How can talk therapy heal preverbal trauma that we have no words for? It can't. So what do we do instead. Listen in as we dive deep into healing with adoptee Patricia.
Patricia Knight Meyer is an author, speaker, and adoption reform advocate. Her story begins along a Texas hospital curb, where by her parent’s account she was handed over as an infant in a 1970 attorney-brokered black-market adoption. The attorney, they alleged, extorted them with the threat of taking back the baby. They doled out $30K, they said, before walking away with their paperless child.
Patricia’s road to true identity began at 39, when she set out to unravel her mystery. Starting with no original records, no known birth name, and no confirmed date or place of birth, Patricia used public record databases to track down the alleged black-market attorney and uncover a biological adopted cousin also placed by the same man, also handed over without papers.
Patricia reunited with both of her birth parents in 2010 and 2011, and her reunion video with her birth father has been viewed more than 290,000 times on YouTube. She received her true and accurate birth certificate at 47 years old. Patricia tells this story in her debut memoir, WONDERLAND: Memoir of a Black-Market Adoption (Unsolicited Press, November 3, 2026).
The book arrives as an IndieReader Award Winner in True Crime, a CIPA EVVY Gold winner in Memoir, an Eric Hoffer Finalist, a Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist, a Storytrade Prodigy Award Finalist, an Indies Today Memoir Finalist, and a NYC Big Book Award Distinguished Favorite in Memoir 2026. Patricia also narrates the audiobook, released through her imprint YAYDNA Press.
She serves on the board of the National Association of Adoptees and Parents (NAAP), where she hosts the monthly NAAP Happy Hour. She is connected to Concerned United Birthparents, Adoption Knowledge Affiliates, Support Texas Adoptee Rights, Saving Our Sisters, and other advocacy organizations.
Her blog, My Adopted Life, reaches a booming community of adoptees, birth parents, and advocates. She keynotes adoption conferences and leads memoir writing workshops. Patricia has appeared on Al Jazeera’s The Stream and HuffPost Live. Her essays have been published in Ms. Magazine, Severance Magazine, Magpie Zine, Narrative Arc, and Kinsmen Quarterly.
Patricia left high school before graduating, earned her GED, and worked her way through community college. She was admitted to the journalism program at the University of Texas at Austin, where she graduated as a single mother. She went on to a twenty-year career in author publicity and digital marketing.
She is also the founder of YAYDNA Genetic Greeting Cards, cards made for the complicated joy and emotions of DNA discovery and reunion, available on Amazon.
WONDERLAND memoir page: https://myadoptedlife.com/wonderland-the-memoir/
Book website: https://www.wonderlandthememoir.com
Audiobook on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7EZEbVZQAAFVyeaDvcnG2i
Free livestream, Nov 6, Down the Rabbit Hole: The Fight for Texas Adoptee Rights Then and Now. A scene from WONDERLAND unfolds live on stage, then a panel on the fight to open Texas adoptees' birth certificates: https://bit.ly/TXADOPTEERIGHTS
My Adopted Life: https://www.myadoptedlife.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patriciaknightmeyer
Instagram (book): https://www.instagram.com/wonderlandthememoir
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Wonderlandthememoir
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@myadoptedlife
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@myadoptedlife
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricia-ann-meyer
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/myadoptedlife.bsky.social
Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.
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