Born Adopted: Paige Strickland on Searching Before the Internet, a Birth Father's Secret, and Telling Her Story in Verse

The Resilience Project · Oct 8, 2026 · 52m · transcript

Paige Strickland was born in Ohio in 1961 and adopted as a baby, at a time when records were sealed and adoptees were expected to be grateful and never look back. She loved her adoptive family. She also grew up feeling like being adopted was a Scarlet Letter A, a secret she didn't tell her college friends, her coworkers, or anyone but the man she was about to marry.

Then in 1987, a morning talk show changed everything. Paige learned her Ohio records were open, sent in two forms of ID and $20, and spent a summer going back and forth between the courthouse and the public library with microfiche…