My Adoption Story

Hallie opens her closet — literally — and shares something she’s never fully talked about on the podcast before. Her adoption story. She was three months old when she joined the Hootin household, the fourth of what would eventually be eight kids — none of them biological siblings, none of them looking alike, all of them family. She talks about growing up biracial in a predominantly white Christian home, the questions strangers asked out loud, the disorienting moments of not fitting in anywhere, and why she’s always known she was different — and been okay with that. This one is warm, funny in places, and deeply personal. In this episode: — Being adopted at three months old and what her parents always told her — Growing up as the fourth of eight kids with every kind of background and story — The questions strangers asked — and still ask — about her real family — What it felt like to be other in every room she walked into — Her brother with fetal alcohol syndrome and what that meant for the family — The Cheetah Girls, sorority sisters, and what it means to be proud of where you came from — Why her dad’s words to the caseworker still mean everything to her