Join the discussion.



Attention adoptees, birth and adoptive parents
please submit your personal stories if you have been
directly affected by the unsealing
of the original birth certificates
of adopted persons
Selected submissions will be included in a
new book entitled:

Just A Piece of Paper
...the fight for the right of American adoptees
to own their original birth records

Submission Guidelines

Email your
story, name, email address and a brief bio*
donna@adoptiondiscussions.com
 

*some submissions may not be selected due to space contraints;
selected submissions may be edited;
names can be withheld or changed at your request



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What Can You Do?


Helping a child can change a life and child by child, change the world.

Foster children need our help year round. Cash donations are always welcome but donating your time is perhaps the greatest gift of all. Tutor a child, mentor a child;
do something as simple and beautiful
as taking a foster child to a movie or a ball game.
Every state has a foster parents association you can contact.

And remember: there are hundreds of millions of children here and around the world living in pain and poverty. Here is a partial list of children's charities that would welcome your donation:
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Just about every American is somehow touched by adoption
personally or professionally.
Under the umbrella of modern adoption are triad members of course:
adoptees, birth parents and adoptive parents;
along with the triad's extended family circles.
Foster parents and foster children (the kids in limbo) are front and center too.
Along with the forgotten band of children
whose numbers are growing every day: the children who are born
through surrogates or egg/sperm donorship.
Behind them stand the professionals and educators, the authors and movie-makers,
the politicians, doctors, lawyers and social workers. 
The adoption agents and the leaders of the huge variety of
national and international adoption organizations and support groups.
They all have something to say, and in order to understand
the evolution and revolution now taking place in the world of adoption,
we must listen.


Below is a list of former guests of Adoption Discussions.
All programs are archived. 
A download of any show can be emailed to you free of charge;
simply by contacting me at donna@adoptiondiscussions.com



September 30th, 2011
Senator Rhoda Perry of Rhode Island,
who was instrumental in getting the law passed
giving Rhode Island adoptees access to their original birth certificates

October 7th, 2011
 Patrick McMahon author of 
Becoming Patrick: A Memoir

October 14th, 2011
John Greene, executive director
of Rhode Island Adoptee Resource Group

October 21st, 2011
Susan Bennett, author of
Late discoveries, an adoptee's
search for truth

October 28th, 2011
Jacob Wheeler, author of
Between Light and Shadow:
A Guatemalan Girl's Journey through Adoption

November 4th, 2011
Sheila Ganz, documentarian
Unlocking the Heart of Adoption

November 11th, 2011
Erin Siegel, author of
Finding Fernanda:
2 mothers, 1 child
and a Cross Border Search for Truth

November 18th, 2011
Corinna Clendenen
Author of Double Time

December 2nd, 2011
Lisa Guillette
of the RI Foster Parents Association

December 9th, 2011
Jan Newsome,
program director of Senior Corps

December 16th, 2011
Dr. Peter Likins
author of A New American Family: A Love Story

December 30th, 2011
Donna Montalbano,
host of Adoption Discussions
talks about access to original birth records
for adoptees and the dark side of international adoption

January 6th, 2012
Sharon Leman, adoptee,
creator of Igniteability Coaching

January 13, 2012
Corie Skolnik,
author of Orfan

January 20th and 27th, 2012
Jeanette Yoffe
adoptee, performance artist
and family therapist for fostered
and adoptive children affected
by abuse, neglect and multiple placements

February 3rd and 10th, 2012
Ken Shallcross
PR/Marketing Director for PCPandora
makers of computer software
to keep children safe online

February 17, 2012
Josephine Ruggiero
sociology professor and author of
Eastern European Adoption

February 24, 2012
Michele Tvedt
National Manager for World Vision's
30 Hour Fast

March 2nd, 2012
Cpt. Peter Franklin of AWOL
Adoptees Without Liberty

March 9th, 2012
Erin Siegal
investigative journalist

March 16th, 2012
Victoria Hopewell
Grade A Baby Eggs

March 23, 2012
The history of the Orphan Train

March 30, 2012
Erik Smith
Birthfather's Rights

April 6, 2012
Ellen Kahn, Family Project Director
of Human Rights Campaign Foundation

April 13th, 2012
Scott Carney, author of
The Red Market:
On The Trail of the World's Organ Brokers, Bone Thieves,
Blood Farmers and Child Traffickers

April 20th, 2012
Zara Phillips, singer, songwriter, documentarian
and author of Mother Me

May 4th, 2012
Part One with
birthfather Robert Manzanares
and attorney Wes Hutchins

May 11th, 2012
Part Two with
birthfather Robert Manzanares
and attorney Wes Hutchins

May 18th, 2012
Christine LaChapelle Miller
topic: Rhode Island access to adoptee birth records

June 1st, 2012
Denise Roessle
author of Second Chance Mother

June 8th and 15th, 2012
Dr. Michael Baird
of DNA Diagnostics Center

June 22, 2012
DNA Lady Mary Sullivan
advisor/collector for adoption-related DNA testing

June 29th, 2012
Nancy Horgan
Rhode Island birth mother and adoptees' rights advocate 

July 6th, 2012
Leon Clowes
on kinship care

July 27th, 2012
Capri Cruz
author of From Foster Care to Fabulous

August 3rd, 2012
Samantha Jadin,
author of The Inheritance
a memoir of an illegal adoption

August 24th, 2012
Madeleine Melcher,
adoptee, adoptive parent;
creator of custom portfolios for adopting couples

August 31st, 2012
Bernadette Wright,
president of Origins USA

September 7th, 2012
My 9/11 Story

September 14, 2012
September 21st, 2012
Part One and Two of my interview with
Richard Hill
author of Finding Family:
My Search for Roots and the Secrets in My DNA

September 28th, 2012
Leon Clowes
author of a kinship adoption/care report:
Keep It in the Family:
The Forgotten Adoptees

October 5th, 2012
Ken Shallcross, media outreach director for PC Pandora,
software designed to keep children safe online

October 12th, 2012
Cpt. Peter Franklin
founder of Adoptees With Out Liberty

October 19th, 2012
Carol Barbieri,
singer/songwriter
adoption advocate

October 26th, 2012
Surrogacy in India

November 2nd, 2012
Laura Dennis,
author of Adopted Reality: A Memoir

November 16, 2012
Patti Hawn, sister of actress Goldie Hawn,
author of Good Girls Don't

November 23, 2012
Senior Corps

November 30, 2012
Mary Sullivan, the DNA Lady

December 7, 2012
Irene Clemons,
President of The National Association of Foster Parents

December 14, 2012
Rock Wilk: adoptee, actor, musician, playwright and star of
Broke Wide Open at the NYC 45th Street Theater

December 21, 2012
Caryl Stern of UNICEF

January 4, 2013
Peggy Aldhizer
author of The Throwaway Kids