Send us Fan Mail What happens when your search for family stretches across decades, dead ends, sealed records, and fading hope? In part two of this deeply personal conversation, Corey and Kendall continue their discussion with author and journalist Paul T. O'Connor. Together, they explore the emotional realities of adoption, foster care, identity, and the lifelong impact of family secrecy. Kendall shares stories from his years-long search for his biological family, including placing newspaper ads in Arkansas long before consumer DNA testing existed, petitioning courts for records, and trying to piece together his origins from fragments of information. The conversation also dives into the strange experience of finally meeting biological relatives and seeing physical similarities reflected back for the first time. Paul opens up further about his mother’s history in foster care, the disappearance of critical records, and how secrecy and stigma shaped generations of families. It’s an honest conversation about grief, resilience, truth, and the complicated reality that love for adoptive family and curiosity about biological roots can exist at the same time. Paul’s new book, The Missing Child: The Life She Lived and the Life She Missed, published by Torchflame Books, is available beginning May 26 through bookstores and online retailers. If you’re part of the adoptee, NPE, donor-conceived, or DNA surprise community, this episode will likely feel very familiar.