In this episode we meet Will, a Boston native living in Texas who offers a unique perspective on adoption as both an adoptee and a new adoptive father. Adopted at birth from a Brazilian birth mother by white parents, Will shares what it was like growing up in a multiracial household where adoption was a normal, open part of the conversation. He recounts his emotional journey to reconnect with his Brazilian heritage and birth family during a study abroad trip in college, a search that has since evolved into a 14-year relationship with his birth mother and siblings.
Will also discusses his transition into fatherhood, having recently adopted his daughter with his wife. He explains how his own history led him to view adoption as a way to “pay it forward” and why he and his wife prioritized an open adoption to ensure their daughter has the ties to her birth family that he lacked for the first 22 years of his life. Throughout the conversation, Will challenges the stigmas surrounding adoption, emphasizing the importance of normalizing it as just another way to build a family, advocating for better community resources for families, and challenging that the “identity issues” often attributed to adoptees are, in many ways, simply a universal part of the human experience that many experience, regardless of family structure.
Finally, Will provides practical advice for those navigating the often unknowns of family building, urging prospective parents to control what they can, remain flexible, and be their own best advocates. He highlights the power of intentionality over perfection when raising biracial children and encourages everyone to challenge the myth of ‘normal’ in family building.
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