Send us a text On today's episode, Patricia Knight Meyer and I talk black market babies, the power of genetic mirroring and the magic of Glen Campbell. Join us! ________________________________________________________________________________________________ A baby-scoop era black-market "adoptee," Patricia was sold along a curb outside a Texas hospital and grew up with no legal identity, date of birth, legal adoption, or court appointed guardian. Thus, despite one shady attorney’s bes...

Send us a text Amy Lokken and I delve into the challenges of being a transracial Minnesota adoptee, the openness of 1970s hippies and the fiery spirit of Betty Jean Lifton. Join us! ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Amy Lokken is a biracial, transracial adoptee, born in the Upper Midwest in the mid-sixties. She currently lives in San Francisco. Amy is the author of two memoirs. The first, beloved i am, chronicles her...

Send us a text Emma Stevens and I discuss being the adoptee chameleon, secondary rejection and scanning strangers' faces wondering if they might be family. Join us! ___________________________________________________________________________ Emma Stevens is a U.S. domestic adoptee from birth and has survived layers of trauma that have put her on multiple journeys. She developed the inner strength and courage to surmount the many struggles she faced. Her traumas were born from...

Send us a text Join Shane Bouel and I as we delve into searching, societal resistance to our search and piecing together our new identity. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Shane Bouel, an Australian adoptee, is a compelling voice shedding light on the intricate journey of adoption. In his thought-provoking piece Understanding the Unseen Journey of Adoptees, he explores the three half-lives of adoption, delving into the compl...

Send us a text Anna Fienbork was adopted as an infant after five days at the hospital. The fact of being adopted was part of her life from early on. The emotional wounds of this early trauma of separation eventually lead her to doing emotional and spiritual work to face what felt like a black whole inside of her – the sense of having no roots, of somehow being utterly flawed. Her personal path has brought Anna to working with people, helping them to integrate their inner wounds, their lost in...

Send us a text Searching and finding disrupts long-standing family dynamics. Jack Dermody and I delve into how newly arrived adoptees are like bombs thrown into a family and how the knowledge gained by searching offers us an invaluable new perspective on ourselves. Letting go of what could have been, Billie Eilish and even Lawrence Welk make an appearance. Wunnerful! ______________________________________________________________________________________ Born in 19...

Send us a text Join Emily and I as we discuss Paris, embracing the sublimity of a neurodivergent mind and fearfully admitting to others what they actually already know about us. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Emily is a 40-year old domestic infant adoptee, born outside of Chicago, Illinois. Her roots are planted in Bismarck, North Dakota and other neighboring Badlands communities. Emily is an artist, writer and musici...

Send us a text David Lynch's story and mine run rather parallel. BPD adoptive mother? Check. False leads in our father searches? Also check. Our Lady of Corporal Punishment primary school? Oh, yeah. Join David and I as we delve into these topics, Barbara De Angelis and much more! _______________________________________________________________________________________ David Lynch is an adoptee who searched and found his birth mother in 1992-93. He is a writer, graphic desig...

Send us a text From rural Chile to urban Sweden, Maria Diemar started life with a huge journey. Join Maria and I as we discuss kidnapping investigations, maddening bureaucratic red tape and '90s Nordic Neo-Nazis. Los Secretos are everywhere! _______________________________________________________________ My name is Maria Diemar. I’m 47 years old, adopted, a teacher and mother of 3 boys. I was born in Chile then adopted in Sweden where I grew up but I currently live in Dallas/USA. In the la...

Send us a text Dave Brown has his own Tales of the City. Join us for episode #11 of Secret Son as we discuss coming out in the 70s, implicit memory and meeting inebriated relatives for the first time. Thanks for listening! ________________________________________________________________________________________ I am a domestic adoptee born in Virginia, raised in San Diego, CA, and have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area most of my adult life. I have a Bachelor's in B...

Send us a text Hey! Yeah, you! Why not join us for episode #10? Pamela Karanova is a force to be reckoned with in the adoptee community and has a new Substack you should definitely check out! Pamela and I discuss angelic librarians, going on the wagon and wild dogs deep in the Iowa countryside. And, of course, secrecy! _______________________________________________________________________________________ Pamela A. Karanova is an adult adoptee from Iowa residing in Lexington, KY. She'...

Send us a text Join me for episode 9 with Shawn Sigler. We cover the usual stuff - KKK relatives, Cold War Berlin and seeing ourselves in photos of our deceased fathers. Shawn has had an incredible journey of persistence, bravery and self-discovery. Somehow he seems to have emerged from it without bitterness. A very inspiring story and episode! ______________________________________________________________________________________ "I was born in 1963 in Indiana. I was adopted by a w...

Send us a text Sweet home Chicago! The Windy City plays a big part in Cammie Smith’s story. Join us for episode 7 as we get into how best to sneak into nursing homes, problematic Radio Shack ad campaigns and walking that fine line of being either too black or not black enough. And, as always - secrets! ________________________________________________________________________________________ "I'm a 33 years old TRA (transracial adoptee) and I was adopted at the age of five when m...

Send us a text Hey y'all - between us, some days I just wanna be sedated. This is not one of those days. In episode 6 of Secret Son, I head to the Deep South, set on the porch for a spell and have a leisurely tête-à-tête with Alicia Bratton. And, honey, let me tell you, we cover some stuff – progressive Alabama politics (no joke), bayou existentialism and the freedom that fifty brings. And, it goes without saying - secrets! Hey, ho, let’s go! __...

Send us a text Oi mate, how you going? Join us for episode 8 as I chat with West Coast gal Vicky Graham in her new home in Oz. We investigate the Usual Suspects - romcom-ish reunions, local marsupials and surviving the Land of Misfit Toys. _________________________________________________ ____________________________________ “Mom and Dad adopted me when I was eight months old. Before then, I lived in the Crippled Children’s Home with the other unwanted babies, ou...

Send us a text Hey all, did you know that the day destroys the night and night divides the day? Tune into episode 5 to hear author/writing coach Anne Heffron and I get psychedelic. We talk rocky reunions, wrestling with our demons and the psychological efficacy of binge eating. And, of course, breaking on through. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Anne Heffron is the author of You Don’t Look Adopted, Truth and Agency: Writing Ideas for A...

Send us a text Folks, they threw her to the wolves and she’s come back to lead the pack. Superstar podcaster and adoptee activist Haley Radke joins me this week to regale us with tales of being a secret, stalking and the Great White North. So, while you’re (soberly, of course) shooting off those fireworks on New Years Eve, why not multitask? Put on your headphones, crank up the volume on episode three and ring in the new year with another top secret tale! Music, ...

Send us a text Join Secret Son this week as we journey back to a time when it was morning in America. Reagan was president, the Eurythmics were tearing up the charts and the nation was falling in love with a precocious teenager named Michael J. Fox. Meanwhile, today’s guest and I were sitting next to each other in high school mulling over our own Family Ties. Liam Nitka and I were in the same high school class and had no idea the other was harboring their own shameful, dark secret – they ...

Send us a text I met therapist/adoptee advocate Joe Soll in the mid-90s in New York City. We'll discuss decades-long family searches, "spaciness" and getting fed up with living in secrecy. As we all slowly beat back the darkness and embrace much-needed longer days (I'm looking at you especially, Berlin), this is the perfect episode to shine some light on the adoptee perspective. Druids and pagans and normies - together, onward into the light! Music, as always, by ...

Send us a text Who better to launch with than the woman who helped me track down my father? Adoptee rights advocate and search angel extraordinaire Annette O' Connell and I talk family searches, secondary rejection and the ecstasy of experiencing genetic mirroring. Somehow I called her by her maiden name of Daly. Apologies! Music by the inimitable Cassis Birgit Staudt. ________________________________________________________________________________________ Annette ...