For National Adoption Awareness Month, I highlight some past conversations with guests that remind us of how adoption can show up at our holiday tables, how adopted children may feel the moment they realize they don’t look like their adoptive parents and how we must make room for the uncomfortable visitor of adoption to ensure adoption is experienced at the highest level of elevation.

It’s October which means one thing, Halloween, candy, and of course costumes and masks. This month, April is joined by the founder of Educate Don’t Incarcerate, a mentoring program that focuses on criminal, juvenile and educational reform, Terrence Coffie. April and Terrence steer directly into how masks have affected their lives growing up adopted or as a foster youth and even now as adults.

It’s September 2021 and that means Back to School! This month we sit with Korean Transracially adopted person Nam Holtz. Nam produced and directed a documentary film titled “Found in Korea”. The film follows Nam as she journeys back to Korea in search of her culture, roots, and identity. We dive deep into this idea of parents and professionals who are on this journey of better understanding adoption and foster care.

In this August 2021 episode we go back to school and continue our journey to better understand adoption with Dr. Bruce Perry.  Dr. Perry is co-author along with Oprah Winfrey of “What Happened to You?” a book about the impact of trauma. We dive deep into Dr. Perry’s work with the neurosequential model and the importance of asking “what happened to you?” vs “what’s wrong with you?” specifically related to adoption and identity.

For this July 2021 episode we steer into an urgent conversation about what is and is not happening in education today.  Host April Dinwoodie is joined by 2018 guest Cami Anderson to talk about the future of education and what parents and grown-ups that care about children need to know.  Cami’s Thirdway Solutions Group supports policy, government, non-profit, corporate, and philanthropic leaders in pursuit of equity and justice to find innovative solutions to their most vexing challenges.

This month, host April Dinwoodie sits down with culture critic, podcast host, and author of the stunning memoir Surviving the White Gaze, Rebecca Carroll. In this spirited conversation, the two discuss identity, family, difference of race and culture and of course, what adoption can teach the world.

In this month’s episode, host April Dinwoodie sits down with writer, editor and author of “All You Can Ever Know,” Nicole Chung to discuss adoption, identity, and the mother of all holidays, Mother’s Day!

This month host April Dinwoodie welcomes her sister Dawn for a conversation that is as beautiful and authentic as their bond. From being dressed as twins as little girls to finding even more love and connection as adults, these sisters have so much to share about how together the navigated adoption and differences of race.

In this poignant episode of Born in June, Raised in April, host April Dinwoodie sits down with attorney turned nonprofit executive and transracially/transnationally adopted person Julie Young. Together they discuss the concept of luck from the perspective of an adopted person and the realities of complicated beginnings as women. They also make space to process the tragic shooting in Atlanta of 6 Asian women.

In the first episode of season 6 host April Dinwoodie sits down with adopted persons Christian and Anni to discuss all things love and adoption. This is the first time that April has been in conversation with a couple that shares the experience of being adopted and it was such a joy to have them on. Christian slid into Anni’s DMs and the rest is history...

Kicking off the new year, April Dinwoodie sits down with transracially adopted person and host of Los Angeles’s Good Day LA, Michaela Pereira.  In a deeply personal and spirited conversation the soul sisters in adoption reflect on the search for belonging, the importance of representation, and the both/and of adoption.

With 2020 FINALLY coming to a close I sit down with my executive producer and nephew, Kyle Ferreira to wrap up the year focused on making and breaking traditions. We discuss how the pandemic is forcing us to change what we may have done for generations and how this may be a pivotal time for parents to incorporate new traditions. Also, ‘tis the season, so I made a little wish list!

In this November episode, host April Dinwoodie sits down with former foster youth, adoptive dad, founder of Comfort Cases and author of Forever Family: Fostering Change One Child at a Time, Rob Scheer. April and Rob discuss the challenges Rob faced within his family of origin and as youth in foster as well as the power and importance of names and holiday traditions. This conversation inspires us to steer into both family and adoption to experience the beauty and joy of living with eyes and hearts truly wide open.

Inspired by young people, host April Dinwoodie takes time to expand on her answers to poignant and powerful questions posed by students following a virtual school assembly.

In September 2020, on the continued path of learning from those closest to adoption and foster care we are doing something different as we welcome a father who was adopted and the biological son he raised.  Sitting down with Kevin Booker Sr. and Kevin Booker Jr. we opened up a real and honest dialogue about the ever-changing dynamic of family and how adoption impacts individuals and family systems for generations.

Host April Dinwoodie sits down with education professional, arts enthusiast, and transracially adopted person Kendra Anderson to talk adoption, identity, and family. There is so much for society to learn, those closest to the experience need the mic, and everyone else needs to listen and take really good notes!

In the spirit of freedom and independence, host April Dinwoodie shares her very personal thoughts on adoption, family, and differences of race and culture at the intersection of a pandemic and the urgent momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement.

With the recent murders of Breanna Taylor, Ahmand Arbery, and George Floyd Host April Dinwoodie is joined by Emmy and Peabody award winning filmmaker Phil Bertelsen to have a conversation about transracial adoption, identity, family, and Black Lives Matter.

ADVISORY: In this episode, the "N" Word is used once in the context of a personal experience

In this special Mother's Day episode, host April Dinwoodie sits down with her mom Sandra for another conversation about adoption, identity, and family and to answer questions from listeners.

Host April Dinwoodie and guest April Michelle Rivera-Curtis have a powerful conversation about very personal experiences of adoption, foster care, identity, and family as well as our current shared experiences during a global pandemic.

In this March episode, host April Dinwoodie sits down with healing guide and reiki master, Graciela Asher to discuss what it means to be lucky, the importance of recognizing all women connected to our lives, and of course adoption.

In this February episode, host April Dinwoodie sits down with biracial, transracial adoptee and cancer survivor, Hilary North-Ellasante. Meaning is often connected to identity and life experience and these aspects of ourselves impact the ways we move through the world. Listen as the two discuss all things love as it relates to their adoption experience.

In this January podcast producer Kwam Green has an intimate conversation with host April Dinwoodie about her inspiration for the podcast, her personal and professional life and of course love!

In this special advocacy edition, April sits down with Tim Monti-Wohlpart to talk about the years long fight for adoptee equality in New York State and the passage of the bill allowing adult adopted persons access to their original birth certificates beginning January 2020.