Hosted by Rosemary Davies-Janes Produced by J’aime Rothbard Imagine a life where every day is a journey through complex emotions, punctuated by waves of separation, loss, and longing. For adoptees, this is often their reality—an unruly mosaic of misaligned feelings that demands understanding, support, and resilience.   A lack of social awareness around the true experience of adoption leaves many adoptees to face their issues with inadequate support. With heartfelt passion, author/adoptee Sara Easterly stands up for those who feel isolated, misunderstood, and/or burdened by invisible stresses and blocks. Through the lens of Dr Gordon Neufeld's theories on attachment and primal emotions of unbearable separation, Sara delves deep into the experiences faced by adoptees: the pursuit of love, defensive detachment, profound frustration, alarm, isolation and misunderstanding, lack of safety, constant vigilance, people-pleasing, perfectionism, addiction struggles, and more. She also exposes how systemic issues, such as racism, classism, and religious messaging, shape adoption narratives.    In her mission to normalize adoptees’ experiences, Sara sensitively articulates the dynamics that adoptees face, by illuminating: • The emotional complexities of being adopted • The importance of sharing adoptee stories • The healing potential of creative expression • The flaws in the positive societal view of adoption Passionate about supporting adoptees’ voices and stories, Sara is an advocate for creating space within families and cultures to acknowledge the full spectrum of adoption experiences. Her work aims to prevent others from growing up feeling unwanted, flawed, or alone facing common adoptee challenges. The research findings and perspectives she shares reframe adoptees’ chaotic feelings and responses as natural human reactions to traumatic separation. Join us to hear Sara’s personal adoption experiences, and support her in both spreading adoption awareness and fostering a more compassionate world where every adoptee feels seen, heard, and understood.    Sara Easterly Show Summary - Release Date Sep 12 About Sara Easterly Sara is an adoptee and the author of books that include Adoption Unfiltered: Revelations from Adoptees, Birth Parents, Adoptive Parents, and Allies, co-authored with birth parent Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard and adoptive parent Lori Holden, as well as the award-winning spiritual memoir, Searching for Mom. Sara’s essays, articles, and book reviews have been widely published. She is the founder of Adoptee Voices, where she supports other adoptees in sharing their stories, and she is also a trained course facilitator with the Neufeld Institute, a lens that informs Sara’s insights on the intersection of attachment, child development, brain science, and adoption. Additionally, Sara is co-host of the Adoption Unfiltered Podcast. Photo credit: Eileen Skahill   Resources: Websites: Sara's Professional Website Adoptee Voices Adoption Unfiltered Comprehensive Resources page at Adoption Unfiltered Adoption Trauma Article Adoption Statistic Books: Adoption Unfiltered Searching for Mom Hold On to Your Kids The Late Bloomer Videos: Adoptions & Addiction with Paul Sunderland Adoption Unfiltered Podcast Interview with Gordon Neufeld The Trauma of Relinquishment with Gabor Maté Quotes: "For nine months, they heard the voice of the mother, registered the heartbeat, attuning with the biorhythms with the mother. The expectation is that it will continue. This is utterly broken for the adopted child. We don’t have sufficient appreciation for what happens to that infant and how to compensate for it." - Gabor Maté "Adoptees and children who are fostered are over-represented in the prison system, addiction clinics and are 4 times more likely than their peers to attempt suicide." - Gabor Maté “Adoption is one of the earliest and primary disruptions in t