508: How to Center the Adoptee as the Hero in Their Own Story

In a previous episode of Adoption: The Long View (ep505), an adoptee noted that her parents are the center of their adoption story just as she is the center of hers. It’s no big duh that the parents of an adoptee and the adoptee themself experience the same adoption in radically different ways. Too often, adoptive parents, as the earliest narrators of an adoption story, may not think to offer the space for the adoptee to figure out how they might tell their own story one day. This is why I’ve invited today’s guest to talk with us. So let's explore the notion that perspective matters -- and matters greatly -- in how we see and tell a story.

Actress, adoptee advocate, and podcast host Lanise Antoine Shelly is here to help adoptive parents understand that adoptees will likely end up telling their story their way, and how we as parents can help them feel supported or unsupported in doing so.

Show Notes

Instagram: @youngadoptee

Website: www.laniseantoineshelley.com

Torie DiMartile on the stories adoptees tell about our adoption

Let Us Be Greater by Michelle Madrid (mentioned)
Origin, a film based on the book Caste by Isabel Wilkerson.
Ep 305: Is There a Hidden Danger in the Adoption Story You’re Telling?
People article about one vlogger who documented an adoption on social media.
Adoption Unfiltered episode on the unwanted connection between child adoption and child abduction
Ep 307: Tony Hynes on interracial vs transracial terminology

About this Podcast

Lori Holden (The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption: Helping Your Child Grow Up Whole) brings to you an array of articulate and thought-provoking guests with lived experience in adoption, each with valuable insights to share about the all-encompassing journey of parenting an adopted person from babyhood to toddlerhood to school age to teenage -- and ultimately to adulthood. Join us as we explore Adoption: The Long View.

Named a Top 25 Adoption Podcast