Growing up, longtime NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep didn’t think much about finding his birth parents, though he knew he’d been adopted into his Indiana family as an infant. His quest to unravel some of the mysteries of his past started in 2012 when he and his wife set out to adopt a daughter from China.

At the time, Indiana laws that sealed all adoption records prevented him from getting even the most basic answers. As those laws loosened up in 2018, Inskeep’s requests were granted and he began an exploration of his history that not only provided the answers he’d been hoping for, but an understanding of why the information mattered to him.

He writes about adoption law, his family history, and how the experience enriched his life in “No One’s Child,” in a recent issue of The Atlantic magazine. Inskeep joins host Robin Young to talk about his adoption and the importance of access to adoption information.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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