I got off track somewhere in the middle of November. I had made a goal to write every day during National Adoption Awareness Month....and here it is January 1, 2019 and I have not written in a long time. There is a reason. My dad fell, he spent some time in the hospital and rehab,... Continue Reading →
Adoptees – On Being “A Mistake”
Many adoptees have been told in their lives that they are a mistake. That their birth mother "got in trouble," and that this "trouble" was a "mistake." What the adopted person hears is - "YOU are / were the trouble," and "YOU are / were the mistake." Those who are reading and who are not... Continue Reading →
Adoptee Connect and Why Adoptees NEED Community
This blog post is dedicated to Adoptee Connect with a heart full of gratitude. In September of 2018, a group of 5 people sat around a table. You could feel the nervous energy. This was the first official meeting of the Las Vegas Adoptee Connect Support group. I knew this was the start of something important.... Continue Reading →
Adoptees are Super Heroes and SHEroes
I am a person who loves Marvel, DC, Star Wars, and all super power, good vs evil type movies. I grew up watching the ORIGINAL Bat Man series (ka-boom, slam, wap...etc) and I love superhero metaphors in my therapy practice. Superhero Therapy is the BEST! In 2017, I found my biological family and my how-I-came-to-be... Continue Reading →
Adoptees: To Trust or Not to Trust? That is the Question
If an adoptee trusts you, really trusts you, consider yourself the exception to the rule. For myself, and many other adoptees, trust does not come easily, or it is given so quickly that trust turns into betrayal. It may seem as though this sentence contradicts itself, but it is so true. Adoptees have been betrayed... Continue Reading →
Secrets in Adoption HURT Adoptees
Being born in 1965, during the Baby Scoop Era of adoption, there were many secrets. Here is a graph outlining what happened during that time, and into today regarding adoptions. I am a person who does not have their original birth certificate ( OBC ). It is sealed by the state of Nevada. I have... Continue Reading →
Attachment Injury and Adoptees
As a clinician working with children in foster care, I have seen children placed, removed, moved, placed, removed, moved placed, removed in foster homes over and over again. Often, this causes the child to retreat within themselves, losing trust in the system and in adults...and in themselves. I call these incidents of interruption Attachment Injuries. ... Continue Reading →
Caterpillar to Butterfly ~ My Adoptee Story
When a caterpillar enters the chrysalis, it stays very still for a long time.
Grief – Adoptees On Podcast Interview
I had the privilege of being interviewed by Haley Radke with the Adoptees On podcast recently and my 1st episode in a 2 part series on Grief airs today. You can listen here: //html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/7039617/height/300/theme/custom/autoplay/no/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/backward/render-playlist/yes/custom-color/0079b6/ As always, I hope for and welcome your feedback. And, stay tuned! In 2 weeks, part II of our conversation will... Continue Reading →