The Voice Podcast with Zayda Sorrell-Medina

Drawing from my autoethnography and research on adoption microaggressions, this episode invites a critical interrogation of the words, terms, and phrases that we use that perpetuate the idea that the blood family is superior to any other family configuration. This episode also introduces the concept of microaggressions in the foster-adopt community.Support the show

Drawing upon my personal narrative, this episode touches up themes related to foster care and adoption stigma and secrecy, race and ethnicity, and resilience.

This episode sheds light on the invisible oppression that individuals face with experience of foster care, adoption, youth homelessness. It is a call to action to for my listeners to take action to begin dismantling their oppression.

This episode reveals the beauty and hiccups of having an unconventional family. I reflect upon my own unconventional family living  with my Puerto Rican Jewish mom and Chinese siblings as a high school teenager. I conclude with tips and words of encouragement on how we can better understand our unconventional family from a strengths based approach.

This episode invites listeners to foster gratitude and positive energy despite prevailing life challenges. As a former homeless youth, I tried to see the glass half full, which kept me going towards my master plan of going to college despite my adversity. This episode draws from tender moments during my homeless adventures to illustrate this point.

In this episode, I draw upon my experiences as a  runaway teenager and social work educator to share  tips on how parents can better support their teenager. Especially when the teenager is not your biological child, it is ever more critical to take a trauma-informed approach.

Drawing upon an experience from as a homeless youth, this episode interrogates black hair and gender norms. I share how listeners may foster pride over conformity and shame.

There are millions of homeless youth in the United States, which represents a critical social problem to be addressed by social workers, scientists, policy makers, nonprofits, and other professionals. In this episode, I share my story on how I became a homeless youth in the U.S. and share strategies on how you can support this population.

This episode invites you to think of ways to honor, acknowledge, and recognize your child's family of origin. This is especially relevant if you are a foster or adoptive parent, legal guardian,  social worker, educator, or family friend. In this episode, I share how I visited my biological mother who I hadn't visited in forever. Before we departed, she gave me her White Diamond perfume, which I used anytime I wanted to remember by mother.  I conclude with key takeaways.

This episode invites you to reframe your adversity story. As a product of the 1980s crack epidemic in the United States, I was separated from my birth mother and went into foster care. This story shares how I now understand my story decades later.  I conclude with an empowering message that challenges us to reconceive how we perceive our adversity stories.