Season 6: Writing to Heal: Reclaiming Adoption Stories

Stories play a powerful role in shaping how adoption is understood, both within families and in wider society. For adoptees, writing can offer a way to explore identity, make sense of complex experiences and reclaim narratives that have often been told by others. This episode focuses on the role of storytelling in adoption, and the opportunities and challenges that come with putting personal experiences into words. Join host Eddie Elliott as he speaks with Dr Liz DeBetta, adoptee, author, scholar and creator of the Migrating Toward Wholeness framework. Drawing on her work with adoptees and her own experience, Liz reflects on the process of writing about adoption, balancing honesty with privacy, and navigating the responsibilities that can come with sharing personal stories. They explore how writing can support reflection and emotional processing, the adoption narratives that are often missing from mainstream conversations, and some of the common tropes that can oversimplify adoptee experiences. The discussion also considers how adoptive parents can engage thoughtfully with adoptee memoirs and fiction, create space for their children to tell their own stories, and support self-expression without expectation or pressure. This episode offers thoughtful insight into the power of storytelling, the importance of adoptee voices and the ways writing can help foster understanding, connection and more honest conversations about adoption. **Contact We Are Family & the Adoption Shared Team:** Tweet us @WAFadoption #AdoptionShared Tweet Eddie @Eddielliott Email us hello@wearefamilyadoption.org.uk Join us www.wearefamilyadoption.org.uk We prioritise the privacy of guests and their children. All identifying information has been changed or removed. We provide guidance to all guests about how and whether details of their adoption journey and their children’s stories are shared.