**Trigger Warning** This episode will begin a two-part reflection that Libby Friedman Qin, AMW’s first guest, and I have regarding many common themes that adoptees face. In this episode, we share our honest feelings and we are very explicit with what we say. The intention of this episode is to have an un-filtered conversation where we can share our experiences growing up and how we see the adoption process from our eyes. **There is a brief reference to sexual assault as we discuss potential reasons behind being put up for adoption. We also criticize adoption and how, as an adoptee, it can seem like a picking and choosing experience, that adoption was a second choice, or a last resort.** While I do recognize this can come across as offensive to adoptive parents who may have put down various age/sex/health requirements when in the adoption process, Libby and I also trust that when parents mark these boundaries it comes from a place of love to ensure a successful adoption, however you may define that. As always, I hope that any parents who adopted or prospective adoptive parents receive this episode with empathy. As I challenge you to sit with the discomfort of being an adoptee, I also urge adoptees, myself included, to respect the difficulties that our families experienced prior to, and through the adoption. As I always say, it is a complex and messy thing, but at the end of the day, we should look at it with love.

Follow Libby Friedman Qin on instagram: @libbyanmeng 

Email: adopteemeetsworld@gmail.com 
Instagram: @adopteemeetsworld_ 
Music: What A Wonderful Day by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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