I Broke Into an Adoption Agency to Find My Name

In this episode of Finding Family DNA, we sit down with an author and adoptee who turned a decades-long search for her birth family into three deeply personal books. Adopted in Denver in the early 1960s, she spent years chasing fragments of her past before taking a daring, real-life risk to uncover her birth mother's identity. What followed was a reunion that didn't unfold the way she'd imagined, a startling twist involving the man she thought was her birth father, and a DNA confirmation that didn't arrive until decades later. Along the way, she discovered how trauma can freeze a birth parent in time, and how healing often means letting your story become your strength instead of your wound. Her journey took her from a broken lock and a library microfiche machine to a small-town diner phone call that changed everything. Now she's using her voice to help other adoptees find their own truth — and their own community.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen — your support helps fund our pro bono DNA cases. Also, if you want to support our mission more directly, join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/findingfamilydna

Watch this podcast right now on YouTube!

https://youtu.be/1uaZ6wvlo0o

00:00 Intro

00:45 Case Update: A Birth Father Reconnects After Decades

01:35 Meet Linda Pevac, Author of Three Adoption Memoirs

02:45 Growing Up Knowing She Was Adopted

04:00 Deciding to Search for Her Birth Mother

04:45 Starting the Search in Secret, 1987

06:00 Non-Identifying Information from the Agency

07:00 Planning to Break Into the Adoption Agency

07:45 The Break-In

09:15 Racing the Library's Closing Time

10:20 Returning the Records Undetected

11:30 Her Brother's Very Different Reaction

12:45 No Two Adoption Stories Are the Same

14:00 A Blurry Signature and a Handwriting Analyst

15:20 Searching Before the Internet Existed

16:00 A Small-Town Diner Leads to Her Aunt

17:45 Mug Giveaway and Show Updates

18:30 Calling Her Birth Mother for the First Time

19:45 Flying to California to Meet Her

21:30 The Reality Behind Her Mother's Story

23:00 Chasing a Name on Her Birth Certificate

25:30 Meeting the Man Who Denied Being Her Father

27:00 A DNA Test Confirms the Truth, Years Later

28:45 Writing The Gathering Place

29:45 Writing A Fire is Coming

30:40 Writing Choosing to Breathe

31:50 Misty's Reflection on Linda's Journey

32:30 Quickfire Questions with Linda

33:55 A Message for Struggling Adoptees

34:45 Where to Find Linda's Books and Social Media

Follow the show here:

https://www.instagram.com/findingfamilydna/

https://www.instagram.com/lasleuth

https://www.instagram.com/birthparentfinder/

Are you looking to find your birth parents? Get in touch with Jay and his team!

https://www.birthparentfinder.com

https://www.instagram.com/birthparentfinder

This podcast was edited using PodShuttle, the fully-remote podcast editing and management service owned and operated by CHOBO Studios. For more info, visit podshuttle.io and follow us on Instagram to see more shows we've helped bring to life.

https://www.instagram.com/chobostudios

https://www.instagram.com/podshuttle

Adoption Reunion, Closed Adoption Search, Adoptee Story, Birth Mother Found, DNA Genealogy, Finding Birth Family, Adoption Podcast, Emotional Reunion, BirthParentFinder, Family Discovery

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(50)

From the Primal Wound to the Paternal Wound

In this episode of Finding Family DNA, filmmaker Rebecca Autumn Sansom joins Jay to share the story behind her acclaimed documentary, Reckoning with the Primal Wound, and the winding path that led her...

11 Aug 46min

A Regifted DNA Kit Uncovered My Birth Parents

In this episode of Finding Family DNA, we meet a California adoptee who grew up knowing she was adopted but never imagined how her story would unfold. After decades of quiet curiosity, a chance moment...

14 Jul 43min

DNA Revealed The Shocking Truth About My Birth Parents

In this episode of Finding Family DNA, Jason didn't learn he was adopted until his late 40s — and a simple request for his original birth certificate cracked open decades of family secrets. After a DN...

30 Jun 38min

Five Years No Answers Then A DNA Match Appeared

In this episode of Finding Family DNA, Jay sits down with Linda Burleson, a woman who spent over five years searching for the identity of her birth father after learning at age sixty-plus that the man...

16 Jun 32min

My Birth Father's Family Ghosted Us — So I'm Speaking Out

In this episode of Finding Family DNA, Jay and co-host Misty Gillis introduce Carla Salvatierra, a 29-year-old woman born in Los Angeles County who has spent years searching for the truth about her bi...

31 Mai 32min

Maria Leonard Olsen's Shocking DNA Discovery

In this episode of Finding Family DNA, attorney, author, and TEDx speaker Maria Leonard Olsen shares the shocking DNA discovery that changed her identity forever. After taking a 23andMe test, Maria le...

19 Mai 36min

I Lost My Adoptive Parents Young — Then Jay Found My Birth Mother

In this episode of Finding Family DNA, we follow Porsha Jones’ powerful journey from loss to reconnection. Adopted at birth and later losing both of her adoptive parents as a teenager, Porsha grew up ...

5 Mai 30min