Episodes

Saturday Jul 27, 2019
Episode 67 - An interview with Cat McGill
Saturday Jul 27, 2019
Saturday Jul 27, 2019
In this episode of the podcast Al speaks to adopter, musician and author of 'Me, the Boy, and The Monster: Exploring the psychology of adoption and trauma' as well as an upcoming book to accompany her CD and national tour. You can access Cat's website here for all the information on the August tour dates. Cat discussed the science behind the benefits of music as well as some of her own experiences as a parent and with working with children with special needs.
As always, there's also #infobanter and chatter from Scott and Al, with the added excitement of a small person breaking into the podcast.
We've added a snippet of one of Cat's songs as an outro, so I do hope you enjoy.
Thank you for listening and if you're feeling warm and fluffy please do leave a review on iTunes to inflate our delicate egos, click here.

Saturday Jul 20, 2019
Adopter Stories - #17 Devin
Saturday Jul 20, 2019
Saturday Jul 20, 2019
In this episode of #AdopterStories Devin shares his journey with his husband through early permanence. It's a challenging story, and may be upsetting for some so listen with caution.
Devin describes the complexity of an unsuccessful plan for them but positive outcome for a child, the aftermath on the couple and their journey onto trying again.
There is a little audio judder in the middle, it's brief so be brave and push through.
As always if you've a story you want to share either anonymously or not then please do get in touch to have a chat about it.

Friday Jul 19, 2019
Adoption Stories - Graham / Pam
Friday Jul 19, 2019
Friday Jul 19, 2019
In an unexpected twist of scheduling we've dropped a little podcast treat to set you up for the summer holidays!
In the first Graham, an adoptee, talks about his discovery of being adopted and his journey to try and find answers to his questions.
We then talk to Pam, a birth mother, who shares her story of losing her child to adoption and her subsequent experiences and road to reunion.
Both stories are challenging and contain accounts of difficult and upsetting experiences. As always, listener caution is advised as the subject matter may be upsetting.
If you've a story you'd like to share then please get in touch with us through the Facebook page here or the Twitter Feed here.

Saturday Jul 13, 2019
Episode 66 - Suddenly Mummy, Schools & More.......
Saturday Jul 13, 2019
Saturday Jul 13, 2019
In this episode we speak to Becky, AKA Suddenly Mummy, in relation to DfE school developments. Specifically we discuss the role of the Virtual School Head but get caught into a raft of other issues such as pressure on school, exclusion and more.
Becky is a friend of the show and we spiral into some healthy infobanter and get the low down on her new life of leisure as a married woman as well as the book that she's written to name a few of the issues touched on.
As always thank you for listening and if you're feeling warm and fluffy please do leave a review on iTunes to inflate our delicate egos, click here.

Saturday Jul 06, 2019
Adoptee Conversations - Dan
Saturday Jul 06, 2019
Saturday Jul 06, 2019
In this episode of adopter stories we speak to Dan, he shares his story of adoption within his own family and the complexity of that arrangement. Dan is also very open in relation to his views on adoption as well as his personal challenges with mental ill health.
I’m sure you’ll find it interesting and if you’re an adoptee and would like to share your perspective or experience then please do direct message us at our twitter feed or on our facebook page.
Music by
Together, We Can Make It by Neutrin05 | https://soundcloud.com/neutrin05
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported

Saturday Jun 29, 2019
Episode 65 - Interview with Lisa Cherry
Saturday Jun 29, 2019
Saturday Jun 29, 2019
This week we took the opportunity to speak to the lovely Lisa Cherry. Social worker, international key note speaker/trainer and care experienced adult. She is kind enough to share some of her personal story, how she arrived at where she is and we chat about a range of issues.
We discuss the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) message that is prominent at the moment and consider the pros and cons of that, residential care, ethos and values, international speaking, attachment vs bonding and much more with a sprinkling of banter.
Lisa has just started a podcast and you can find that here as well as a link to her website here.
As always a cheeky share on social media or a review on wherever you found our podcast would be appreciated.

Saturday Jun 22, 2019
Adoptee Conversations - Barry
Saturday Jun 22, 2019
Saturday Jun 22, 2019
In this episode Barry shares his story of being adopted with his brother in the 1960, their complicated and difficult journey and the impact of that through his life.
Barry is open and honest in relation to the challenges he faced and the impact on him as a child and adult. As always, we advice caution if you’ve experience of adoption as this may be upsetting.
I’m sure you’ll find it interesting and if you’re an adoptee and would like to share your perspective or experience then please do direct message us at our twitter feed or on our facebook page.
Music by
Together, We Can Make It by Neutrin05 | https://soundcloud.com/neutrin05
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US

Saturday Jun 15, 2019
Episode 64 - What's in a Name? Stewardship and Adoptee Conversations
Saturday Jun 15, 2019
Saturday Jun 15, 2019
In this week's episode Scott and Al unpick the thorny issue of names. Linked to belonging and ownership do they matter or not? We consider the findings of the mini poll we did about surnames and then consider them in the context of looking at alternative permanence arrangements that are discussed in this article HERE.
We also discuss the views of adoptees and how to bring them to a wider audience without curating or filtering them.
Unfortunately, there's been a further 'incident' at Al's so listener beware this is discussed in the last few minutes and Scott becomes almost unconsolable with mirth at the recounting of the tale.
As always thank you for listening and if you're feeling warm and fluffy please do leave a review on iTunes to inflate our delicate egos, click here.

Saturday Jun 08, 2019
Adoptee Conversations - Polly
Saturday Jun 08, 2019
Saturday Jun 08, 2019
In this episode, I chat to Polly an adult adoptee and she shares her views and perspectives on adoption.
Polly is frank about the challenges that she experienced as result of unsolicited contact from her birth family as well as the challenge of holding contrasting views of adoption and its processes.
Some of the details of her story may be upsetting for listeners who have experience of adoption from whatever perspective so we advise caution. If there’s any doubt then give it a pass or ask a friend to listen to screen it for you.
We'd also like to say we invited Polly to come an share her experience and perspective and we'd like to thank her. We are not expecting her to speak for every adoptee and she does not purport to. It's her story and her perspective and as such we thank her for it and value it as such.
We hope you find it interesting and if you’re an adoptee and would like to share your perspective or experience then please do direct message us at our twitter feed or on our facebook page.
The music used was:
Together, We Can Make It by Neutrin05 | https://soundcloud.com/neutrin05
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US

Saturday Jun 01, 2019
Episode 63 - Prof Beth Neil & the CoramBAAF Contact Conference
Saturday Jun 01, 2019
Saturday Jun 01, 2019
This is an unusual episode as Prof Beth Neil takes the reigns and talks us through the recent CoramBAAF conference on ‘Contact in adoption in the digital age: Where do we go from here?’ that went ahead on the 10th May. Beth and her team kindly interviewed a range of presenters from the conference including adopters, professionals and a birth mother and they are interspersed though the podcast.
The discussion reflects on some of the key points that were drawn from the conference by the contributors and Beth adds some context and highlights key elements of learning that attendees took from the day.
There's a little banter, a barking dog and the one or two audio glitches but nothing that makes it unlistenable. If you want to find out more on the research that the University of East Anglia has undertaken then please check out this website.
As always thank you for listening and if you're feeling warm and fluffy please do leave a review on iTunes to inflate our delicate egos, click here.