ADOPTION STORIES

Trailer

Listen here for a sampling of Adoption Stories [https://adoptionstoriesvt.com/] interviews.  For more, listen below or on our website!

Welcome

Welcome to Adoption Stories [https://adoptionstoriesvt.com/] - a series of audio interviews with foster/adoptive families, adult adoptees, and adoption support professionals in Windham County, Vermont. Begin listening here to learn more about our project!

Lorni Cochran

Lorni Cochran [https://www.lornicochran.com/] is a registered Somatic Movement Therapist. She practices a developmental form of Movement Therapy that works with the body, movement, and sensation to release restrictive habits and patterns that often have their roots in early experiences. Through both therapy and consulting, she has helped a wide variety of children, adults, and families. Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen OT, Daniel Hughes PhD, Bruce Perry MD, Bessel van der Kolk MD, Daniel Siegel MD, and Pat Ogden PhD have strongly influenced her work. Lorni is the mother of three children, one of whom is adopted.   In this interview, we talk with Lorni about the neurobiology of attachment, the inherent trauma of adoption itself, the behavioral and emotional regulation challenges faced by adopted children, why holidays, birthdays, and school can be triggering, and how parents and teachers can help kids find a "window of tolerance" for living and learning.    Content warning: Family separation.

Sarah Crozier

Sarah Crozier is a Case Manager with Northeast Family Institute [https://www.nfivermont.org/]. She works with children, their families, and community partners using the ARC framework to help build a family’s capacity to integrate trauma experience. ARC stands for attachment, regulation, and competency. This framework is used as a guide when working with children and families to help them better understand what impact trauma has had on their lives, and to build skills to be successful within all environments by learning how to better regulate emotions and make quality personal and professional connections. In addition to her work with NFI, Sarah’s experience includes over 20 years of teaching in both public and private educational environments.    In this interview, we talk with Sarah about her background and training, NFI's wraparound program and model of "therapeutic relationships," the needs of biological and adoptive families in Windham County, trauma integration, and the road to self-acceptance.    Content warning: Abuse, neglect, poverty, the opioid epidemic.

Lissa Schneckenburger and Corey DiMario

Lissa Schneckenburger [https://lissafiddle.com/] is a singer, fiddler, composer, and activist based in Brattleboro. Thunder in my Arms was Lissa’s first release of all-original music, and a song-cycle about attachment, parenting, and developmental trauma – copies of which are donated to foster/adoptive families.    Corey DiMario is a double-bassist and proprietor of Patio Coffee [https://www.instagram.com/patiocoffeevt/] in Brattleboro. Corey is a founding member of the string band Crooked Still, and has performed at major festivals and concert venues across North America, Europe and Australia.   Lissa and Corey are parents to Hunter, who was adopted as a toddler and is now 15 years old.    In this interview, we talk with Lissa and Corey about their brief consideration of private adoption, foster parent training, piecing together their child's personal history, the nature of memory, why babysitters and playdates can be tricky, and Lissa's policy advocacy work with Vermont Foster/Adoptive Family Alliance.