Once Upon A Time...In Adopteeland

Taya Reed is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Supervisor with over 15 years of therapeutic experience. She established her private practice, Sound House Therapy, 5 years ago. Adopted in 1970 during the Baby Scoop Era through the LA County Adoption Agency, Taya's personal experience within a closed same-race domestic adoption has profoundly shaped her professional journey. Taya is a US Armed Forces veteran and served in the Gulf War.  Taya presented at the Adoption Knowledge Affiliates conference and participated in an Adoption Mosaic panel discussion. She has participated in multiple writing groups such as Migrating Towards Wholeness: Rewriting Adoption Narratives in the Constellation with Dr. Liz DeBetta and Adoptee Voices Cohort 14 with Sara Easterly. Reuniting with both of her birth parents has provided first-hand experience of adoption's complexities. ifoundherpodcast.com [http://ifoundherpodcast.com/] https://www.soundhousetherapy.com/ [https://www.soundhousetherapy.com/] Taya shares her journey openly having co-hosted the podcast "I Found Her" with her birth mother and is writing an adoptee-guided journal, also titled ‘’I Found Her,’’ planned for 2025 publication. Her mission is to provide compassionate and effective support to fellow adoptees as they navigate their adoption identity. Music by Corey Quinn

Angie was born in Washington, DC in 1971. She spent the first couple of months at St. Ann's Maternity Home before being adopted by a somewhat older couple. She learned about her adoption as a young child after asking her mother if she had been adopted, as suggested by some classmates. Angie searched for and found her biological family in her early twenties and has been in reunion for about 30 years.  https://www.patreon.com/c/adopteeland [https://www.patreon.com/c/adopteeland] Music by Corey Quinn

Danna Schmidt is an end-of-life navigator, ceremonialist, and adoptee who often writes about ritual and threshold moments at the bedside or graveside. Her writings have appeared in Adoptee Voices, Severance Magazine, Grown and Flown and in Maggie Oman Shannon’s Crafting Love: Sharing Our Hearts Through the Work of Our Hands. She has two works in progress: a hybrid guidebook, Funerals, Families & Other Exciting F Words, and her adoption memoir, What the Stork Brought, which chronicles family secrets and the prices we pay to keep them. https://waypointceremonies.com/ [https://waypointceremonies.com/] Rituals of Healing from Birth to Worth - Waypoint Ceremonies [https://waypointceremonies.com/rituals-of-healing-from-birth-to-worth/] https://AltaredMoments.substack.com [https://altaredmoments.substack.com/] Music by Corey Quinn

Ed Di Gangi is a returning guest. He was adopted at the time of his birth. It wasn't until late in his adulthood that he chose to explore the identity of the woman who had placed him for adoption so many years before. His meticulous research led to his learning the circumstances of his birth and subsequent adoption. A dna sample helped him identify his birth father. While neither his father nor his first mother were still alive when Ed made his discoveries, he is in reunion with both maternal and paternal half brothers and a number of first cousins. His search and these reunions are chronicled in Ed's first book, The Gift Best Given: A Memoir. His second book, Gliding Through Goodbye traces his birth mother's travels and her emotional journey in the years after relinquishing him for adoption. Ed lives with his wife, Linda, in Hillsborough, North Carolina. They recently became grandparents for the first time. Emery Kramer Di Gangi made an early appearance on Easter Sunday and is flourishing. https://www.digangiauthor.com/ [https://www.digangiauthor.com/] Music by Corey Quinn

Jean Widner is the author of a new book, The Adoption Paradox: Putting Adoption in Perspective. Today we’re talking about her road to understanding adoption and why she wrote this important book. Jean was born in 1965 and raised in Washington State as an adoptee. After having a mostly positive adoption experience growing up, she shares her story, as it continues to evolve navigating adoption’s complexities. Her book includes a fascinating history of adoption, as well as individual stories from birth parents, adoptive parents, and adoptees that bring an authenticity to the adoption narrative. Jean currently lives in Boulder City with her husband and two dogs and loves traveling the American west in their camping van while they work and play. https://adoptionparadox.com/ [https://adoptionparadox.com/] Music by Corey Quinn