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Reclaiming Identity: Dr. Amy Ritterbusch on International Adoption & Abolition

Dr. Amy Ritterbusch was stolen from Colombia as a child and forced to live in the United States with her adoptive family. Foreign land, foreign people, foreign language. 

But, her longing for where she came from and who she came from never died. She spent the rest of her life trying to find her way back home. 

In this episode, we discuss international adoption and less violent alternatives to it. We talk about the complicitness of the state in imposing this violence and how guilt is weaponized to catalyze international adoption. 

Dr. Amy Ritterbusch is an Assistant Professor of Social Welfare at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

“So instead of criminalizing mothers in need, how do we create support systems so that decisions are not imposed? Rather folks can, can sort of make decisions in, in situations of care and not in situations of repression or violence.”

• Dr. Amy Ritterbusch

What I shared

(00:38) Stolen from Colombia as a child

(03:52) Healing through work

(06:25) Meeting her biological mom (under supervision of the state)

(13:34) State violence and adoption

(19:38) Always an outsider, belonging nowhere OR Forced presence 

(24:22) Building systems that repair harm 

(28:17) Alternatives to international adoption

(33:24) Finding and mourning where you came from 

(36:51) Connect with Dr. Amy 

Links

Connect with Dr. Amy: Amy Ritterbusch | Latino Policy & Politics Institute (ucla.edu)

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Credits

Special thanks to Samuel Oyedele for editing our podcast, support his work on Instagram or e-mail him at [email protected]