Adoption: The Making of Me. An Oral History of Adoptee Stories
Elle: For This Adoptee, the Truth Led to an Awakening
Elle Klassen is a Canadian who was born to a young woman of nineteen years of age in 1970. She was relinquished and then placed with her adoptive family when she was five days old. She grew up in a very conservative Canadian evangelical family where adoption was spoken of as God's plan. Much of her religious background didn't sit well with her, including the narrative around adoption. As an adopted person whose big goal in life was to fly under the radar as much as she could, she never challenged the common narrative surrounding adoption that she grew up with. Several years ago she did a DNA test on a whim & with a hint of morbid curiosity. She wanted to know if her adoption information had been falsified as so many others in the baby scoop had been. As a result, she was reunited with her first family on both her maternal, and paternal sides. Digging for truth led to seeing relinquishment, and adoption as complicated, traumatic events in a child's life. The repercussions of this reach into adulthood, and can never be fully dealt with until it is seen for what it is whether someone has had a "good" adoption or not. Truthful conversations about adoption have become her passion. She now co-hosts the podcast "Pulled by the Root" to help facilitate the conversation about relinquishment & adoption, showcasing the voices of those adopted people, and first parents, who have been previously silenced in favor of perpetuating the idea that adoption is not a trauma or a system of belief that should not be challenged.
To go directly to Elle's interview, you can just go to timestamp: 11:15.
Also in this episode, Sarah and Louise discuss the final chapter of American Baby by Gabrielle Glaser.
To learn more about CAAR visit the Facebook Page
Thank you to our sponsor S12F.
Joe Soll & other adoptee resources
Fireside Adoptees Facebook Group
Reckoning with the Primal Wound Documentary
If you want to support our show, visit our Patreon Page.
Thank you to our current Patreon donors for their support.
Our Patrons: Laura Christensen, Barbara Frank, Ramona Evans, Linda Pevac, Blonde Records, Daphne Keys, Denise Hewitt, Michelle Styles, Emily Sinagra, Linda David, John Frey, Eric David, Beth Figuls, Ron Schneider, Tony Corsentino, Kristi Reed, Kristen Steinhilber, Jane Bofenkamp, Kelley Brickfield, Sandra de Quesada, The Harpy, Kristan Higgin, Lisa Thompson, Michelle Goodwine, Jesper Laursen, Julie Malone, Rivi Shocket , Robert Perrino, Colleen McCall, Janet MacDonald, Robin Wells, Lynn Grubb, Mikki Jackson-Brown, Sharon Katzmann, Carol Levitt, Elizabeth McDonald, Diane Moore, Darra Robinson, Jen Arave, Thomas Stevenson, Michael Berman, Cindy Turgeon, Monica Hall, Allison Olson , Lenora Carey, Sandra de Quesada, Noreen Hartigan and Heidi Binnewies.
To support the show - Patreon.
Elle Klassen is a Canadian who was born to a young woman of nineteen years of age in 1970. She was relinquished and then placed with her adoptive family when she was five days old. She grew up in a very conservative Canadian evangelical family where adoption was spoken of as God's plan. Much of her religious background didn't sit well with her, including the narrative around adoption. As an adopted person whose big goal in life was to fly under the radar as much as she could, she never challenged the common narrative surrounding adoption that she grew up with. Several years ago she did a DNA test on a whim & with a hint of morbid curiosity. She wanted to know if her adoption information had been falsified as so many others in the baby scoop had been. As a result, she was reunited with her first family on both her maternal, and paternal sides. Digging for truth led to seeing relinquishment, and adoption as complicated, traumatic events in a child's life. The repercussions of this reach into adulthood, and can never be fully dealt with until it is seen for what it is whether someone has had a "good" adoption or not. Truthful conversations about adoption have become her passion. She now co-hosts the podcast "Pulled by the Root" to help facilitate the conversation about relinquishment & adoption, showcasing the voices of those adopted people, and first parents, who have been previously silenced in favor of perpetuating the idea that adoption is not a trauma or a system of belief that should not be challenged.
To go directly to Elle's interview, you can just go to timestamp: 11:15.
Also in this episode, Sarah and Louise discuss the final chapter of American Baby by Gabrielle Glaser.
To learn more about CAAR visit the Facebook Page
Thank you to our sponsor S12F.
Joe Soll & other adoptee resources
Fireside Adoptees Facebook Group
Reckoning with the Primal Wound Documentary
If you want to support our show, visit our Patreon Page.
Thank you to our current Patreon donors for their support.
Our Patrons: Laura Christensen, Barbara Frank, Ramona Evans, Linda Pevac, Blonde Records, Daphne Keys, Denise Hewitt, Michelle Styles, Emily Sinagra, Linda David, John Frey, Eric David, Beth Figuls, Ron Schneider, Tony Corsentino, Kristi Reed, Kristen Steinhilber, Jane Bofenkamp, Kelley Brickfield, Sandra de Quesada, The Harpy, Kristan Higgin, Lisa Thompson, Michelle Goodwine, Jesper Laursen, Julie Malone, Rivi Shocket , Robert Perrino, Colleen McCall, Janet MacDonald, Robin Wells, Lynn Grubb, Mikki Jackson-Brown, Sharon Katzmann, Carol Levitt, Elizabeth McDonald, Diane Moore, Darra Robinson, Jen Arave, Thomas Stevenson, Michael Berman, Cindy Turgeon, Monica Hall, Allison Olson , Lenora Carey, Sandra de Quesada, Noreen Hartigan and Heidi Binnewies.
To support the show - Patreon.