Prison Adoptee
@prisonadoptee.bsky.social
I was born to an incarcerated mother. Many adoptees like me—especially those whose mothers were labeled 'juvenile delinquents'—remain unaware of their carceral birth because youth protection laws prevent disclosure.
https://andrewmercerreformatory.org/
https://andrewmercerreformatory.org/
Pinned
Prison Adoptee
@prisonadoptee.bsky.social
· Nov 21
‘Keeping Mum’: A Historical Examination of the Andrew Mercer Reformatory and its Contemporary Legacy Through a Framework of Motherhood
qspace.library.queensu.ca/items/82ec50...
qspace.library.queensu.ca/items/82ec50...
History shows that when children are transferred—through placing-out or adoption—abuse follows. Orphan Trains, British Home Children, Convict Orphans… what about kids of incarcerated women in Canada? No one has studied this.
Hidden history!!🥚
www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/...
Hidden history!!🥚
www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/...
February 10, 2026 at 12:01 AM
History shows that when children are transferred—through placing-out or adoption—abuse follows. Orphan Trains, British Home Children, Convict Orphans… what about kids of incarcerated women in Canada? No one has studied this.
Hidden history!!🥚
www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/...
Hidden history!!🥚
www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/...
Reposted by Prison Adoptee
Please donate to the Citizenship Clinic based in Minneapolis!
"...those costs support our continued commitment and work to provide free legal assistance to intercountry #adoptees, who may not have US citizenship or may lack proof of that US citizenship."
adopteesunited.org/with-challen... 🥚
"...those costs support our continued commitment and work to provide free legal assistance to intercountry #adoptees, who may not have US citizenship or may lack proof of that US citizenship."
adopteesunited.org/with-challen... 🥚
With Challenges Come Needs | Adoptees United Inc.
With AU's pro bono Citizenship Clinic at or near capacity, we need help to address ongoing challenges
adopteesunited.org
February 8, 2026 at 7:58 PM
Please donate to the Citizenship Clinic based in Minneapolis!
"...those costs support our continued commitment and work to provide free legal assistance to intercountry #adoptees, who may not have US citizenship or may lack proof of that US citizenship."
adopteesunited.org/with-challen... 🥚
"...those costs support our continued commitment and work to provide free legal assistance to intercountry #adoptees, who may not have US citizenship or may lack proof of that US citizenship."
adopteesunited.org/with-challen... 🥚
The program ends with referencing it as the CHILD TRAFFICKING movement. We should all dig deeper because it didn't end when the trains stopped running.
- Georgia Tan & Bessie Bernard, black-market baby rings.
Let's keep researching our history, she says!! 1/2
🥚
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQYU...
- Georgia Tan & Bessie Bernard, black-market baby rings.
Let's keep researching our history, she says!! 1/2
🥚
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQYU...
Who Rode The Orphan Train, and Why ? Stories in History-
YouTube video by Human Nature Tales
www.youtube.com
February 7, 2026 at 4:09 PM
The program ends with referencing it as the CHILD TRAFFICKING movement. We should all dig deeper because it didn't end when the trains stopped running.
- Georgia Tan & Bessie Bernard, black-market baby rings.
Let's keep researching our history, she says!! 1/2
🥚
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQYU...
- Georgia Tan & Bessie Bernard, black-market baby rings.
Let's keep researching our history, she says!! 1/2
🥚
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQYU...
She was hunted down, recaptured, and thrown into that same “hole,” while her illegitimate firstborn was lost to adoption. Legislators saw order; kids like my mother lived a very different reality. 2/2 🥚
February 5, 2026 at 1:01 AM
She was hunted down, recaptured, and thrown into that same “hole,” while her illegitimate firstborn was lost to adoption. Legislators saw order; kids like my mother lived a very different reality. 2/2 🥚
1953: Members of the Legislature made a surprise visit to Mercer and praised it, even touring the “hole.” Less than three weeks later, my mother—newly confined in the Ontario Training School wing—escaped with three other “incorrigibles.”👇🥚1/2
Source: The Globe and Mail, May 23, 1953 ·Page 5
Source: The Globe and Mail, May 23, 1953 ·Page 5
February 5, 2026 at 1:01 AM
1953: Members of the Legislature made a surprise visit to Mercer and praised it, even touring the “hole.” Less than three weeks later, my mother—newly confined in the Ontario Training School wing—escaped with three other “incorrigibles.”👇🥚1/2
Source: The Globe and Mail, May 23, 1953 ·Page 5
Source: The Globe and Mail, May 23, 1953 ·Page 5
Reposted by Prison Adoptee
🥚👇🏽
“We are the reminders of a system that commodified children and exported citizens for profit… Our presence unsettles the national conscience because it forces Korea to confront what it tried to conceal.”
Adoption as banishment: Why Korea's adoptees deserve more than symbolic redress - The Korea Times
The renewal of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for a third mandate on Jan. 29 offers a new opportunity to address the unresolved adop...
www.koreatimes.co.kr
February 4, 2026 at 12:20 AM
🥚👇🏽
All countries need to investigate adoptions linked to institutionalization and the criminalization and incarceration of women. 🥚
Good news for Korean #adoptees who's TRC cases are still unresolved as well as the opportunity to submit new cases. 🥚
www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/s...
www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/s...
Korean adoptees welcome fresh inquiry into rights violations in adoption process - The Korea Times
Overseas adoptees welcomed Monday’s announcement of a new Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Korea, expressing hope that it would allow t...
www.koreatimes.co.kr
February 2, 2026 at 7:48 PM
All countries need to investigate adoptions linked to institutionalization and the criminalization and incarceration of women. 🥚
🥚While records of a carceral birth history may exist, accessing them requires prior knowledge. For many adoptees, that knowledge remains out of reach—sealed by disclosure laws under the YCJA and CYFSA, where law enforces silence rather than justice.
Thread 🧵
Although Velma Demerson eventually received compensation, her case stands as an exception rather than evidence of systemic accountability. 1/6
www.ola.org/en/legislati...
Although Velma Demerson eventually received compensation, her case stands as an exception rather than evidence of systemic accountability. 1/6
www.ola.org/en/legislati...
January 31, 2026 at 12:47 AM
🥚While records of a carceral birth history may exist, accessing them requires prior knowledge. For many adoptees, that knowledge remains out of reach—sealed by disclosure laws under the YCJA and CYFSA, where law enforces silence rather than justice.
🥚Prison Born calls attention to the colonial and gendered assumptions that continue to underpin the legal system—assumptions that so frequently lead to the violation of the rights and denial of personhood for children and their mothers.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV1S...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV1S...
Robin F. Hansen, "Prison Born: Incarceration and Motherhood in the Colonial Shadow" (U Regina Pre...
YouTube video by New Books Network Book of the Day
www.youtube.com
January 29, 2026 at 2:52 PM
🥚Prison Born calls attention to the colonial and gendered assumptions that continue to underpin the legal system—assumptions that so frequently lead to the violation of the rights and denial of personhood for children and their mothers.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV1S...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV1S...
🥚... report Adoptee Voices draws on the experiences of more than 300 adopted young people aged 13 to 25 and reveals widespread feelings of isolation, confusion about identity and difficulties accessing specialist support.
www.cypnow.co.uk/content/news...
www.cypnow.co.uk/content/news...
Eight in 10 adopted young people say society doesn’t understand adoption, inquiry finds - CYP Now
A parliamentary report is calling for the creation of a national adoptee forum to shape policy and services – after most young people said society and government do not understand adoption.
www.cypnow.co.uk
January 29, 2026 at 12:43 PM
🥚... report Adoptee Voices draws on the experiences of more than 300 adopted young people aged 13 to 25 and reveals widespread feelings of isolation, confusion about identity and difficulties accessing specialist support.
www.cypnow.co.uk/content/news...
www.cypnow.co.uk/content/news...
Reposted by Prison Adoptee
The Senate Committee on Human Rights released a new report on the crisis facing youth aging out of government care, with 8 recommendations to drive systemic change, informed by expert witnesses, including #FIFSW Professor Barbara Fallon.
Read the report: sencanada.ca/en/info-page...
Read the report: sencanada.ca/en/info-page...
December 11, 2025 at 4:27 PM
The Senate Committee on Human Rights released a new report on the crisis facing youth aging out of government care, with 8 recommendations to drive systemic change, informed by expert witnesses, including #FIFSW Professor Barbara Fallon.
Read the report: sencanada.ca/en/info-page...
Read the report: sencanada.ca/en/info-page...
🥚Under J. J. Kelso, Superintendent of Neglected and Dependent Children in Ontario, children were taken from incarcerated mothers and utilized to meet the demand for domestic and farm labor.
Exhibition explored hidden stories of women at Toronto’s Mercer Reformatory
www.cambridgetoday.ca/local-news/e...
www.cambridgetoday.ca/local-news/e...
Exhibition explored hidden stories of women at Toronto’s Mercer Reformatory
The archive of Toronto's Andrew Mercer Reformatory for Women preserves the official record of Canada’s first women’s reformatory, opened in 1880
www.cambridgetoday.ca
January 24, 2026 at 7:33 PM
🥚Under J. J. Kelso, Superintendent of Neglected and Dependent Children in Ontario, children were taken from incarcerated mothers and utilized to meet the demand for domestic and farm labor.
Excellent! "Not my people"!🥚
Christina Baker Kline, author of the New York Times bestselling book "Orphan Train," speaks at the Allen Public Library. Kline's historical novel examines an era of our nation's history that is often matched with shame and and secrets.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGRm...
Christina Baker Kline, author of the New York Times bestselling book "Orphan Train," speaks at the Allen Public Library. Kline's historical novel examines an era of our nation's history that is often matched with shame and and secrets.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGRm...
Orphan Train 📚 Author Christina Baker Kline
YouTube video by City of Allen - ACTV
www.youtube.com
January 23, 2026 at 2:18 AM
Excellent! "Not my people"!🥚
Christina Baker Kline, author of the New York Times bestselling book "Orphan Train," speaks at the Allen Public Library. Kline's historical novel examines an era of our nation's history that is often matched with shame and and secrets.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGRm...
Christina Baker Kline, author of the New York Times bestselling book "Orphan Train," speaks at the Allen Public Library. Kline's historical novel examines an era of our nation's history that is often matched with shame and and secrets.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGRm...
Reposted by Prison Adoptee
New blog - “Human rights do not disappear at adoption.”
#adopteerights #humanrights
open.substack.com/pub/defendsu...
#adopteerights #humanrights
open.substack.com/pub/defendsu...
January 20, 2026 at 2:08 AM
New blog - “Human rights do not disappear at adoption.”
#adopteerights #humanrights
open.substack.com/pub/defendsu...
#adopteerights #humanrights
open.substack.com/pub/defendsu...
🥚"cruel historical adoption system existed during the 20s to 1990's throughout Northern Ireland"
Meanwhile, in Canada, adoptions involving children of incarcerated mothers held in various institutions have been concealed and largely ignored.
www.assemblyresearchmatters.org/2025/11/24/i...
Meanwhile, in Canada, adoptions involving children of incarcerated mothers held in various institutions have been concealed and largely ignored.
www.assemblyresearchmatters.org/2025/11/24/i...
Inquiry (Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries and Workhouses) and Redress Scheme Bill: A brief overview - Research Matters
The Inquiry (Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries and Workhouses) and Redress Scheme Bill (‘the Bill’) is currently being considered by the Assembly. This blog article provides a brief ou...
www.assemblyresearchmatters.org
January 19, 2026 at 10:40 PM
🥚"cruel historical adoption system existed during the 20s to 1990's throughout Northern Ireland"
Meanwhile, in Canada, adoptions involving children of incarcerated mothers held in various institutions have been concealed and largely ignored.
www.assemblyresearchmatters.org/2025/11/24/i...
Meanwhile, in Canada, adoptions involving children of incarcerated mothers held in various institutions have been concealed and largely ignored.
www.assemblyresearchmatters.org/2025/11/24/i...
Reposted by Prison Adoptee
A decade after Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission called on governments to end the overrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples in custody, that commitment remains unmet. Statistics Canada’s latest report underscores the urgent need to grapple with the consequences of mass incarceration. 1/4
January 17, 2026 at 11:41 PM
A decade after Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission called on governments to end the overrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples in custody, that commitment remains unmet. Statistics Canada’s latest report underscores the urgent need to grapple with the consequences of mass incarceration. 1/4
🥚This is not the first article I’ve encountered documenting the incarceration of adoptees and their portrayal as incorrigible or a menace. Contemporary punitive frameworks increasingly take psychiatric form, with adoptees often diagnosed with BPD and, in some cases, subjected to chemical restraint.
January 17, 2026 at 4:30 AM
🥚This is not the first article I’ve encountered documenting the incarceration of adoptees and their portrayal as incorrigible or a menace. Contemporary punitive frameworks increasingly take psychiatric form, with adoptees often diagnosed with BPD and, in some cases, subjected to chemical restraint.
British Home Children - The search for a stolen identity pt.3
YouTube video by 1magineFilms
www.youtube.com
January 15, 2026 at 11:58 PM
🥚Just finished watching the seven-part documentary series on the British Home Children. Love this short clip from FB—hope you can view it.
Part 3 in thread.
www.facebook.com/reel/1580884...
Part 3 in thread.
www.facebook.com/reel/1580884...
67K views · 303 reactions | As we lead up to the celebration of 150 years as a country, here's a teaser for another huge scar in our nation's history. This is a documentary about the Myths and the Li...
As we lead up to the celebration of 150 years as a country, here's a teaser for another huge scar in our nation's history. This is a documentary about the Myths and the Lies surrounding the British.....
www.facebook.com
January 15, 2026 at 11:58 PM
🥚Just finished watching the seven-part documentary series on the British Home Children. Love this short clip from FB—hope you can view it.
Part 3 in thread.
www.facebook.com/reel/1580884...
Part 3 in thread.
www.facebook.com/reel/1580884...
When they filed up for the “me too” in support of the bill, I burst into tears. I’m still shaken up about it. It was very moving.
January 14, 2026 at 12:55 AM
When they filed up for the “me too” in support of the bill, I burst into tears. I’m still shaken up about it. It was very moving.
Moving quickly, up next.
January 13, 2026 at 10:27 PM
Moving quickly, up next.
Reposted by Prison Adoptee
My own group - the largest in the Senate - is the Independent Senators Group or @senindepend.bsky.social - and we were the first parliamentary caucus in Canada to quit X. (Please reward our audacity with a follow.)
January 12, 2026 at 3:46 AM
My own group - the largest in the Senate - is the Independent Senators Group or @senindepend.bsky.social - and we were the first parliamentary caucus in Canada to quit X. (Please reward our audacity with a follow.)
🥚The inquiry increases pressure on the Foreign Ministry to move from acknowledgment of past failures to concrete action more than a decade after the children were sent abroad under state coordination.
birrmetrics.com/lawmakers-de...
birrmetrics.com/lawmakers-de...
Lawmakers Demand Answers Over 34,000 Children Lost in Spanish Adoptions - Birr Metrics
Lawmakers have launched a sharp inquiry into the Foreign Ministry’s failure to track roughly 34,000 children sent to Spain for adoption decades ago,
birrmetrics.com
January 8, 2026 at 6:40 AM
🥚The inquiry increases pressure on the Foreign Ministry to move from acknowledgment of past failures to concrete action more than a decade after the children were sent abroad under state coordination.
birrmetrics.com/lawmakers-de...
birrmetrics.com/lawmakers-de...
That is haunting. It’s striking how strongly that registers even in childhood—it underscores how unnatural and distressing that separation is. Bethany Koltar’s TED Talk really struck me, especially the phrase “punished in utero.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wCf...
Bethany Kotlar | Punished in Utero
YouTube video by Harvard Griffin GSAS
www.youtube.com
January 7, 2026 at 3:26 PM
That is haunting. It’s striking how strongly that registers even in childhood—it underscores how unnatural and distressing that separation is. Bethany Koltar’s TED Talk really struck me, especially the phrase “punished in utero.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wCf...