Advertise on podcast: Family Twist: A Podcast Exploring DNA Surprises and Family Secrets

Meaghan R. Carriere was considering adopting a child when conversations about openness brought her own family’s secret to the surface. Her parents asked her to take a walk, and her mother struggled to say something Meaghan had questioned since childhood: the man who raised her wasn’t her biological father. In part one of this two-part Family Twist conversation, Meaghan joins Corey to share what happened when that admission led to questions her parents weren’t ready to answer. She wanted a name, information about siblings, and a chance to understand where she came from. Her mother warned that searching could put her in danger. With only fragments of information, Meaghan began looking. Along the way, childhood memories took on new meaning, and connecting with biological relatives meant deciding whose accounts to trust and which relationships felt safe to pursue. Meaghan is the author of You Belong Here: An Expressive and Mindful Journey Through Misattributed Parentage. Her book combines personal experience with support for people navigating a parentage discovery. This story has one of the craziest twists we’ve heard on Family Twist, and part one is only the beginning. Follow the podcast so you don’t miss the conclusion. In this episode: Learning the truth about your parentage as an adultChildhood questions that were repeatedly dismissedWhy discussing a potential adoption brought a family secret into the openSearching for biological family with limited informationFinding siblings while navigating concerns about safetyWanting answers while worrying about a parent’s feelingsWriting about a family history that others would rather leave unspokenConnect with Meaghan: You Belong Here on AmazonMeaghan’s websiteInstagramYou Belong Here on SubstackAll links and resourcesMore Family Twist: Visit our websiteJoin Family Twist: After HoursSend us Fan Mail Support the show Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show. Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early! Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

What happens when telling your adoption story becomes a way to challenge the secrecy that shaped it? Patricia Knight Meyer returns to Family Twist ahead of the release of WONDERLAND: Memoir of a Black-Market Adoption. She joins Corey and Kendall to discuss sharing her story with readers, hearing from people who never considered adoption from an adoptee’s perspective, and turning her book launch into an event focused on truth, community and adoptee rights. Patricia also shares why recording the audiobook brought unexpected tears, how her daughter helped bring a chapter of her life to the stage, and why being surrounded by other adoptees gives her a sense of belonging she struggles to explain to anyone outside the community. There is also a little Taylor Swift, some Dateline and a conversation about helping the next wave of adoptee authors tell their stories. In this episode: How readers outside the adoption community are responding to WONDERLAND.Patricia’s perspective on the connection between sealed records, secrecy and black-market adoption.Why narrating her own memoir became an emotional experience.Bringing the chapter “Roses and Thorns” to life through a stage adaptation directed by her daughter.How sharing her story through I’m Adopted revealed how many people still need search resources and support.Why finding an adoptee community can change what belonging feels like.Attend or stream Down the Rabbit Hole: The Fight for Texas Adoptee Rights Then and Now on Friday, November 6, 2026, at the Bullock Texas State History Museum’s Texas Spirit Theater in Austin. The event includes a chapter performance and a panel moderated by Emily Ramshaw, co-founder and CEO of The 19th. Attendance and the livestream are free, with registration available below. Net proceeds from the event will benefit Saving Our Sisters, Adoption Knowledge Affiliates and the National Association of Adoptees and Parents. WONDERLAND: Memoir of a Black-Market Adoption releases November 3, 2026. Family Twist is an in-kind sponsor of the event. Register for the free event or livestream WONDERLAND: Book details and purchase links Book extras, soundtrack and discussion questions Patricia’s website: My Adopted Life Read Patricia’s story on I’m Adopted National Association of Adoptees and Parents Saving Our Sisters Adoption Knowledge Affiliates Send us Fan Mail Support the show Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show. Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early! Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours What happens when the biological father you expected to reject you never knew you existed? In Part 1, Ashley learned through DNA testing that the man who raised her was not her biological father. After a two-year search, Search Squad found a name and contact information within 24 hours. Four months after giving birth to her daughter, Ashley ran a background check and mailed a cautious letter to a man she knew almost nothing about. Two days later, he called and left a brief voicemail: “Now you have my number.” Their first exchanges involved selfies and pictures of a truck, a car, a cat, a dog and a motorcycle. When they finally spoke, Ashley learned that he had been told he could not have children and had spent 36 years with no idea that he had a daughter. Then the story takes an almost unbelievable small-town turn. A friend of Ashley’s newly discovered father realizes she knows the parents who kept the truth from her, bringing the family secret directly back to the people who had refused to answer Ashley’s questions. In Part 2, Ashley tells Kendall what happened when she confronted her parents, why finally having the truth ended their power over her and how her relationship with her biological father grew through weather warnings, family photographs and an unforgettable first Mother’s Day visit with her 87-year-old grandmother. Ashley also shares what she told her therapist after receiving affection she did not have to work for: “I’m not doing anything to earn this.” Her therapist’s answer was simple: “You’re not supposed to.” Listen to hear how a man who believed he could never have children celebrated his first Father’s Day at 66. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show. Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early! Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours What if a family photo made your friends ask the question no one in your family had ever answered? Ashley grew up surrounded by fighting, police visits and what she came to call her family’s “quarterly crisis.” She learned to hide her emotions, protect the adults around her and question her own memories whenever the family’s public version of events did not match what she had experienced. It took leaving home and beginning therapy for Ashley to recognize how unhealthy the family system had been. Years later, while Ashley and her husband were facing infertility and pregnancy loss, friends noticed how little she resembled her family and asked whether she had ever taken a DNA test. Her Ancestry results connected her to relatives throughout her mother’s family tree, but nothing appeared on the side belonging to the father who raised her. Additional tests confirmed that it was not a mistake, and the aunt Ashley had been warned to avoid responded to her questions almost immediately. In Part 1, Ashley tells Kendall how her NPE discovery changed what she believed about the man who raised her, why the timing made her missing medical history especially frightening and how becoming a mother gave her search a new urgency. When several search groups told Ashley she would have to wait for better DNA matches, Search Squad found a name, address, email address and phone number within 24 hours. Listen to Part 1 to hear how Ashley escaped one family system and found herself on the verge of contacting a father who might not even know she existed. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show. Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early! Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours Decades after Dixie went to live with relatives in Iowa, her biological sister Molly was still angry that they never grew up together. Another family member believed Dixie had been better off with the parents who raised her. In Part 2, Anita Johnson talks with Corey and Kendall about loving Gram after learning the truth, the questions she never asked her mother and whether there was ever a right time to move Dixie back. The conversation also leads Kendall to reflect on the nine years since finding his birth mother and what acceptance looks like now. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show. Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early! Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours What happens when you discover a family secret, but the people who kept it never know you found out? Anita Johnson’s mother, Dixie, grew up on a farm in Iowa. Her parents doted on her, and she carried that love into adulthood. During World War II, Dixie needed a birth certificate to work at a Navy shipyard. Iowa had no record of her birth, so the father who raised her filed an affidavit. Later, Dixie found another birth certificate in a drawer. This one pointed to a family in Wyoming she had known all her life. Dixie eventually told Anita the truth, but she asked her 12-year-old daughter not to tell Gram. For Anita, Gram was the grandmother who taught her to sew, welcomed her for overnight visits and made her feel loved no matter what. Anita had to make sense of the discovery while their visits and family gatherings carried on as usual. In Part 1, Anita tells Corey and Kendall how Dixie learned about her adoption and why she kept that knowledge from the parents who raised her. Anita also shares an account written by one of Dixie’s birth brothers about how Dixie came to live in Iowa. It offers part of the family’s history, though Anita is careful about the questions it leaves unanswered. Anita knew we like to hear these stories from our guests, so she gave us very little before we recorded. Listen to Part 1 and hear how the secret came to belong to her, too. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show. Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early! Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos, and plenty we wouldn't normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours Imagine learning at 52 that you were adopted because your mother’s oncologist casually mentioned it during a phone call. Al Isaacs had spent his life believing he was an only child with loving parents and an ordinary birth certificate. Then one accidental comment exposed a secret his family had kept for more than five decades. There was no simple way to ask his parents for answers. Both were living with dementia, and his father was nearing the end of his life. When Al turned to an aunt, she confirmed the truth with six devastating words: “I always wanted to tell you.” The documents Al had trusted were false. His adoption had been arranged through the gray market, leaving him with few reliable records and an enormous question: Who was Mary Smith? In this episode, Al talks with Corey about: Discovering at 52 that he had been adoptedRealizing other relatives had known the truth for decadesLoving his parents while struggling with what they concealedThe false paperwork behind his gray-market adoptionUsing DNA, genealogy and Search Angels to find answersDiscovering a biological sister he never knew existedSearching for a birth mother with an extraordinarily common nameLearning that Mary had been a gifted folk singerFinding photographs, records and performances that brought her past to lifeUsing humor to tell a painful story without diminishing itMary’s trail leads through the Greenwich Village music scene, a 1968 talent competition hosted by Duke Ellington and recordings that had nearly disappeared. At one point, an old photograph of a woman holding a guitar becomes a vital clue in a search that repeatedly seems impossible. Al tells the story in "Finding Mary Smith: A Memoir of Family Secrets, Gray Market Adoption, and the Miracle Reunion with My Mom," winner of the 2026 Global Book Awards Gold Medal for Biographical/Memoir. The book and audiobook are available wherever books are sold, and Al’s collection of photographs, songs and rare footage can be found at alisaacs.com. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show. Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early! Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours Nicole Davis had already found her biological mother’s side of the family years earlier, but she had pretty much given up on finding her father. In fact, she had been led to believe he was dead. Then an Ancestry notification showed up while she was getting ready for Jazz Fest. Nicole was busy, didn’t think much of it and ignored it. She ignored the message that followed, too. It took a Facebook friend request to finally get her attention. The match was 27 percent. That’s how Nicole found a sister she didn’t know she had, and how she learned that the biological father she had believed was dead for 12 years was actually alive. In Part 2, Nicole tells us what it has been like getting to know her father and discovering that she has several sisters, including one close in age to her own child. We also talk about the family relationships that haven’t been nearly as easy, including why Nicole has stepped away from her adoptive parents and why she hasn’t told her adoptive father everything she has learned. Since Nicole is also a serious horror fan, there was no keeping horror out of the conversation. We talk about growing up with evangelical Hell Houses and Rapture movies, the “evil adoptee” trope that horror has leaned on for decades, and why Myth of the Ghost Kingdom got the adoptee experience right in ways she rarely sees onscreen. Nicole also tells us about The Music of Us, the book she’s writing about roots, music and the stories that connect them. Family secrets are the ultimate plot twist. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show. Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early! Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours Nicole Davis always knew she was adopted. What she didn’t know was how strange the story behind her adoption would look once she started examining it as an adult. Nicole was born in Alabama in 1974. Her adoptive parents had spent years trying to have a child and then trying to adopt. According to the family story, they eventually failed a home inspection because a step between their kitchen and sunken living room wasn’t up to code. Then Nicole’s mother wrote a letter to Alabama Governor George Wallace. Within a few months, her parents got a call. They drove to Montgomery and brought Nicole home. Her mother has always believed Wallace made it happen. Nicole grew up thinking that was a great story. Today, she has a lot more questions about it. In Part 1 of our conversation, Nicole talks about growing up adopted in rural Alabama, the family she was raised in and the fears that followed her from childhood. As a little girl, she worried someone would come and take her away. Eventually, she found herself staring down the road and hoping someone from her biological family would show up and do exactly that.  Years later, Nicole began finding biological relatives and learning how much of what she thought she knew about her origins was incomplete or simply wrong. Then an Ancestry match appeared. Nicole initially ignored it. When she finally looked more closely, she discovered she shared 27 percent DNA with the woman trying to contact her. She had found a sister. That sister had another surprise: the biological father Nicole had believed was dead for 12 years was alive. Nicole also happens to be a serious horror fan, and the connection between her adoption experience and the things that scare her is fascinating. Horror gave her something real life often didn’t: predictable fear. Freddy Krueger had rules. A Stephen King novel had an ending. Her childhood could be much harder to predict. That makes Nicole a natural crossover guest for Family Twist and our other podcast, Horror Heals. In Part 1, we talk about adoption trauma, abandonment, biological family, DNA discoveries, rural Alabama, evangelical Christianity, the questions surrounding Nicole’s adoption and the possibility that George Wallace played a role in how she became part of her adoptive family. And just when you think Nicole’s family story couldn’t sound more like a horror movie, she says it herself: Her family dynamic is “a nightmare.” Part 2 is coming next week. Remember, family secrets are the ultimate plot twist. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show. Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early! Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours What does it mean to reclaim an Indigenous identity you didn’t have the opportunity to grow up with? In Part 2 of our conversation with Monica Hall and Kristal Parke, we explore one of the connections that first brought these two women together: they are both adoptees, and they are both Cree. Kristal talks about growing up without a connection to her Indigenous culture and the complicated feeling of not being “Indigenous enough.” Finding other Indigenous adoptees who are also trying to reconnect has given her something she didn’t have growing up: people who understand that conflict without needing it explained. Monica understands it well. She didn’t know she was Indigenous until she connected with members of her biological family. She later learned that her father spoke fluent Cree and that her great-grandmother was a medicine woman. In the 1990s, Monica began exploring the culture she hadn’t grown up with. Her aunt taught her to bead and make medicine bags. As an herbalist, Monica wanted to learn about the healing plants of her people. She attended powwows, and her daughter became a fancy dancer. And yet, Monica admits there’s still a part of her that wonders whether she deserves to call herself Cree. She didn’t experience the prejudice members of her biological family faced. She wasn’t raised speaking the language, and much of the cultural knowledge in her family wasn’t passed down. Adoption separated her from those experiences before she had any choice in the matter.  That shared uncertainty is part of what connected Monica and Kristal. They can recognize each other as strong Indigenous women even when claiming that identity for themselves can be more complicated. We also talk about Kristal’s documentary about Monica’s life, Life’s a Mother, the response to its trailer, their shared sobriety and the friendship that has grown far beyond the film itself. Kristal also explains why staying with Monica comes with some serious “mom energy,” although Monica’s particular brand of mothering apparently includes the occasional, “Look at me when I talk to you.” If you missed Part 1, The Genetic Sexual Attraction Nobody Talks About, start there, then join us for Part 2 and a conversation about Cree heritage, adoption, cultural identity and finding your own relationship with a history that was always yours. Remember, family secrets are the ultimate plot twist. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show. Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early! Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours Genetic sexual attraction is one of the most difficult and misunderstood possibilities that can emerge after biological family reunion. For decades, Monica Hall rarely spoke about her own experience with it. In part one of this special two-part Family Twist conversation, Monica returns alongside filmmaker and fellow adoptee Kristal Parke. Their friendship began after Monica learned about another Cree adoptee in Canada and decided she needed to find her. One Facebook message and an hour-long phone conversation later, a friendship had begun. Eventually, that friendship became something neither of them expected: Kristal started making a documentary about Monica’s life. The film gives Monica an opportunity to talk about parts of her story she previously wasn’t ready to share publicly, including a relationship with a man she learned was her half-brother. Monica speaks openly about genetic sexual attraction, the intensity of that relationship, the shame she carried afterward and why she kept it largely secret for decades. She also discusses addiction and sobriety, the grief that came when the relationship ended, and the very different perspective she has on that period of her life today. Kristal has her own difficult role in telling the story. She isn’t interviewing a stranger. Monica has become one of her closest friends. Kristal talks about moving between filmmaker and friend, knowing when to ask another question and making sure Monica remains comfortable with what ultimately appears on screen. There are plenty of laughs, too. Monica has accumulated decades of archival footage, old interviews, home movies and other surprises that she turned over to Kristal for the documentary. Some of those surprises were considerably more personal than Kristal anticipated. In this episode: Monica speaks openly about genetic sexual attraction after biological reunionWhy she kept the relationship secret from most people for decadesThe shame and grief she carried after it endedHow addiction and sobriety intersect with this period of her lifeWhy she can talk about the experience now when she couldn’t beforeHow Monica and Kristal became friendsWhy Kristal decided Monica’s life should become a documentaryThe responsibility of filming someone you also love as a friendWhat decades of Monica’s archival footage bring to the filmWe’re also relaunching Monica and Kristal’s original Family Twist episodes so listeners can hear their individual stories. Then join us next week for Part Two, when the conversation turns to another bond between Monica and Kristal: their shared Cree heritage and what it means to reconnect with Indigenous identity after adoption. Remember, family secrets are the ultimate plot twist. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show. Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early! Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours What happens when adoptive parents enter adoptee spaces and hear things that are difficult, angry or painful? Charlyn Spiering doesn’t believe the answer is to get defensive. She believes it’s to listen. Charlyn is the host of Adoption Uncovered and the mother of five children, both biological and adopted. She joins Corey and Kendall for a candid conversation about raising adopted children, talking openly about first families, respecting the parts of an adoption story that belong to the adoptee, and recognizing that even well-intentioned parents are going to make mistakes. Charlyn shares her family’s experience raising Aaron, her son adopted from India, and the effort to incorporate Indian culture into their family without claiming his identity or story as their own. She also discusses Aaron’s feelings about potentially visiting India and connecting with his first mother, including an important reality that sometimes gets lost in adoption conversations: not every adoptee wants the same kind of reunion or relationship. That opens up a fascinating conversation with Kendall about his own childhood. Kendall always knew he was adopted, but as a kid he still identified with the Native American heritage of his adoptive father. That connection wasn’t biological. It came from the man who raised him and the things they loved together. Charlyn also has a family discovery of her own. She was in college when her father revealed that she and her brother had Jewish ancestry, something previous generations had deliberately kept quiet. Years later, DNA testing helped uncover more of that missing family history. Corey, Kendall and Charlyn also get into closed adoption, searching for biological family before consumer DNA testing existed, disability and international adoption, the complicated question of first-family contact, and why adoptive parents need to make adoption something their children can actually talk about. And because this is Family Twist, the conversation eventually includes Indian food, homemade potato pancakes, Billie Eilish, K-pop, Spotify playlists and the music our parents and children use to let us into their worlds. Charlyn says something during the episode that sums up her approach to entering adoptee spaces: “I want to learn. I’m not here to tell you stuff.” Sometimes listening is the most important part of the conversation. Listen now to Family Twist and hear an adoptive parent, an adoptee and two podcasters get honest about adoption, identity, culture and who gets to tell the story. Remember, family secrets are the ultimate plot twist. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show. Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early! Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours A baby abandoned on one of America's most historic days. A mystery that lasted nearly eighty years. Could modern DNA finally reveal the truth? On August 15, 1945, while crowds filled Boston Common celebrating the end of World War II, a young woman handed her infant son to a teenage newsboy, slipped him a few dollars, and disappeared. That baby grew up to become Tina Drzal's father. For decades, his family knew only fragments of the story. Who was his mother? Why did she leave him? Did she ever try to find him? And what happened after that unforgettable day? Joining Corey are Tina Drzal and Boston historian David Kruh, co-authors of Little Mister Victory. Together, they combined newspaper archives, historical records, DNA testing, and years of detective work to reconstruct one of the most remarkable adoption stories we've ever featured. This conversation explores:  How one newspaper article restarted a decades-long search  Using DNA to solve an adoption mystery from World War II  The emotional impact of inheriting unanswered questions  Why family secrets continue to echo across generations  The surprising discoveries that completely changed the investigation  How compassion can reshape the way we view difficult decisions from the past Whether you're an adoptee, an NPE, a genealogy enthusiast, or simply love an unforgettable true story, this episode is a fascinating reminder that history is never as distant as it seems. Learn more about Little Mister Victory at littlemistervictory.com. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show. Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early! Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours Most movies treat adoption, donor conception, or DNA discoveries as a plot twist. Then the credits roll. But for the people living these stories, that's when life actually begins. Writer and director Jason Mullis wanted to tell a different kind of story. Before writing Myth of the Ghost Kingdom, he spent months listening to adoptees, donor-conceived people, late-discovery adoptees, NPEs, and others whose lives had been shaped by family secrets and unexpected DNA discoveries. The result is a film that doesn't simply ask, "Who are your biological parents?" It asks the much harder question: Who are you after the truth changes everything? In this episode, Jason joins Corey and Kendall to discuss:  Why authentic representation mattered from the very beginning  What he learned from the adoption and DNA-discovery communities  The responsibility of telling someone else's story  Why identity can be more powerful than any fictional plot twist  How family secrets continue to shape generations  What he hopes audiences take away from Myth of the Ghost KingdomWhether you're adopted, donor conceived, an NPE, or simply someone who's ever questioned where you belong, this conversation is a reminder that the most compelling stories are the true ones. About Jason Mullis Jason Mullis is the writer and director of Myth of the Ghost Kingdom, an independent feature film that follows a woman who discovers as an adult that she was adopted and begins searching for the truth about her identity. The film was developed with extensive input from members of the adoption and DNA-discovery communities, bringing an uncommon level of authenticity to a story about family, identity, and belonging. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show. Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early! Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours

Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist: After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos, and plenty we wouldn’t normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours For years, Louise McLoughlin built her career telling other people's stories. Then she uncovered one she never expected: her own. After learning she was donor-conceived, Louise set out to understand not only her biological origins, but the larger world of donor conception, family secrets, and identity. That journey led her to create the acclaimed documentary podcast You Look Like Me, where she gave donor-conceived people a platform to tell the stories that so often go unheard. In this episode, Louise joins Corey and Kendall to discuss:  Discovering she was donor-conceived  Finding her biological father and a growing number of half-siblings  Why donor-conceived people often feel the search is never truly over  The emotional reality behind DNA discoveries  Why media coverage of donor conception often misses the point  Balancing journalism with personal experience  The importance of transparency, identity, and the right to know where you come from This conversation is about much more than DNA. It's about what happens when the person asking the questions suddenly becomes the story. About Louise McLoughlin Louise McLoughlin is an award-winning journalist and creator of the documentary podcast You Look Like Me, which explores donor conception, identity, and family through deeply personal storytelling. Her work has helped bring greater visibility to donor-conceived voices while challenging how these stories are covered in the media.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus podcast featuring personal stories, family secrets, behind-the-scenes conversations and plenty we don't share on the regular show. Your Patreon membership also helps cover the costs of keeping Family Twist going. Plus, subscribers get new Family Twist episodes a day early! Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours