Is it okay to ask an adoptee 'Do you know your real parents?'

Adoptees all have different experiences when it comes to family. We might assume some parents are "real" and others aren't—and that anyone who doesn't know their birth parents is searching for them. But no one term or story fits for everyone who's adopted.

In this episode Elena and Harv talk to:

• Podcaster Kristen Meinzer, about what's behind the word "real" and the myth that all adoptive parents are great parents
• Adoption advocate Tony Hynes, who shares his story of growing up as a Black child raised by two white moms, while staying connected to his birth family
• Raven Sinclair, a professor of social work who was adopted as part of the Sixties Scoop. Sinclair talks about reconnecting with her birth family and culture, and how social systems incentivize the removal of Indigenous children from their families.

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Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom is an illustrator, cartoonist, and graphic designer living in Auckland, New Zealand, with her partner and two children. She has a master's degree in literature from Södertörn University and has studied at the Comic Art School in Malmö. Palimpsest is her first graphic novel. She is an adoptee rights activist.