Podcast Summary: All Of It — The Politicization of Adoption in America
Host: Alison Stewart
Guest: Gretchen Sisson, author of The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood
Date: November 5, 2025
Episode Overview
This episode, timed for National Adoption Month, examines how adoption in the United States has been shaped by major social and legal events, and how these influences persist in both policy and personal experience. Host Alison Stewart and guest Gretchen Sisson discuss the historical and ongoing “politicization” of adoption, particularly how privilege, resource allocation, and political narrative intersect for birth parents, adoptive families, and adoptees. The segment also features moving personal accounts from callers affected by adoption.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Historical and Political Shifts in Adoption
- Adoption as a Demand-Driven System
- Sisson outlines the impact of Roe v. Wade and changing parenting norms on domestic adoption rates:
“Adoption is really a demand driven system where you have more people who want to adopt privately than you have children available for private adoption.” (02:03)
- Post-Roe, the drop in available infants for adoption led to a surge in international adoptions throughout the 90s and early 2000s.
- Sisson outlines the impact of Roe v. Wade and changing parenting norms on domestic adoption rates:
- International Adoption and Global Events
- War, economic instability, and disasters in countries like Korea, China, Haiti, and across Africa increased vulnerability, leading to children being “exported” for adoption.
- Sisson candidly addresses the uncomfortable market language around these issues:
“I recognize that it’s uncomfortable to talk about people this way as supply, but it is also how this market functions…” (02:11)
- Questionable Ethics in Crisis-Driven Adoption
- Many adoptions after disasters (e.g., Haiti earthquake 2010) involved legal and ethical ambiguities about consent and permanence (03:35).
- Sisson notes, “Most of these children have living parents… who lack the support, the resources to do so.” (03:56)
2. Personal Experiences: Callers’ Stories
- Daniel’s Story: DNA and Unexpected Reunion (04:22)
- Adopted in 1987 by a white Jewish family, Daniel never sought his birth parents until after his adoptive father’s passing in 2022. Through Ancestry.com, he located and connected with his birth father in Colombia—someone unaware of having fathered a child.
“So he’s a 60-something-year-old guy finding out that he’s got a kid.” (05:41)
- Adopted in 1987 by a white Jewish family, Daniel never sought his birth parents until after his adoptive father’s passing in 2022. Through Ancestry.com, he located and connected with his birth father in Colombia—someone unaware of having fathered a child.
- Jennifer’s Story: Generational Trauma
- Adopted at birth because her 16-year-old mother was forced to relinquish her. Fifty-two years later, reunion brought healing, but also highlighted trauma:
“In meeting her and seeing how it had so deeply impacted her whole life... She actually couldn’t even have other children.” (06:43, 06:50)
- Adopted at birth because her 16-year-old mother was forced to relinquish her. Fifty-two years later, reunion brought healing, but also highlighted trauma:
3. Birth Mothers' Perspectives and Long-Term Impact
- Research Insights from Sisson’s Interviews
- Sisson interviewed over 100 mothers who relinquished children, mostly from 2000-2020. She found that initial optimism about adoption often gave way to disappointment:
“Many had less contact with their child than they had been told… a lot of them felt much more critically and cynically about how they had been treated as time went on.” (08:08)
- Sisson interviewed over 100 mothers who relinquished children, mostly from 2000-2020. She found that initial optimism about adoption often gave way to disappointment:
- Emotional Aftermath
- Nearly all relinquishing mothers experienced profound grief and, in many cases, lasting trauma:
“All of the mothers that I interviewed had very profound grief around the adoption.” (09:53)
- Nearly all relinquishing mothers experienced profound grief and, in many cases, lasting trauma:
4. Adoptive Parents’ Reflections
- Ellen’s Story: Annual Ritual and Hope for Openness (10:20)
- Adopted a daughter from Guatemala and commemorates her birth mother each year. She aspires to facilitate an open adoption in the future:
“I go through sort of a ritual every year on the night before her birthday where I kind of thank the birth mother who is in Guatemala.” (10:27)
- Adopted a daughter from Guatemala and commemorates her birth mother each year. She aspires to facilitate an open adoption in the future:
5. Policy and Support for Birth Parents
- Reframing Adoption in Public Discourse
- Sisson advocates for shifting focus from adoption as a fix to unplanned pregnancy toward empowering people to parent:
“For so long we have understood adoption to be this mutually agreeable common ground in our conversations about abortion. Whereas in fact, it should be parenting and figuring out how we can support people to parent the way that they want to.” (11:21)
- She calls for prioritizing supports like stable housing, food security, and affordable childcare over defaulting to adoption as a solution.
- Sisson advocates for shifting focus from adoption as a fix to unplanned pregnancy toward empowering people to parent:
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- Sisson on Market Forces in Adoption:
“Adoption is really a demand driven system…once the supply of domestic babies dropped, that’s when you started to see the increase in international adoptions.” (02:03)
- Caller's Impactful Reunion:
“We actually connected a couple of years ago after like 52 years of being separated… It’s a real thing… She actually couldn’t even have other children.” — Jennifer (06:23–06:50)
- Sisson on Fundamental Reform:
“What does it mean to make parenting possible?… That’s really where our justice efforts should be focused.” (11:28)
Timestamps for Major Segments
- [00:09] Episode introduction and framing question to Sisson
- [02:00] Historical shifts in adoption practices post-Roe v. Wade and rise of international adoption
- [03:20] Vulnerability and ethics in international/catastrophe-driven adoption
- [04:22] Daniel’s personal story of adoption and reconnecting with birth family
- [06:01] Jennifer’s account of forced relinquishment and generational impact
- [07:31] Sisson’s research findings on birth mothers’ experiences
- [09:53] Grief and trauma among relinquishing mothers
- [10:20] Ellen, an adoptive parent, describes her reflections and ritual
- [11:21] Sisson’s call for policy and societal reframing on adoption and parenting support
Tone & Language
The conversation is frank and empathetic, blending policy analysis with raw, personal testimony. Sisson’s academic insight is balanced by her willingness to discuss uncomfortable truths in adoption, while callers share candid, often emotional, reflections on their own journeys.
Conclusion
This episode of All Of It thoughtfully challenges pervasive narratives about adoption in America—highlighting its deeply personal repercussions, historical context, and the urgent need for policy shifts that center support for families. The episode’s intertwining of research, lived experience, and advocacy leaves listeners with vital questions about ethics, justice, and the future of adoption.