I covered this issue for NPR in December. www.npr.org/2025/12/13/n...

With the teen pregnancy rate down so low, most birth mothers today are adult women. Those who surrender their infants often do so due to desperation and hardship. Last fall, I attended the Concerned United Birth Parents conference and talked to many women, including those who recently relinquished.

Some great resources on this issue include the group Reproductive Justice in Adoption; Saving Our Sisters; The Family Preservation Project; and the sociologist Gretchen Sisson’s work, which was cited by Sonia Sotomayor in her dissent in Dobbs. a.co/d/05rjRqU4

The No. 1 reason women place children for adoption is due to a lack of financial resources, according to peer reviewed research (below). Meanwhile, adoptive parents pay tens of thousands of dollars in fees to adopt a child. The power imblance is tangible cwlibrary.childwelfare.gov/discovery/de...

Adoptive parents can close them for any reason at any time. It creates an inherent power imbalance in the relationship, and many birth parents say they feel like they are walking on eggshells until the child turns 18 because of this dynamic.

Hi Alan! Thank you for recommending Liberty Lost. One thing to note though - closed adoptions are no longer the norm. Most adoptions these days begin as open adoptions. But still, several issues arise.

For starters, in most of the country, open adoption agreements are not legally enforceable.

His daughter, producer @tjraphael.bsky.social, tells his story and what it reveals about the care Puerto Rican veterans are owed for serving in American wars, and still can't get at home.

Thanks for listening!

As part of my journey to become increasingly angry at how women are treated in this country, I binge-listened to Liberty Lost last week. It is heart-wrenching, but SO GOOD.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/l...

Thanks for listening!