How to Love a Transracially Adopted Person: Unlocking a Deeper Connection
In February 2025, I give you the 9th installment of How to Love a Transracially Adopted Person. In this part of the series I am joined by someone who, for the past year, has been on this journey with me in the most personal way: my boyfriend, David Sutphen. While he wasn’t adopted, he has personal connections to adoption and knows what it’s like to be part of a blended family. These experiences, I believe, have shaped his identity, his sense of belonging, and his capacity to love me, a transracially adopted person. Join us as we talk about connections in adoption, identity, and love. I also humbly share a very personal example of how my default setting of abandonment played out following a very special birthday trip with David.
Chosen, Searching, and Seen: The Community We Need in Adoption
For many adopted persons, the journey to understanding identity and belonging is filled with complexities, questions, and the need for community. In this episode, host April Dinwoodie is joined by Tracie Carlson, a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor and fellow adopted person, to explore how growing up adopted shaped their identities and how finding community became essential to their journeys. From the experience of being “chosen” to the emotional realities of searching for family, April and Tracie discuss what it means to be truly seen and supported. They reflect on the both/and of adoption, the power of connection, and how creating spaces of belonging can change lives—not just for adopted persons, but for the world.
December 2024: Adoption & Evolving Traditions
Host April Dinwoodie sits with producer Kyle Ferreira to discuss how holiday traditions have evolved over the years. April also shares thoughts about the baby in the manger, the nativity and the “Holiday Miracle” as it relates to adoption.
November 2024: Who is Around Your Holiday Table?
In November 2024, host April Dinwoodie sits with Producer Kyle Ferreira to talk about the both/and of her holiday table. April also shares helpful tips for transracially adopted persons when it comes to the holiday season.
October 2024: Adoption, Costumes and Code-Switching
In October 2024, Host April Dinwoodie sits with producer, Kyle Ferreira to talk about the idea behind code switching and wearing masks as it relates to a transracialy adopted persons experiences. We also hold space for April as her birthday approaches later this month.
September 2024: Moving with Confidence & Clarity
This month host April Dinwoodie sits down with producer Kyle Ferreira to talk about the recent Transracial Journeys Camp that April is involved in each year and how beneficial this camp is to building confidence and clarity around some of the more difficult aspects of transracial adoption.
The Black Paper, with Kamilah Bunn and Toni Oliver
On this week’s episode we talk to Kamilah Bunn, CEO of the National Adoption Association, and Toni Oliver, former president of the National Association of Black Social Workers, about the recently published “Black Paper,” an early look at the effect of NAA’s Ujima Black Family Connection Program. The goal of the program is to convene Black leaders to work on addressing long-standing disparities in child welfare and push back against the stereotype that Black families do not adopt.
Black Paper: Urgent Need for Black Family Connections and Support for Black Leaders Advancing Change Efforts in Systems https://www.adoptnaa.org/page/blackpaper
August 2024: Adoption on MY Terms – Language and Agency For Adopted Persons
As the school year kicks off, host April Dinwoodie sits down with producer Kyle Ferreira to have a conversation about language as it relates to expressing experiences of adoption. In this episode, April breaks down the reasons for why she refers to her self as an “Adopted Person”. And why she refers to her parents as either “Parents of Origin” or “Parents of Experience”.
July 2024: Freedom, Family, & VP Kamala Harris
With July 4th as a backdrop, this month, producer Kyle Ferreira and host April Dinwoodie have a conversation about thoughts and experiences surrounding freedom and independence. We also discuss representation and the impact VP Kamala Harris.
June 2024: The Father of All Holidays
This month, for Fathers’ Day, I sit down with my producer to have a conversation about my thoughts and emotions at the intersection of adoption and Fathers’ Day.
May 2024: Mothers’ Day & Adoption Reflections with JuneinApril
This month, just after Mothers’ Day, I sit down with my producer to have a conversation about my thoughts and emotions as it relates to adoption and mothers, mothering, and Mothers’ Day.
April 2024: I’m Adopted & I Cry A Lot (April Showers Bring May Flowers)
In this episode, host April Dinwoodie shares her very personal journey of sadness, grief, and loss connected to adoption and family separation.
Let’s Talk Adoption
Some of our child clients have been talking to John and Jim about adoption, which inspired an episode about how we think of adoption as children’s attorneys.
It’s important to understand all the things that come with and all the things that get taken away with adoption.
Federal policies and local practices seem to swing on a pendulum as to whether adoption is to be emphasized or strenuously avoided, but we focus on finding the best possible option for each singular client and keep it in our tool belts.
One way we think of the issue is that adoption is about the risk of harm from the continued pursuit of reunification versus the risk of harm due to the loss of their birth family. As a child’s attorney, knowing your client and the dynamics affecting them will help you recognize when adoption might be the best strategy for the child. Thanks for listening and please share with others who might find the podcast helpful!
March 2024: Four Women Connected to Adoption
In honor of Women’s History Month for March 2024, I share how four women, four mothers who never knew each other helped shape my understanding of the many women connected to adoption.
February 2024: How to Love a TRA: “She Cried”
n February 2024, I give you the 8th installment of How to Love a Transracially Adopted Person, titled “She Cried.” In this part of the series I recount recently trying to find an old letter that my bio cousin had sent me but in trying to find that I stumbled upon the letter I had originally sent my birth mother that she had sent back to me but upon opening it this time I found something new. This discovery conjured up a new sense of love and loss.
January 2024: The Intersection of Social Media & Adoption
The new year is upon us but I still continue to see the same inappropriate social media postings surrounding children and youth who have been adopted particularly Black & Brown children being adopted into white families. In this January episode, I dive into how important it is to protect adopted children from social media exploitation. I also discuss the urgency of physical protection of Black and Brown adopted children and youth and the role hair touching plays.
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