Mariel Carlson, University of Minnesota MSW Student and Outreach Graduate Assistant at CASCW and Laura LeBrun, MSW, University of Minnesota Graduate and Outreach Graduate Assistant at CASCW
July 2021
Welcome to the Expanding Knowledge blog series! The following is an eight-week series that will feature means to enhance your child welfare work through education by non-conventional means, exploring content beyond traditional academia. We recognize that everyone learns in unique ways and thus will suggest resources from social media, books, podcasts, and more to help broaden the child welfare knowledge base and increase access to a variety of voices.
Our second week in Expanding Knowledge will explore several podcasts that we have found illuminating, educational, and noteworthy. Please note the content warning.
While last week we shared various Instagram users, this week we are choosing to share auditory resources: podcasts. Podcasts are available on many platforms: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Buzzsprout, Stitcher, and more. Wherever you choose to listen to podcasts, they are typically presented as a number of series in which episodes can be listened to in a serial format or one-off, without prior listening experience. Many folks today find nonfiction podcasts to be a valuable source of information and news. We have selected the following podcasts to highlight various perspectives, life experiences, and knowledge that can be useful to anyone who is working in child welfare-related fields, or may be suitable for those curious to learn more.
It is important to consider the lens that podcast creators use when considering how these perspectives will influence your child welfare practice. Often, foster and adoptive parents are centered in conversations due to many factors, including age, power differentials, and perception of role. While most of the creators below hold the title of “adoptee,” they also have multiple identities including social worker, Black, Indigenous, transracially adopted, parent, and more. Former foster youth and adoptee voices are the center of our work, and thus their voices should be elevated. We invite you to consider the positions, identities, and power dynamics inherent in any of the child welfare-related podcasts you might tune in to regularly. Whose voice is centered? Are those with lived experience exploited or further marginalized? We’ve listed suggested podcasts below:
This podcast is hosted by Ashley and Kelsey, two birth moms who have experienced the adoption of their biological children and continue to navigate the challenges and fallout post-adoption. Both women, one who went through the process in 2006 and the other in 2016, found the support for birth mothers severely lacking and overlooked. They describe adoptions as a triad: adoptee, adoptive parents, and birth mother — yet the voices of birth mothers are hardly ever heard. Once adoptions are completed, the birth mother is left in limbo, wondering what to do with their emotions and navigating relationships with their children. Episodes feature guest speakers — also birth moms — and ongoing conversations about the challenges of adoptions, including grief, birthdays, birth fathers, etc. This podcast is definitely a support for birth mothers but is also geared toward anyone who wants to learn more about the experience of birth mothers in the adoption process.
2. Missing and Murdered: Finding Cleo
As part of the Sixties Scoop era of adoptions, the Semaganis family, from Little Pine First Nation in Canada, was separated from each other. All eventually connected as adults, but they grew up haunted by what truly happened to their sister, Cleo Semaganis Nicotine, who they heard had been murdered while trying to hitchhike home to Saskatchewan from Arkansas. With no record of her adoptive name or birth date, the family attempted for nearly 40 years to navigate bureaucracies and legal systems to find out what Cleo’s life had been like since her adoption, discover what truly led to her death, and finally bring Cleo home. It was not until the family connected with CBC reporter Connie Walker (from Okanese First Nation) that the threads of Cleo and the greater Semaganis family’s story became more clear. Throughout its ten episodes, the podcast delves into the AIM (Adopt Indian Métis) program of Canada, residential schools, historical and systemic trauma, transracial adoption, and much more. As her youngest sister, Christine, explained, “Cleo’s spirit is very much alive.” Cleo’s spirit’s vibrancy threads throughout the series; her wisdom that, “the government had no right to do this,” which she stated at the young age of 13, highlights the incredible impact of this family’s story. Canada’s history, in particular, parallels the history of the United States, which is why this podcast is a must listen for any child welfare social worker who wishes to have a greater understanding of the history of lives of First Nations and Indigenous peoples.
Content Warning (CW) for sensitive topics in the Suicide Awareness episodes, including suicide, eating disorders, and self-harm. This podcast has been hosted by two Korean adoptees, Hana and Ryan, in Melbourne, Australia since 2019. They discuss experiences in various areas of life viewed from their lens of being an adoptee. Topics include race, gender, the search for and reunion with birth family, dating, visiting Korea as an adult, and attempting to learn the Korean language. Similar to the Twisted Sisterhood podcast, Hana and Ryan voice a sense of feeling “weird and twisty” and want adoptees to know they are not alone. Hana (she/her) was adopted in 1984 by a white family in Tasmania at three years old. Ryan (they/them) was adopted in 1985 at four months. Ryan includes discussions of their trans identity with being an adoptee.
Episodes we love:
Interview with Harlow’s Monkey – JaeRan Kim is a social work professor at the University of Washington-Tacoma who studies the intersection of disability, permanency, and race in child welfare. JaeRan Kim was adopted to Minnesota and notes that there is a large Korean adoptee community in Minnesota.
Becoming a Parent for the First Time – Jess Walton, a Korean adoptee, discusses the burden of “acting white” for transracial adoptees and the role of foster mothers. Adoptee Suicide Awareness Series (Parts 1-3) – CW for sensitive topics including suicide, eating disorders, self-harm. July is also BIPOC Mental Health Month, and this could be a useful listening resource to better understand the experience of BIPOC adoptees.
4. The First Name Basis Podcast
This podcast is hosted by Jasmine Bradshaw, a Black biracial parent, with the aim of “giving parents the tools they need to teach their children about race, religion, and culture.” The concept of this podcast is to make the leap from good intentions to action, calling others in, and using kindness to learn from our mistakes. This could be a useful resource for anyone working with BIPOC youth or any parent hoping to raise anti-racist, inclusive children.
This podcast is hosted by Francie Frisbie, an adoptee who wants to share the reality of adoption for any children experiencing the complex emotions of knowing they love their adoptive family yet have lost their biological family. Francie’s goal with this podcast is to educate, support, and hopefully inspire legislative change in the adoption world.
6. Adoptees On
Hosted by adoptee Haley Radke, this podcast aims to share stories of adult adoptees around sensitive topics such as birth family search, reunion, and secondary rejection. Resources for the adoption community are also shared; those with adoptees in their lives are welcome to listen and learn how to support adoptees.
7. Broken Harts
A collaboration between How Stuff Works and Glamour, Broken Harts explores the effects of “abuse, neglect, privilege, and confusion” of two white women who adopted, and eventually murdered, six Black children. The Hart family went viral in the media quite a few times, and Jennifer, one of the mothers, was active on social media. All of this communication presented a “picture perfect” family to the public. As the podcast continues, however, it delves into many signs that were missed and how the Harts were able to use their privilege against their children. This podcast is a necessary reminder of what can occur behind the scenes and how important it is to listen to adopted children within families.
This podcast comes from the Christian Alliance for Orphans, as part of their movement to look past the deficits in foster care and be “more than enough.” Ideal for those people who have religion and spirituality as a cornerstone for their lives, the Foster Movement Podcast typically features an interview with a former foster youth or adoptee and then a professional. The last part of their podcast specifically dives deeper into the foster parenting process. This podcast is hosted by a foster parent, so it is ideal for professionals and families who want to delve deeper into the intricacies of foster care, especially those who hold religious beliefs.
Simon Benn, a white adoptee, is the host of this podcast. He was adopted at five weeks old and states that he did not suffer any adoption trauma until he turned 40 and found a stuffed teddy bear from his mother. He created the podcast for adoptive parents and adoptees in hopes that adoptees can thrive. Each episode he interviews someone connected to adoption with the goal of healing, light, and empowerment. Benn and his guests have engaging discussions that would be insightful for any child welfare worker, adoptive parent, or adoptee.
10. Last Day
While this podcast is not specifically about child welfare, there are a few important episodes that make it relevant to the child welfare worker. In addition, its focus on substance use and mental illness can provide newfound insight into and empathy for biological families. As the podcast states in season one, episode nine, even though it may feel otherwise, “there are no heroes and villains in this story.” Stephanie Wittels Wachs, the podcast host, had a brother who died from his opioid addiction. Thus, season one discusses substance use. Season two gets into mental illness. Both are important topics when looking at the entire family system.
Bonus Recommendation: We would also like to recommend The Adoptee Next Door. We have featured Angela Tucker’s social media in our previous post, which is why it is not getting a direct feature here, but Angela’s content is extremely valuable and important. As described on her website, this podcast interviews “adoptees from all backgrounds in an effort to shift societal perceptions about adoption. The conversations explore how adoption often reveals something new about racism, religion, immigration, trauma, and the many layers of unconventional families.”
Finally, we would encourage you all to consider paying for the emotional labor of those who are using their platforms to educate and enrich the child welfare field. While many people will have a link for voluntary payments, others will not, and it is okay to ask for, and thus recognize, a means to pay the content creators for their efforts. We are benefiting from the time and labor that it takes for them to create each post.
Do you have any social media accounts, posts, or resources that have been helpful to you as a child welfare professional? Please send us an email.
The reviews and opinions expressed in this blog are expressly that of the author and are not that of the University of Minnesota, School of Social Work, or Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare.