Episode 11: Lynelle Long: Adoption, Isolation, and a Community of Support

The Story of Our Trauma

Adoptee. A word that can be both welcoming and isolating at the same time, especially for an intercountry adoptee like Lynelle Long - A Vietnamese adoptee residing in Australia. Long struggled with concepts like her identity and where she belonged. And though her family welcomed her with warmth, she was faced with harsh anti-Asian sentiments from her new community. Long has since founded the InterCountry Adoptee Voices - an extensive worldwide network amongst the intercountry adoptee community that provided one of the first platforms worldwide for intercountry adoptee-led organizations and individuals to collaborate, share, and encourage one another, regardless of sending or adoptive country. Listen in as Dr. Springer and Lynelle talk about the challenges of intercountry adoption, her experience in a place that wasn’t home, and creating a network for adoptees and their families.