3 Dec 2025
Ethics in Adoption Tour: Salt Lake City
This episode finds Adoption Unfiltered™ on the road for its "Ethics in Adoption" tour. Our first stop on this three-city tour could be none other than Salt Lake City, Utah. As attorney and panelist Wes Hutchins said, "Utah has legalized fraud in the context of adoption." Calling out exploitative practices and calling for better policies is of utmost importance.
Joining the authors of Adoption Unfiltered™ in this episode are four panelists: adoptee Dani Zimmerman, adoptee and birth mom Jori Victory, birth mom and activist Ashley Mitchell, and adoptive father and attorney for birth father rights, Wes Hutchins.
Kelsey and Ashley begin the conversation by telling us about Utah Adoption Rights and why they founded it. Next, we talk with our panelists.
Questions we ask Dani Zimmerman, Adoptee:
You seem high functioning and successful. As an adoptee, what are some of the challenges you've faced that people wouldn't know about?
You have stayed in contact with the agency that handled your placement. What draws you to continue that relationship?
Questions we ask Jori Victory, Adoptee and Birth/First Parent:
In what ways did your pregnancy trigger unacknowledged grief as an adoptee? What feelings did this bring up for you as you walked through the adoption process?
Questions we ask Ashley Mitchell, Birth/First Parent:
In Chapter 8, I wrote about informed consent. When asked if there was anything you wish you had been told before relinquishment, you replied, “I was not told how hard open adoption would be. I was not told that my child would want and need to be part of my life. I was never supported in how to process things as they come up in open adoption. I had to figure it out on my own.” We are standing here in your home state of Utah. Knowing what you know now, what should Utah adoption professionals be doing to convey that information to moms before relinquishment?
Can you speak more about what is missing? How can we convey that information to moms who are going to make this decision?
Question we ask Wes Hutchins, Adoptive Parent:
Ethics can be costly, but fraud costs more. You resigned as president from the Utah Adoption Council in 2012 amidst your concerns about what you called “egregious cases of fraud” from a few of the other members of the council. There have been a lot of conversations about the concerns of fraud in many Utah adoption tourism cases in the legislature and the media. Can you speak more about the long-term impact of fraud and what the aftermath may look like?
This episode concludes with Kelsey, Sara, and Lori reading their own published thoughts about ethics in adoption."Through trust, we can have an experience of healing. The systems that exist in many ways to exploit us can also be used to heal us." -- panelist and adoptee Dani Zimmerman
Resources:
Utah Adoption Rights (https://www.utahadoptionrights.com)
Compilation of Utah Adoption Rights in the news (https://www.utahadoptionrights.com/news)
Sara's op-ed in Deseret News (https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2025/10/19/utah-adoption-tourism-adoptee-questions/)
Receipts about what's happening in Utah (https://www.instagram.com/p/DRC3i1aD17R/)
An FBI warning about adoption fraud schemes (https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/detroit/news/press-releases/fbi-warns-the-public-about-domestic-adoption-fraud-schemes)
Adoption Unfiltered™ book, events, book club discussion guide, resources, and more: https://adoptionunfiltered.com (https://adoptionunfiltered.com)
Want more Sara? Visit https://saraeasterly.com (https://saraeasterly.com)
Want more Kelsey? Visit https://kelseyranyard.com (https://kelseyranyard.com)
Want more Lori? Visit https://LavenderLuz.com (https://LavenderLuz.com)
