Today I will be speaking to an international adoptee from Chicago, Julie who is also a author–memoirist, essayist, and columnist– who writes about finding out who you are, where you come from, and making sense of it.

At 48, julie was sent for a breast biopsy. This incident highlighted what closed adoption prevented her from knowing: her birth circumstances, family medical history, and genealogy. The subsequent search for her “personal story” that consumed five years. She chronicles this journey in her debut, award-winning memoir Twice a Daughter: A Search for Family, Identity, and Belonging

We talk on Her newly released book Belonging Matters: Conversations on Adoption, Family & Kinship serves as a companion piece to Twice a Daughter. It is meant to support the adoption community and to create a conversation with those not touched by adoption.

Besides being a writer, she is a mother, grandmother, and an identical twin. Life has provided her many roles to play and experiences to share. For as long as she can remember, Julie has been filling up journals and binders with stories and reminiscences.

Her wish is that you stay here, linger, and find a section from this podcast that resonates. Upon leaving, she hopes you take with you a fresh new idea, perspective, or topic to share with others.

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