Interview with Mary Constance

What this episode covers

Mary Constance is an adoptee from Ohio. Mary is preparing to walk across America to bring attention to the inequity faced by adoptees in seeking access to our original birth certificates.  Mentioned in the show: Ohio adoptee access to records: https://odh.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/odh/know-our-programs/vital-statistics/Adoption-File-Information/Adoption-File-Information The Chosen Baby: a pro-adoption childrens books by Valentina P Wasson, designed to help adoptive parents explain adoption to adopted children.  ACOA: Adult Children of Alcoholics. adultchildren.org  A support group for adult children of alcoholics Generational Trauma: a fairly new field that explores trauma passed from one generation to another. Also known as intergenerational trauma and transgenerational trauma Life Gap: a term created by an adoptee to refer to the time between birth and adoption, where few if any records are available to adoptees. Many of us deeply feel the absence of this information, of a time when we were cared for in an institutional or foster care situation.  ACE: Adverse Childhood Experience. While Adverse Childhood Experiences have long been acknowledged as a source of lasting trauma, few measures include being given up for adoption as a trauma. The closest many assessments come is to have losing a family member on the list of recognized trauma.  PTSD: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, is characterized by sleep disturbance, intrusive thoughts, anxiety and depression. A persons nervous system is often stuck in high gear, causing a person to be hyper alert at all times. Or, they may find themselves in flight, freeze or fawn. Therapy can be very helpful. Many people find EMDR, Cognitive Processing Therapy, and Prolonged Exposure Therapy helpful.  Agoraphobia: an anxiety disorder that causes a person to be fearful of places where they feel they can't escape. This may cause people to stay only in places where they feel secure, like home. Therapy can be very helpful.  Mental Health Resources: If you have health insurance, you can contact your provider to find information about the services available to you. If you do not have insurance, you can contact www.nami.org for information about resources, or contact your local department of health. If you are a student, your school may offer services. Mental health services can be difficult to locate, though there are now online therapists who can be helpful. Always check if a provider is licensed, and ask if they will provide services on a sliding scale. Some Womens health clinics offer sliding scale mental health services to women and children.  Paul Sunderland: an internationally known expert on addiction. He has spoken on adoption and addiction. Here is a popular youtube video: https://youtu.be/3e0-SsmOUJI Red Couch Rebuttal: a roundtable produced in response to a fundraising film created by The Cradle Evanston, an adoption agency in Illinois. https://youtu.be/-VgK_3n798I The Ghost Kingdom: first coined by Betty Jean Lifton, the Ghost Kingdom is the imaginary family that adoptees create in place of the families we have been denied contact with Disclaimers: The host is not a lawyer. The laws are discussed to the best of our ability.   The opinions expressed by the host and their guests are just that, opinions.

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