Today we celebrate Black History Month with our guest, Iris Bryant, an adoptee and member of the Faith Collective for Truth and Healing in Adoption. Iris is passionate about helping fellow adoptees find purpose and well-being. We explore the connections between shame, race, and adoption, how shame flourishes when we cannot speak the truth, and how churches need to foster courageous truth-telling and listening in order to be places of healing and welcome for all. We also discuss our contrasting experiences as two same-race adoptees and one cross-racial adoptee, and speak on how to reclaim our unique, God-given identities.

Iris P. Bryant, a North Carolina native, has been shaped by some of her most difficult life experiences—walking through rejection and abandonment, learning to navigate life as a caregiver, and facing grief after losing her husband, David, the love of her life. Hence, she is able to speak with empathy and compassion into the pain of others. She shares stories from her life in order to share God’s message through her own podcast, Adoptees in Arms. Iris has two young-adult children and two adorable granddaughters.

CONNECT WITH US

Iris Bryant: Website | Adoptees in Arms Podcast

Faith Collective for Truth and Healing in Adoption: Website | Instagram