughts on the Rebecca’s and Monica’s wonderful books, which have touched my heart and kept me awake on a few long trips between New Orleans and Texas lately.
Six New Adoption Books for Eggcellent Spring Reading
Is it just me or does 2024 seem to be showing itself as the year of adoption books? Weekly, I find myself adding a new adoption book to my cart. Adoptee, adoptive parent, and first mother memoirs, collective constellation anthologies, and research-based critical analysis written by experts outside our community, all striving to beat back the long-established win-win adoption narrative, which has long deluded society.
Adoptee Resiliency and My 10-Year Climb Back to Happy
Talk about adoptee resiliency, I see that the spontaneous combustion of my writing cabin, an event that seemingly took everything that day, was truly the catalyst for a new reckoning, a coming to terms with self, a deeper understanding of what matters most, and a plummeting toward getting the therapy I so desperately needed.
A Dozen Shareable Doozies: 12 Gretchen Sisson Quotes on Adoption
12 GRETCHEN SISSON QUOTES ON ADOPTION Just before the release of Gretchen Sisson’s RELINQUISHED: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood, an ARC of the book landed on my doorstep. I couldn’t wait to dive in, but a 10-hour car trip convinced me to buy it on Audible rather than wait to read […]
Adoptee Writing Residency Project (AKA Spartan Trailer “Somebody’s Baby” Update)
SHE’S COMING ALONG Perhaps you have or haven’t heard about this adoptee writing residency passion project of mine. Lately, I have started referring to my origin story as my Tin Can Conception, because I was conceived in a 1952 Spartanette trailer. “Would you like to see the place we made you?” My birth father asked […]
Adoptee Life & The Outside In
But this time the adult me had embraced the 12-year-old me, still trying to prove she belonged. The same me that once wrapped Daddy’s Lincoln around a gas pump, trying to get the car closer while my mom was in the store. Like that day, I was only trying to prove my worth.
What is a Search Angel?
A Search Angel plays a crucial role in adoption search support, helping individuals reunite with birth parents, adoptees, and other relatives. These dedicated individuals form networks and organizations that provide personalized assistance, access to databases, and expert guidance throughout the adoption search process. A Search Angel plays a crucial role in adoption search support, helping individuals reunite with birth parents, adoptees, and other relatives. These dedicated individuals form networks and organizations that provide personalized assistance, access to databases, and expert guidance throughout the adoption search process.
Dec. 22 & The Not Knowing
The Not Knowing had driven me to ask strangers in the street if they’d ever relinquished a child, to ask my mother if I looked like this girl or that, to weave a magical fantasy that my older female cousin was actually my mother, to take a 23 and Me test to make sure I didn’t have the BRACA breast cancer gene lurking in my DNA.
The Not Knowing had driven me to the depths of many things.
Let’s Talk Memoir Writing: A Sneak Peek at “The Power of Memoir to Heal Your Heart and Claim Your Story.”
This year’s virtual conference is titled “Honoring the Past, Treasuring the Present, Shaping the Future.” So it seems fitting that I will present a session on memoir writing titled,“The Power of Memoir to Heal Your Heart and Claim Your Story.”
