Welcome to Season 4 of Adoption: The Long View podcast!
I owe a great deal to this month’s guest, Rebecca Ricardo. Earlier in my parenting journey, when my children were 8 and 10, I attended a conference in Richmond, VA, organized by Rebecca, called the Open Adoption Symposium. Not only did I get to learn from experts who delivered the keynotes and workshops, I also got to meet several of my online friends who were also trying to make sense of that still-new thing, open adoption.
So I’m paying the favor forward. Now YOU get to hear from Rebecca Ricardo. Damon Davis of the Who Am I Really? Podcast, calls Rebecca “the adoption constellation in one woman” (shout out, Damon of ep 303!). Rebecca is (1) an adoptee, (2) a birth mom, and (3) a social worker who prepares adoptive parents to enter into adoption with open hearts and open minds.
Some adoptees don’t begin trying to understand their adoption experience until their 60s or 70s. They live their whole life with blinders on. “It’s great! It’s all great.” But it’s a survival skill, right? For a long time, we need to believe it’s all okay, because the other side of that is terrifying.
Rebecca Ricardo, adoptee, in Ep 401 of Adoption: The Long View
Here’s more about Rebecca.
Rebecca Ricardo: Adoptee, Birth Mom, Adoption Professional
Rebecca Ricardo joined her family through adoption. She is also a birth mother of a son she placed for adoption when she was a teenager. A Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Rebecca serves as Executive Director for a licensed agency in Richmond, VA, C2Adopt.
Rebecca has varying levels of connection to her birth and adoptive family members. She searched and found all birth family members starting in 1993. She was found by her son’s family when he was 20 years old. Rebecca’s professional life has been working in the field of adoption since 1991 as a social worker, therapist, advocate, searcher, supervisor, and administrator.
You cannot go into this with that naïve, “Well, love will conquer all. If I just love this kid enough, all will be well.” Because we have way too much proof that that’s not enough.
Rebecca Ricardo, birth mom, in Ep 401 of Adoption: The Long View
There are probably very few people who have the multi-perspectives and lived experience in adoption that Rebecca has. There are so many of what I call “sage snacks” in this episode – amazing bite-sized morsels of wisdom – so please enjoy the wonderful Rebecca Ricardo.
Show Notes: Resources for Ep 401 with Rebecca Ricardo
- Facebook: C2Adopt
- Twitter: @C2Adopt
- Instagram: @C2Adopt
- Who Am I Really? Podcast: Rebecca interviewed by Damon L. Davis
- Mentioned: The Baby Scoop Era: Unwed Mothers, Infant Adoption, and Forced Surrender by Karen Wilson-Buterbaugh
Prefer to read? Here’s a transcript (but listening is so much better!).
How to Tune In Regularly
You can find us on Adopting.com, and on these and other platforms.
- Spotify
- Apple Podcasts
- Amazon Podcasts
- Google Podcasts
- Castbox
- Search for “Adoption Long View” on your preferred podcast platform.
A new episode comes out the first Friday of the month. Thank you for sharing, subscribing, and rating this episode!
Lori Holden, mom of a young adult daughter and a young adult son, writes from Denver. She was honored as an Angel in Adoption® by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.
Her first book, The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption: Helping Your Child Grow Up Whole, makes a thoughtful anytime gift for the adoptive families in your life. Her second book, Standing Room Only: How to Be THAT Yoga Teacher is now available in paperback, and her third book, Adoption Unfiltered, will be published in late 2023.
Find Lori’s books on her Amazon Author page and catch episodes of Adoption: The Long View wherever you get your podcasts.
