Adoption: The Making of Me. An Oral History of Adoptee Stories

Jae Carelli was adopted from Korea at 5 months old and is the oldest of 5 children adopted from Korea through Holt International. They grew up in New Jersey and Cape Cod, and attended the Boston Conservatory at Berklee for their Bachelor's. They struggled with mental health issues as a child and young adult, which sent them on a journey, reckoning with their adoption, through multiple unsuccessful search attempts. Jae is now living in Brooklyn, NY, and works as a vocalist, musician, songwriter, and voice pedagogue whose work examines duality and identity through voice and sound. Jae navigates the space across binaries to explore the capabilities of voice as one of the key markers of identity, which guides their artistic expression as a transracial adoptee and their research with trans/gender non-conforming singers in their Master’s program with the Voice Study Centre. Last year, they released an album, American Doll, and premiered their show solo, Homeward Bound: a Korean Adoptee exploring the longing for belonging in 2025, using the 7 core issues of adoption as the concept for the projects. You can find more about Jae at jae-ci.com

 

Season 12 Book: The Adoption Paradox by Jean Kelly Widner

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Thank you to our Patreons! Join at the $10 level and be part of our monthly ADOPTEE CAFE community. The next meeting will be Saturday, May 16th, at 1 pm ET.

RESOURCES for Adoptees:

Adoptees Connect

Adoptee Mentoring Society

Gregory Luce and Adoptee Rights Law
Fireside Adoptees Facebook Group
Dr. Liz Debetta: Migrating Toward Wholeness Movement
Moses Farrow - Trauma therapist and advocate
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1-800-273-8255 OR Dial or Text 988.

Kristal Parke Because She Is Adopted

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Virginia McQueen Laney is an adoptee in a blended family who is building meaningful work through an adoptee- and queer-centered collaborative practice. Her work extends beyond individual mental health to include advocacy for adoptee rights, collaboration with tribal communities, and serving the LGBTQIA2+ community. She is the founder of the Bozeman Identity Counseling Center.

She holds a Master of Science in Clinical Counseling Psychology and is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor.

Season 12 Book: The Adoption Paradox by Jean Kelly Widner

Sign up to be part of our mailing list!

Thank you to our Patreons! Join at the $10 level and be part of our monthly ADOPTEE CAFE community. The next meeting will be Saturday, May 16th, at 1 pm ET.

RESOURCES for Adoptees:

Adoptees Connect

Adoptee Mentoring Society

Gregory Luce and Adoptee Rights Law
Fireside Adoptees Facebook Group
Dr. Liz Debetta: Migrating Toward Wholeness Movement
Moses Farrow - Trauma therapist and advocate
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1-800-273-8255 OR Dial or Text 988.

Kristal Parke Because She Is Adopted

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At the age of sixty, Alex Blum made a life-altering discovery: he was the eldest of four biological

brothers he never knew existed. Born in 1955, Blum had always known he was adopted, yet the

secrecy of the era kept every detail of his origins sealed. Without a court order, he spent decades

without a single clue about where he came from—or why he had been given up.

Raised by a wealthy family on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Blum grew up surrounded by privilege

but plagued by a deep sense of disconnection. He often felt out of place and emotionally unmoored,

longing for a sense of belonging that never arrived.

Having built a career helping others tell their stories—first for brands as a commercial producer and

then as a feature film producer with credits including Behind Enemy Lines and Flight of the

Phoenix for 20th Century Fox—Blum finally turns the camera on himself in An Accident of Birth.

More than a memoir of adoption and reunion, An Accident of Birth explores the universal emotional

landscape shared by adoptees everywhere. With candid, affecting prose, Blum examines the

pressures of “adoptee gratitude,” the quiet ache of alienation, and the lifelong search for identity,

connection, and home.

To find Alex's Book: An Accident of Birth by T. Alex Blum

Season 12 Book: The Adoption Paradox by Jean Kelly Widner

Sign up to be part of our mailing list!

Thank you to our Patreons! Join at the $10 level and be part of our monthly ADOPTEE CAFE community. The next meeting will be Saturday, May 16th, at 1 pm ET.

RESOURCES for Adoptees:

Adoptees Connect

Adoptee Mentoring Society

Gregory Luce and Adoptee Rights Law

Fireside Adoptees Facebook Group

Dr. Liz Debetta: Migrating Toward Wholeness Movement

Moses Farrow - Trauma therapist and advocate

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1-800-273-8255 OR Dial or Text 988.

Kristal Parke Because She Is Adopted

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dr. Lisa Chism is the Clinical Director of the Oakland Macomb Center for Breast Health. She holds four specialty certifications, including Menopause Practitioner through The Menopause Society, Sexuality Counselor through the American Association of Sexuality Therapists, Counselors and Therapists, and Breast Care certification through the Oncology Nursing Society after 15 years of caring for breast cancer survivors and patients at high risk for breast cancer. This past year, she also earned certification as a trauma-informed care practitioner.

Dr. Chism has established a dedicated menopause and sexual health clinic, caring for the menopausal and sexual health needs of women with a history of breast cancer or those at elevated risk. She has authored numerous publications in women’s healthcare, including serving as lead author of The Menopause Society’s 2023 non-hormonal position statement. She guest lectures at universities across the country, and her textbook, The Doctor of Nursing Practice: A Guidebook for Role Development and Professional Issues, is now in its fifth edition.

Dr. Chism is a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and was named Menopause Practitioner of the Year in 2011. She previously served on the Board of Directors for the North American Menopause Society and on a federal advisory committee with the CDC focused on breast cancer in young women. In October 2021, she was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Most recently, Dr. Chism published her memoir, The Adopted Nurse, and remains passionate about the care of adoptees through a healthcare professional lens.

Season 12 Book: The Adoption Paradox by Jean Kelly Widner
EVENTBRITE LINK - AUSTIN, TEXAS - LIVE PODCAST EVENT: 4/17 & 4/18 2206!

Sign up to be part of our mailing list and receive upcoming details about our April 17th & 18th Live Podcast Event in Austin, Texas!

Thank you to our Patreons! Join at the $10 level and be part of our monthly ADOPTEE CAFE community. The next meeting will be Saturday, May 16th, at 1 pm ET.

RESOURCES for Adoptees:

Adoptees Connect

Adoptee Mentoring Society

Gregory Luce and Adoptee Rights Law

Fireside Adoptees Facebook Group

Dr. Liz Debetta: Migrating Toward Wholeness Movement

Moses Farrow - Trauma therapist and advocate

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1-800-273-8255 OR Dial or Text 988.

Kristal Parke Because She Is Adopted

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Born into Roma heritage and adopted at just six weeks old, Mioara was raised by a Canadian/New Zealand family, growing up between cultures while carrying a quiet curiosity about her own origins.

In 2018, with the help of her father-in-law, she reconnected with her biological parents—an experience that reshaped her understanding of identity, belonging, and the unseen threads that connect us. Through that journey, Mioara discovered she had a younger sister who had also been relinquished at birth and adopted to Canada. This is when the search for her baby bio sister began.

In 2025, she and her sister found their way to each other. What began as a virtual meeting quickly became something far more profound—they met in person just two weeks later. What could have felt unfamiliar instead felt immediate and deeply known, an unexplainable sense of recognition that defied time and circumstance.

Mioraa’s story is one of duality—of being both rooted and searching, of loss and reconnection, and of discovering that identity is not defined by a single path, but by the courage to embrace every part of it.

Season 12 Book: The Adoption Paradox by Jean Kelly Widner

EVENTBRITE LINK - AUSTIN, TEXAS - LIVE PODCAST EVENT: 4/17 & 4/18 2206!

Sign up to be part of our mailing list and receive upcoming details about our April 17th & 18th Live Podcast Event in Austin, Texas!

Thank you to our Patreons! Join at the $10 level and be part of our monthly ADOPTEE CAFE community. The next meeting will be Saturday, April 11th, at 1 pm ET.

RESOURCES for Adoptees:

Adoptees Connect

Adoptee Mentoring Society

Gregory Luce and Adoptee Rights Law

Fireside Adoptees Facebook Group

Dr. Liz Debetta: Migrating Toward Wholeness Movement

Moses Farrow - Trauma therapist and advocate

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1-800-273-8255 OR Dial or Text 988.

Kristal Parke Because She Is Adopted

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.