Pulled By The Root - Amplifying Adoption Issues Heidi Marble - Amy Hansen - Elle Klassen - Alysa Zalma MD - Stephanie Pipes - Sean Farley

Betsy McCoach is a full professor in the Educational Psychology department at the University of Connecticut where she teaches quantitative research methods and conducts research in education and psychology. Born in 1970, Betsy was placed with her adoptive family at 7 weeks old. Betsy grew up in a stable family and has always known that she was adopted. Betsy has one older adoptive brother: he is over 9 years older than she is, and he is not adopted.  Betsy has been married to her husband for almost 25 years; they have 2 children- ages 13 and 15. When Betsy and her husband decided to have children, she wanted to know more about her “genetic history”, which prompted her to begin searching for her birth parents.  Her “reunion” story spans 17 years and contains several plot twists. After a great deal of internal debate, Betsy has decided to use her real name on the podcast and “own” her story. 
https://www.pulledbytheroot.com/

Julie Ryan McGue is an author, a domestic adoptee, and an identical twin. She writes extensively about finding out who you are, where you belong, and making sense of it.
Julie’s debut award winning memoir Twice a Daughter: A Search for Identity, Family, and Belonging  (https://juliemcgueauthor.com/books/)(She Writes Press) came out in May 2021. It is the story of her five-year search for birth relatives. Her weekly blogs That Girl, This Life  (https://juliemcgueauthor.com/blog/)and monthly column at The Beacher focus on identity, family, and life’s quirky moments. 
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Julie received a BA from Indiana University in Psychology. She earned a MM in Marketing from the Kellogg Graduate School of Business, Northwestern University. She has served multiple terms on the Board of the Midwest Adoption Center and is an active member of the American Adoption Congress.
Julie splits her time between Northwest Indiana and Sarasota, Florida. She is the mother of four adult children and has three grandsons. If she’s not at her computer, she’s on the tennis court, or out exploring with her Nikon. Julie is currently working on a collection of personal essays. 



https://www.pulledbytheroot.com/

Joining us this week is returning guest from March, 2022  (episode 68) Linda Pevac where we learned about her adoption journey and discussed her first book, “The Gathering Place.” Linda has since released her second book, “A Fire is Coming,” available both on Amazon.com and audible.

Linda,  “Emma Stevens,”  is a US domestic adoptee who was adopted at birth and has survived many layers of trauma. Her childhood upbringing in an authoritative, cult-like family, predisposed Linda to several more struggles. One of them was falling prey to an exploitative therapist where she unknowingly entered a cultic, one-on-one relationship with her psychologist. Someone who was to help, support and provide healing -  instead, held her captive in a psychological nightmare. 


For more about Linda;

https://linktr.ee/EmmaStevensWriter



https://www.pulledbytheroot.com/

Thank you for being part of this journey, as we celebrate this milestone of 100  episodes with you!  

Pulled By The Root wishes to continue to shed light on the intricate journey of adoption, highlighting the resilience and strength of our community. In this episode, we are joined by Heidi Marble with a special message of hope and gratitude. 






https://www.pulledbytheroot.com/

Dana Ozak is a full time preschool teacher, passionate adoptee advocate, and author of her soon to be released memoir, “A Girl and Her Four Families.”

Dana was born at St. John’s Hospital in Cleveland in 1973. She was adopted through Catholic Charities in November of 1973. Her adoption was never kept a secret from her, but she still wondered where she came from. She was able to find her biological mother’s name after the state of Ohio released her OBC (Original Birth Certificate). Sadly, she also found out her biological mother had passed away. A Girl and Her Four Families is the story of Dana’s quest and emotional roller coaster ride to find her biological families and if she was the product of genetics or the loving environment in which she was raised.

For more about Dana;

https://girland4families.com/ (https://girland4families.com/)
https://www.pulledbytheroot.com/

This week we are joined by author, late discovery adoptee, and adoptee advocate Fred Nicora. Fred discovered he was adopted at the age of 41 years old, through a slip of the tongue by an elderly aunt at a large family gathering, when Fred’s parents had already passed away. The subsequent revelation was the discovery that he had no legal right to learn his true identity. "Forbidden Roots" describes Fred's journey over six years, from this discovery, through reunions, and finally arriving at some initial resolution and reconciliation while constructing a new identity. Today, he is on a mission to advocate for records, and access change in Wisconsin (his home state) and assist those coming to terms with their birth status and discoveries.

For more about Fred’s book, “Forbidden Roots: A Memoir of Late-Discovery Adoption”http://www.frednicora.com




https://www.pulledbytheroot.com/