Rethinking Adoption (with Gretchen Sisson)

About this episode

The episode features a discussion with sociologist Gretchen Sisson about her book on adoption and its connections to poverty and cultural perceptions of parenting.

In this episode, we talk with sociologist Gretchen Sisson about her book Relinquished and how adoption decisions are shaped by poverty, policy, and cultural ideas about who is “worthy” to parent. We discuss pushback that adoption is inherently altruistic, noting high demand for babies and predatory market incentives. The conversation also connects adoption to foster care, racialized histories, and reproductive justice. 00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 00:41 Gretchen’s Origin Story 03:49 Teen P...

People in this episode

Host: Tayler Simon

Guest: Gretchen Sisson

Topics covered

• adoption
• sociology
• poverty
• reproductive justice
• foster care
• cultural ideas

Keywords

• adoption
• sociology
• poverty
• reproductive justice
• foster care
• cultural perceptions
• parenting
• market incentives

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Relinquished

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