S11, Ep. 20: Elena

Elena S. Hall is a Russian adoptee, author, social worker, and the voice behind the Instagram page @ThroughAdoptedEyes. She is passionate about her faith, finding joy amidst grief, and loves ice cream! Adopted at a year and a half into a family that was always open about adoption, Elena brings a unique blend of personal experience and professional insight to her work. She began writing Through Adopted Eyes in 2016—a collection of memoirs from adoptees reflecting on their journeys. She later created Through Adopted Hearts to offer a fuller picture of the adoption constellation.

Elena is also the author of the children’s books Adoption Is Both and My Adoptee Voice, designed to help families talk about adoption in ways that are honest, age-appropriate, and empowering. Through storytelling, education, and advocacy, she uses her platform to challenge simplified adoption narratives and create space for real, nuanced conversations. Whether you’re an adoptee, adoptive parent, or someone eager to learn, Elena’s work invites you to see adoption through a more thoughtful, empathetic lens—one that centers lived experience.

S11, Ep. 19: Charlotte

Charlotte Angeles was conceived during an affair that her biological father was having with her biological mother. She was born in Pasadena, CA, in 1987, and was held in her adoptive parents’ arms that same day.  She knew from an early age that she was adopted - that her birth mother was very young and didn’t have the means to raise her alone - and her adoptive parents always offered a safe space to ask questions. But Charlotte didn’t decide to dive deeper until she gave birth to her first child in 2017. By that time, she had learned of the tragic way in which her birth mother had passed away just a few years prior.

She was, however, able to find and connect with her biological father in 2018. She has also met her biological half-sister and one half-brother. Additionally, she has connected with several of her birth mother’s siblings. Just this year, she received a very sentimental package from one of her birth mother’s sisters - an original sonogram that her birth mother had saved. Through all of these connections, many important questions have been answered, and she has gained so much insight into where a lot of her own behaviors and personality traits have come from.

Today, Charlotte works as a dental hygienist and continues to live in Los Angeles, where she was raised her whole life. One of her biggest dreams was to have her own biological children, and after multiple rounds of IVF, she and her husband have a beautiful son and daughter. She is confident in her identity now and has become more comfortable sharing her story over the past few years.

S11, Ep. 18: Kim

Award-winning author and journalist Kim Orendor was adopted at three months old. Her parents told her about the day she joined their family, along with other stories at bedtime. Kim continues to share her own story with others and has authored an adoption-themed young adult novel. She lives in Northern California.

Kim's YA fiction story "To Whom It May Concern" with an adoption theme, won the NextGen INDIE gold medal.

S11, Ep. 17: Tim

Tim Perdion was born in 1969 and relinquished for adoption at birth. Around two months later, he was adopted into a loving family in Ohio. Though surrounded by care and support, he carried a quiet ache beneath the surface—a longing to understand his identity and a sense of not fully belonging. These hidden wounds, rooted in adoption, shame, and early emotional neglect, followed him into adulthood.

At 46, Tim reunited with both of his biological parents. While the experience offered long-awaited answers, it also opened the door to secondary rejection and a deeper unraveling of his story. This turning point led to a season of intense self-reflection, healing, and transformation—moving from a life driven by performance and self-protection into one anchored in vulnerability, purpose, and connection.

Today, Tim is a senior leader in a private equity-backed professional services firm. Outside of work, he serves as a life coach, speaker, and mentor, walking alongside high-achieving men who look successful on the outside but feel lost or empty on the inside. He facilitates men’s groups focused on accountability, emotional honesty, and growth—creating spaces where men can be fully seen, supported, and known.

Tim’s journey is a story of healing, hope, and rediscovery. He’s passionate about helping others break generational cycles, find clarity in who they are, and live with greater intention, freedom, and wholeness.

S11, Ep. 16: Abby

Dr. Abigail Hasberry is an author, speaker, and educator. She is also a certified executive leadership coach, licensed clinical marriage and family therapist, and holds a school superintendent certification. With a background in education as a former teacher and founding school principal, she has experience in private, traditional public, and charter schools.

Dr. Hasberry holds a Bachelor of Science degree in African American studies and sociology, a Master of Arts in teaching, K-12, a Master of Education in counseling and development, a
Master of Science degree in industrial/organizational psychology, and a Ph.D. in curriculum & instruction.

She is the author of The R3 Framework, a workbook for healing difficult relationships, Living Life on Purpose, for a Purpose, and with a Purpose: 15 Identity Affirming Lessons, and her memoir, Adopting Privilege. She has also authored research on identity development.

Abby is currently serving as a board member for Adoption Knowledge Affiliates and as an Ad Hoc Reviewer for the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy’s Minority Fellowship Program.

Dr. Hasberry's research and publications focus on identity development, diversity, and the experiences of black teachers in private, affluent, and predominantly white schools. As a therapist, her practice predominantly serves adoptees and birth parents. She is also actively involved in training therapists on adoption-informed practices and has been a speaker on adoption, identity development, parenting, and trauma in various keynotes, panels, podcasts, workshops, conferences, and webinars.

In addition to working as a therapist, Abby has a thriving executive leadership coaching and consulting practice. Her clients are primarily BIPOC founders and leaders of startup organizations. She pairs her experiences as a coach and a therapist when presenting on workplace wellness, founder challenges and solutions, finding and aligning to your purpose, and more.

Beyond her professional achievements, Dr. Hasberry is married and has raised three children. Her personal journey as a transracial adoptee and birth mom fuels her dedication to support adult adoptees and birth mothers in their own paths of healing and growth.

To find Dr. Hasberry: https://adoptingprivilege.com/

S11, Ep. 15: Susie

 Susie DeTitta was born in California in 1965 and adopted at three months old by a family unable to have children due to infertility. Her parents had previously adopted two other children. Shortly after her adoption, the family relocated to Arizona, where Susie spent her childhood and later attended university.

While in college, a spontaneous call with a friend to the adoption agency proved to be a dead end in her search for her biological roots. Years later, after moving to Portland, Oregon, a letter from the same agency reignited her curiosity—this time, it seemed someone might be looking for her. That intuition proved true: within months, Susie was reunited with her biological family. This marked the beginning of a 35-year journey of connection, discovery, and relationship-building. Throughout it all, Susie has maintained strong ties with both her adoptive and biological families, weaving together a rich and meaningful tapestry of identity—while continuing her personal search for belonging between two separate worlds and within herself.

S11, Ep. 14: Dave

Born in Long Island in 1966, Dave Verrone’s life began with separation — just five days after birth, he was placed with a foster family. For the next 14 months, he bonded deeply with his foster parents and three siblings. In October 1967, he joined the Verrone family, adjusting to his third mother, his father, and a new sister, also adopted.

Childhood brought both love and challenge. Though his adoptive parents cared for him deeply, their “clean slate” approach left Dave hesitant to ask about his origins, shaping him into a quiet “pleaser” who avoided rocking the boat. Separation anxiety, shyness, and self-doubt followed him, but so did perseverance.

Through life’s ups and downs - successes, losses, and moments of self-discovery - Dave built his own family and, in time, reconnected with his biological relatives. His journey is one of resilience, acceptance, and the enduring search for identity.

S11, Ep. 13: Karen

Karen was adopted domestically at birth, and found by her birth family at 29, and entered reunion soon after. The experience of merging her past and present was both transformational and complex, bringing up emotions and questions she hadn’t fully confronted before. During this time, Karen sought therapy but struggled to find someone who truly understood the adoptee experience. Many available therapists were adoptive parents—well-intentioned, but not individuals she felt safe opening up to. This gap in adoptee-centered care inspired Karen to return to graduate school in her 40s to become the kind of therapist she needed: someone with lived experience, deep empathy, and the tools to support others navigating the lifelong journey of adoption. Now, as an adoptee-competent therapist, Karen is committed to holding space for fellow adoptees as they explore identity, grief, belonging, and connection on their own terms.

S11, Ep. 12: Pete

Pete Droge is a critically acclaimed singer/songwriter based in Seattle, WA who rocketed to early stardom on the strength of his 1994 debut Necktie Second. The Los Angeles Times compared his songwriting to Bob Dylan and Neil Young while also earning similar praise from Rolling Stone and Boston Globe among many others, and within a year he was on the road supporting Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He has since released a series of well-received solo albums, composed a variety of works for film and television, and even appeared in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous.

Sixteen years ago, Pete Droge went looking for his birth mother; instead, he found her obituary. But rather than marking the end of the story, the discovery ultimately led him to reconnect with his surviving relatives and started a journey that would forever change his life and career. He explores it all with poetic grace on Fade Away Blue, a rich, revelatory sonic memoir that faces down doubt and despair with love, resilience, and commitment at every turn. The songs are bittersweet, balancing longing and gratitude in equal measure, and the arrangements are warm and inviting to match, with Droge's tender, comforting lyrics and easygoing, understated delivery.

Pete Droge

S11, Ep. 11: Bob

Bob Wilson an adoptee born in the early 1970s at the end of the Baby Scoop Era. During his childhood and young adulthood, he thought little about the fact that he was adopted. But after reading Ann Fessler’s groundbreaking book The Girls Who Went Away (2007) about adoption in mid-twentieth century America, he began the legal process of unsealing his adoption records and attempting to find his birthmother. He located and contacted his birthmother nearly two decades ago and has had a close relationship with her since then. In 2020, GeoHumanities published his essay “Relinquished,” a narrative of his birthmother’s fraught journey to surrender him for adoption and the legacy of that decision. “Relinquished” is a story of a birthmother and adoptee, but it also illuminates the history of adoption, abortion, and unplanned pregnancies in the decades before Roe v. Wade. He is currently associate professor of geography and the environment in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, where he teaches courses in historical geography, environmental history, and the environmental humanities.

S11, Ep. 10: Mee Ok

Mee Ok Icaro (pronounced “Mee Oak Ee-car-oh”), is a unique and powerful voice in the world of visionary medicine and personal growth. As a Sacred Medicine Advisor and Integration Specialist, Life Purpose Coach and Guide, Writer and Book Doula Mee Ok is dedicated to helping individuals heal and find their path in life. She integrates many teachings from a variety of traditions, from ancient to modern.

With a passion for writing and a talent for prose, Mee Ok is an award-winning stylist and poet. Her work has appeared in notable publications like the LA Times, Boston Globe Magazine, and Michael Pollan’s Trips Worth Telling anthology. She was even featured in Gabor Maté’s New York Times bestseller The Myth of Normal and the Netflix docuseries [Un]Well. With over a decade of experience working with ayahuasca and dieting seven master plants, Mee Ok is curing a near-fatal autoimmune disease, scleroderma, and is dedicated to helping others heal and recover their birthright of authenticity and truth.

Mee Ok holds a BA in Philosophy from Boston University and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction, and has studied the history of sexuality and medicine at Harvard. She currently partners with Shipibo healers to offer ayahuasca retreats in Peru. With a diverse set of passions, including racial and disability equity, adoptee advocacy, social justice, film, literature, doggies, and drag, Mee Ok is a curious soul with a wealth of knowledge and experience she loves to share. HoldingCompassionate.space

Mee Ok (pronounced "Mee Oak") 

Stay Current: Substack Newsletter

Professional Offerings: HoldingCompassionate.space

Personal Writing: Mee-ok.com

S11, Ep. 9: Simon

Simon Njoroge is an adopted person from Kenya. He has been involved in the child care reform agenda in Kenya in various capacities for more than a decade, including coordinating an adopted persons support group.

S11, Ep. 8: Barbara

Barbara was born in 1964, and although given up within the first week of life, she wasn’t ultimately adopted until she was 16 months old. She was never told why or where she was those first 16 months. While growing up, Barbara occasionally asked about her biological mother. Her adoptive mother told her that she would never be able to find her, as the records in New York State were sealed. Barbara accepted that as fact and never sought to look further. She lived with her adoptive family until she was 18 years old, and then her adoptive parents abruptly moved 1000 miles away. She had always had trouble fitting in at home and struggled socially, but when her adoptive parents left, those issues magnified, and she was left wondering more and more about her past. Until she married at 28 years old and contemplated having children, she really began to question her identity. Working for a financial firm in a Human Resources Department, Barbara managed her company’s blood drive. It was that day specifically when she gave serious thought to her own bloodlines. She randomly called a few agencies blindly that day and found that one of those agencies was definitely where she was adopted from. The agency representative shared a long list of non-identifying information with Barbara. With so much information in her grasp, it became impossible not to try and find her mother. And so began the long search for her biological mother. When she ultimately found her biological mother 2 years later, Barbara discovered that her mother lived only 20 blocks away from her when she was growing up and only a town apart when she was 30 years old and found her. That was the beginning of a long relationship that they still have today. She has met her biological father, as well as extended family. Barbara considers herself blessed. She has written a manuscript about finding her mother, and her mother, who was a professional editor in her career, has edited the entire work. So, it was a collaboration of sorts. What makes the story of finding her biological mother so compelling is the people and the clues that showed up during her search at just the right time that enabled her to find her family. Mother and daughter both feel that they were meant to reunite after all those years apart, and live less than a mile apart today.

S11, Ep. 7: Katherine

Katherine Allen McNally is an adoptee and a licensed therapist who specializes in working with adoptees and their adoptive families. She transitioned from a career in graphic design and advertising to pursue this path, driven by a deep personal commitment to supporting this unique population. Over the course of her work, she has encountered a wide spectrum of adoption narratives, including various forms of conception, gestation, birth, relinquishment, adoption, and survival. These experiences led her, along with a colleague, to develop a trauma healing model known as The TAG Method for Trauma Reprocessing and Integration.

At the heart of The TAG Method lies the adoption experience. Katherine is passionate about sharing this model and its insights with broader audiences. She believes that adoption represents a significant and often overlooked trauma—one that is visible yet rarely acknowledged. In her work, she explores how adoptees navigate attachment loss, the silent fear of being “not chosen” again, and the emotional impact often referred to as "the cloud." She also discusses the "three As" and how these themes influence the adoptee experience.

Katherine shares how clients access these deep-seated pains and begin the process of healing, ultimately freeing themselves from a trauma they never asked to carry. She also offers personal reflections from her own healing journey, enriching her professional insights with lived experience.

S11, Ep. 6: Theresa

Theresa Werba was born in 1962 in New York City to a 17-year-old former
prostitute. She was given up for adoption at three months old. She was placed with a loving foster mother until she was 13 months old, when she was taken away for technical reasons and placed with an older couple with ties to a New Age religious cult.

She endured a bizarre childhood of emotional and physical abuse and left home
at the age of 15. She was disinherited by both adoptive parents upon their deaths.
Theresa found her birth mother in 1984 and has had a positive relationship with
her for over 40 years. Theresa was told a certain individual was her biological father and legally assumed his last name for over 30 years. In 2020, Theresa was able to locate her biological father through DNA testing via two half-sisters. He was a completely different person from the one her mother remembered. Unfortunately, he died in 2019. He never knew that Theresa existed. Theresa legally changed her last name to his in 2020 and is exceedingly happy with her newly harmonized genetic identity.

Theresa is an author, poet, and singer. Her book, When Adoption Fails: Abuse,
Autism, and The Search for My Identity, describes the unusual and peculiar life she had growing up in an abusive adoptive home with undiagnosed autism, and the search for, and discovery of both her biological parents. Find Theresa at www.theresawerba.com and on social media @thesonnetqueen.

S11, Ep. 5: Don

Like many people who went through the foster care system, Don Anderson was really curious about his roots. He started doing some research and realized his biological aunt on his mother’s side was living less than three miles away. His wife convinced him to introduce himself. She immediately recognized him and told him he looked like his mother.

From there, Anderson met his biological mother, then started the research for his biological father. He ended up tracing his roots for generations, and now helps others trace their ancestry and find relatives. He’s written a book about his quest to find his parents.

S11, Ep. 4: Alejandra

Alejandra was adopted at five years old into a Mexican-American family. She had never sought her family of origin, but when they arrived unexpectedly, her inner strength was tested, and her spiritual growth began. 

S11, Ep. 3: Jacqueline

Jacqueline, now 63 and living in Cape Town, South Africa, was born in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1962, following a relationship between her English-born biological mother, a professional actress on contract to a theatre company in Nairobi, and her Welsh and Irish biological father, a radio announcer in Nairobi. Following Jacqueline's birth, and the abandonment of her and her biological mother by her biological father, her biological mother followed him to Zimbabwe, but he refused involvement or responsibility. At Jacqueline's biological mother's father's "pleading" with her to "keep the baby", she returned to her acting career, subjecting Jacqueline to 16 months of severe abuse and neglect, which resulted in her being adopted at 16 months in Zimbabwe. While her physical needs were very well met within her adoptive family, her emotional needs were neglected, her manifest trauma being strictly discouraged, and the emotional abuse was perpetuated. Following a lifetime of fear/anxiety, specifically relationship-related, and recurring severe despair/depression, Jacqueline's belief, and message to fellow adoptees and healthcare professionals working with adoption-related and general childhood trauma, is this: sometimes the trauma is too early, too severe and too prolonged for healing to be possible, but the cycle of abuse can be broken. Jacqueline lives the proof that acceptance, compassion, and forgiveness are possible. She has broken the cycles of neglect and abuse, evident in her relationship with her daughter and son, with whom she has a relationship of deep love, mutual respect, and much joy and care.

S11, Ep. 2: Sariah

Sariah is a Chinese Adoptee adopted by a White American Mormon family and recently left the Mormon faith to find herself and to find her birth family. 

S11, Ep. 1: Carol

Carol was born in Washington, DC, relinquished at birth in 1960, subsequently adopted in 1961 by a family who had adopted another daughter the year before.
She began her reunion in 2017 by finding out she was the baby sister of 3 half sisters, 2 full sisters, and her father by DNA.