Adoption: Podcast Playlist

This listening list on adoption was curated by Kahmeela Adams, our PBC-Pittsburgh chapter leader & PBC DJ and fantastic host of three podcasts (Down to Watch, Revisiting Sunnydale, & The RuggedAngel Cast).

The subject of adoption is a complicated one. It’s never easy. And always steeped in deep emotions…for the adoptees, adoptive parents and the birth parents. As my husband and I are going through the adoption process, I found these podcast episodes, as well as many others, helpful in answering some of my questions.

Podcast Playlist on Adoption

Adoptees On – S02 E04 Anne: Adoption Trauma Leave a Wake
(Apple Podcasts | Google Play // 53 minutes, May 2017)
Anne Heffron (author of You Don’t Look Adopted) goes deep into all kinds of things in her story, including failures that she attributes to adoption trauma, things she’s working on to find healing, what “write or die” means to her, and we find a way to laugh a lot.

Modern Love – Not So Simple Math
Not available on iTunes or Google Play (listen by web only)// 23 minutes, January 2016)
This essay — “Open Adoption: Not So Simple Math,” written by Amy Seek and narrated by actor Sarah Paulson — explores the emotional terrain one young woman travels after she makes the decision to give up her son for adoption.

The Why Factor – Why We Raise Other People’s Children
(Apple Podcasts // 23 minutes, August 2017)
Raising children is demanding. It takes time, money and devotion. So, why would anyone want to raise another person’s child? In this episode of the Why Factor, Mary-Ann Ochota, explores what it means to be a parent. Can mothers who adopt or foster have the same connection to their children as a birth mother would? And, what does it say about human society that we choose to take in the offspring of others?

PBC Podcast – Adoption
(Apple Podcasts | Google Play // 36 minutes, March 2018)
This month Sara and Adela dive into the podcast playlist on Adoption. They each share their own thoughts and feelings about the episodes we listened to. And then, just like at most PBC meetings, they went off track and talked about other podcast news. In particular, Sara’s recent article in honor of International Women’s Day on lady-led podcasts that she loves.

PBC Podcast – Adoption: Community Commentary
(Apple Podcasts // Google Play | 36 minutes, March 2018)
In this episode of the PBC podcast, we hear from the chapter leader of the Omaha chapter on her perspective of the episodes on our Adoption podcast playlist. If you want to add your voice to the podcast, review our audio tips and send your audio comments to [email protected].

Conversation Starters about the Adoption Podcast Playlist

1. Would you/have you ever considered adoption?
2. To you, what makes a family?
3. How do you think an adoptee is affected if they are the only adopted sibling in a family?
4. Where do you fall on the nature vs nurture scale?
5. How do you feel about adoption being considered a trauma for adoptees?
6. In Adoptees On, there is mention that people who adopt get tax write-offs. In the episode, Anne has an idea that adoptees should get $1000 in their bank accounts for age 18 and age 50, “I want some prizes for being adopted.” What do you think about that?

DJ RuggedAngel’s Music Playlist

Kahmeela, our playlist curator this month, also puts together a regular segment for us: a musical playlist with the same theme as the podcast playlist. So, check out the “Adoption” musical playlist!