When an adopter's comfort takes priority over a child's identity, whose "best interests" are we really serving? Adoption raises uncomfortable questions about ownership, autonomy, and belonging. Our episode on the movie Fancy Dance dropped today. Co-hosted with J, survivor of the system + editor.

Is anyone watching the show Sterling Point?

I have no desire to go back to school for a PhD but IF I did my studies would be related to adoption. There’s just not enough research out there about us.

I’M SO TIRED OF SEEING ADOPTION RANDOMLY INJECTED INTO TV & MOVIES. I CAN’T EVEN ENJOY TV IN PEACE.

Denzel Washington Angry Reaction at Desk

ALT: Denzel Washington Angry Reaction at Desk

static.klipy.com

Imagine learning everyone around you knew the truth about your identity except you. Adoption secrecy raises a bigger question: who gets to control what you know about yourself? Our episode about the film The Wild Robot is out now. Co-hosted with J, survivor of the system + editor.

Movement storyteller Zaira Campos (she/her) @adopteecrossing.bsky.social, one of our new grantee partners, is reporting on the intersection between abortion surveillance and child welfare investigation systems, and their negative impacts on Black, queer, disabled, and low-income families.

Short Term 12 is a film about children in care. But how much do we actually learn about the children? This week, I’m writing about who gets an interior life, who gets our empathy, and what happens when the people most impacted become supporting characters in someone else’s story. buff.ly/MhgQ5Uf

Short Term 12: Who Gets Centered When We Tell Stories About Care?

What changes when stories about children in care are more interested in the people helping them than the children themselves

adopteescrossinglines.substack.com

Experiencing harm within a system doesn’t mean you’re disrupting it. If you become a caregiver within that same system, what are you actually doing differently? That’s one question we ask in Short Term 12. Co-hosted with J (@itsjway.bsky,social), survivor of the system + editor. #adopteesky

I remembered Matilda as a story about a little girl who finally got the family she deserved. Rewatching it, I saw something else: The happy ending isn't interesting because Matilda was adopted. It's interesting because, for once, the child got a say in what happened to her. buff.ly/tGRqkNw

Beyond the Happy Ending: Matilda and Child Autonomy

What Matilda gets right about child autonomy, safety, and being heard.

adopteescrossinglines.substack.com

Adoptee voices are barely given space to begin with. And when our experiences disrupt the “adoption is beautiful” narrative, people try to force our stories to fit it anyway. Our Matilda episode is out now: buff.ly/8aSAT6n Co-hosted with J (itsjway.bsky.social), survivor of the system + editor.

Miss Honey doesn’t just care about Matilda. She understands her. In Matilda, they both know what it means to grow up feeling unloved & unseen. That lived experience allows Miss Honey to recognize what other adults dismiss. Our Matilda episode drops Friday. Co-hosted with J (@itsjway.bsky.social).

Wishing a very happy birthday to my editor and friend @itsjway.bsky.social. So blessed to know you! 🫶🏾

Matilda knew what she needed, & the film let her act on it. Children have voices. Believing in their autonomy means more than listening. This Friday: Matilda, children’s autonomy + family policing. Co-hosted with J (@itsjway.bsky.social), a survivor of the system + editor. #adopteesky

Nearly 50% fewer newborns were reported to child welfare after one hospital stopped automatically reporting positive opioid tests. The difference wasn’t less care. It was less surveillance. A drug test is not a safety assessment. Source: buff.ly/VWlxJ3R #adopteesky

Without strict reporting requirements, fewer babies are reported to DCF after positive drug screen

Boston Medical Center no longer automatically reports newborn babies who test positive for opioids to child welfare authorities. The hospital found that when they evaluated each family's situation…

wbur.org

New on Substack: I don't want the future to simply produce better equipped adoptee storytellers. I want fewer people to have our stories. You're Only a Kid Once is about what I hope the people coming after us inherit, and what I hope they don't have to. Paid subscribers ↓ buff.ly/gzv7GGc

You’re Only a Kid Once

What I hope the people coming after us inherit, and what I hope they never have to carry.

adopteescrossinglines.substack.com

Culture isn't an adoption accessory. Kazakh adoptees who grew up attending a heritage camp are now leading it themselves. One described it as a place where she doesn't have to explain who she is or where she comes from. Adoptees deserve more than cultural exposure. Source: buff.ly/Xk71cus

Gen Z Kazakh-American adoptees find community, and home cooking, at NH summer camp

Families from around the US travel to New Hampshire to celebrate their ties to Kazakhstan and eat traditional Kazakh food.

nhpr.org

South Korea says its protected-birth system has reduced infant abandonment. Adoptees are asking what it costs children who may lose access to their origin. Why are safety & identity treated like competing needs? Children shouldn't have to lose one to have the other. buff.ly/CntJA4L #adopteesky

South Korea's Protected Birth System Sparks Rights Debate

South Koreas Protected Birth System Sparks Rights Debate System reduces abandonment but critics argue it erases parental identity without child consent

chosun.com

An independent review found "no substantial systemic failures" in Kern County's child welfare system & said it was on par with state and national averages. But being average doesn't tell us whether the standard itself is acceptable. What if the baseline is part of the problem? 🧾 : buff.ly/XFUcZgp

Community Provides Input On Child Welfare System Findings - South Kern Sol

Following last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting, community members gathered at the Boys and Girls Club on July 30 to discuss the local child welfare system. The Social Policy Institute at San…

southkernsol.org

The state can decide a family is unsafe. But what happens when the state isn't safe either? A monitor found Mississippi met only ~20 of 113 child welfare commitments, while 48 children experienced maltreatment in state custody. Now the state wants federal oversight to end. 🧾 : buff.ly/RiebEgD

Mississippi monitor warns foster children remain at risk as state seeks to end federal oversight

Mississippi Public Broadcasting is MPB. Mississippi is Our Mission. Get the latest news on Tate Reeves, the Election and updates on Television, Radio and Online

mpbonline.org

You took children from their families. Now you don't have anywhere for them to go. Wake County, NC, is housing foster youth in an office building. Officials say they "desperately need" more foster families. But what if we invested that urgency in keeping families safely together?

Wake County houses foster teens in office building: 'Desperately need' families

There are not enough foster homes and residential placements available for teens in need, Wake County officials say

abc11.com

imo adopted kids should be allowed to opt out of “family tree” projects in school, with no shame.

🥚 A story as old as the adoption industry itself: Brazilian adoptee discovers she wasn’t abandoned in basket after all. She was stolen from her mother, assigned a new birthday, and spirited out of the country with forged documents. Adoption = corruption swedenherald.com/article/adop...

Adopted as a baby, Gabriela finds her biological family after DNA test reveals illegal adoption | Sweden Herald

Gabriela was adopted from Brazil and grew up believing she had been found abandoned in a basket

swedenherald.com

I'm currently not recommending U.S. domestic air travel for intercountry adoptees unless it is 1) necessary and 2) they have a U.S. passport. More details. Please read carefully. 🥚 adopteerightslaw.com/advisory-do-...

ADVISORY: Do Not Fly | ARLC

Intercountry adoptees should use caution and possess a US passport book or card when flying within the United States.

adopteerightslaw.com

Before we ask who should be allowed to adopt, we have to ask why children become available for adoption in the first place. My newest essay: buff.ly/M1T1Z3i #adopteesky

The Wrong Question

Why queer liberation requires us to rethink where the story begins.

open.substack.com

This is what investing in families can look like. Pensacola, Florida, is expanding Early Head Start. Affordable child care, health care, and other practical supports are investments in families. What other support helps families thrive? Source: buff.ly/jgklsef #adopteesky

The first person to call me Zaira wasn't a judge. It was a friend. I wrote about changing my name after adoption, reclaiming the name my mother gave me, and what the experience taught me about identity, recognition, and who gets to define us. Read the essay here: buff.ly/V1qzIyG #adopteesky

The First Name I Ever Chose

What changing my name taught me about adoption, identity, and who gets to define us.

adopteescrossinglines.substack.com

We still have more to talk about. Four months ago, I paused Adoptees Crossing Lines in the middle of our Family Policing in the Media series. Next month, we continue with Matilda. What film has stayed with you? #adopteesky

Foster care trauma doesn't take a break when awareness month ends. We live with this every day, the fragments, the contradictions, the work of knowing yourself in a world that tried to make sure you couldn't. New essay on what lingers after May. adopteescrossinglines.substack.com/publish/post...

We Don’t Get to Move On

An adoptee reflects on Foster Care Month, childhood displacement, and what it meant to hear someone remember her gently.

adopteescrossinglines.substack.com

My mother should still be here. For Stolen Children's Month, I wrote about family separation, Ashley Albert, and the people systems try to erase. We are still here. We are still telling the truth. open.substack.com/pub/adoptees...

Why We Need Stolen Children's Month

Stolen Children's Month honors children separated by foster care, adoption, ICE, and incarceration. A survivor on the history, the grief, and why this month had to exist.

open.substack.com