Prison Adoptee
@prisonadoptee.bsky.social
I was born to an incarcerated mother. Many adoptees like me—especially those whose mothers were labeled 'juvenile delinquents'—remain unaware of their carceral birth because youth protection laws prevent disclosure.
https://andrewmercerreformatory.org/
https://andrewmercerreformatory.org/
Pinned
Prison Adoptee
@prisonadoptee.bsky.social
· Nov 21
‘Keeping Mum’: A Historical Examination of the Andrew Mercer Reformatory and its Contemporary Legacy Through a Framework of Motherhood
qspace.library.queensu.ca/items/82ec50...
qspace.library.queensu.ca/items/82ec50...
🥚How many were scooped from criminalized parents?
"Sixties Scoop... calling for a national inquiry into the tens of thousands of Indigenous children who were scooped from their families and placed in non-Indigenous homes as a result of government policies."
www.aptnnews.ca/videos/60s-s...
"Sixties Scoop... calling for a national inquiry into the tens of thousands of Indigenous children who were scooped from their families and placed in non-Indigenous homes as a result of government policies."
www.aptnnews.ca/videos/60s-s...
‘60s Scoop survivors call for national inquiry - APTN News
Sixties Scoop survivors and Manitoba Indigenous organizations are calling for a national inquiry into the...
www.aptnnews.ca
November 10, 2025 at 5:48 PM
🥚How many were scooped from criminalized parents?
"Sixties Scoop... calling for a national inquiry into the tens of thousands of Indigenous children who were scooped from their families and placed in non-Indigenous homes as a result of government policies."
www.aptnnews.ca/videos/60s-s...
"Sixties Scoop... calling for a national inquiry into the tens of thousands of Indigenous children who were scooped from their families and placed in non-Indigenous homes as a result of government policies."
www.aptnnews.ca/videos/60s-s...
🥚For all those adoptees punished in utero, whose carceral birth histories were hidden as they suffered innumerable harms and whose lives were cut short — may their truths be unearthed, their stories honored, and the silence end for those still unaware of their carceral beginnings.
October 30, 2025 at 7:52 PM
🥚For all those adoptees punished in utero, whose carceral birth histories were hidden as they suffered innumerable harms and whose lives were cut short — may their truths be unearthed, their stories honored, and the silence end for those still unaware of their carceral beginnings.
4 girls — including my mother — escaped Mercer’s OTS wing but were caught and locked in the dungeon, where another desperate escape was attempted. It’s time to end these brutal, inhumane isolation conditions that disproportionately affect Indigenous, Black, and disabled people.
#S205 #EndSeg
#S205 #EndSeg
October 22, 2025 at 7:36 PM
🥚Statistics from the Children of Unmarried Parents Act were used to support claims of mass adoption among unmarried mothers. So how is it that only 562 out of 4,023 consented to relinquishment — or 562 out of 1,992 non-cohabiting mothers?
Race? Age? Institution? Incarcerated mothers?
See alt txt
Race? Age? Institution? Incarcerated mothers?
See alt txt
October 21, 2025 at 10:36 PM
🥚Statistics from the Children of Unmarried Parents Act were used to support claims of mass adoption among unmarried mothers. So how is it that only 562 out of 4,023 consented to relinquishment — or 562 out of 1,992 non-cohabiting mothers?
Race? Age? Institution? Incarcerated mothers?
See alt txt
Race? Age? Institution? Incarcerated mothers?
See alt txt
🥚Adoptees of Bluesky: Horrendous case of Ashley Smith! 👇For those who don’t know, she was an adoptee too.
Eighteen years after Ashley Smith’s preventable death in a segregation cell, Canada continues to grapple with the same injustices she suffered. 1/2
#AshleySmith #HumanRights #PrisonReform #TonasLaw #SenCA #BillS205
#AshleySmith #HumanRights #PrisonReform #TonasLaw #SenCA #BillS205
October 20, 2025 at 7:37 PM
🥚Adoptees of Bluesky: Horrendous case of Ashley Smith! 👇For those who don’t know, she was an adoptee too.
What would Canada uncover if it examined carceral births—children born to incarcerated mothers, especially those labeled “juvenile delinquents”? These histories are still sealed under youth protection laws, leaving adoptees unaware of their institutional origins.
Private agency adoptions ends, and adoptions will be centralized in South Korea. 🥚
#adopteesky
news.cgtn.com/news/2025-10...
#adopteesky
news.cgtn.com/news/2025-10...
Adoption Scandal: South Korea ends overseas adoption system after decades of scandal and calls for justice
South Korea has ended its decades-long reliance on private agencies to handle overseas adoptions of Korean children, after a government inquiry uncovered evidence of fraud, identity tampering, and wid...
news.cgtn.com
October 20, 2025 at 2:19 PM
What would Canada uncover if it examined carceral births—children born to incarcerated mothers, especially those labeled “juvenile delinquents”? These histories are still sealed under youth protection laws, leaving adoptees unaware of their institutional origins.
🥚Adoptee born of a mother at a Salvation Army home?
They ran a wide network of maternity and receiving homes, often with the courts, to house girls labeled “delinquent” or mothers on remand or released from jails or reformatories. YCJA prevents disclosure. #HiddenHistories
They ran a wide network of maternity and receiving homes, often with the courts, to house girls labeled “delinquent” or mothers on remand or released from jails or reformatories. YCJA prevents disclosure. #HiddenHistories
October 14, 2025 at 12:35 AM
🥚Adoptee born of a mother at a Salvation Army home?
They ran a wide network of maternity and receiving homes, often with the courts, to house girls labeled “delinquent” or mothers on remand or released from jails or reformatories. YCJA prevents disclosure. #HiddenHistories
They ran a wide network of maternity and receiving homes, often with the courts, to house girls labeled “delinquent” or mothers on remand or released from jails or reformatories. YCJA prevents disclosure. #HiddenHistories
🥚𝐀𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐒𝐤𝐲:
We rarely hear about mothers who were pregnant, criminalized, and incarcerated.
Why?
Because girls criminalized as “juvenile delinquents” and locked away in maternity homes, jails, and reformatories have had their stories buried—kept hidden by youth protection laws.
We rarely hear about mothers who were pregnant, criminalized, and incarcerated.
Why?
Because girls criminalized as “juvenile delinquents” and locked away in maternity homes, jails, and reformatories have had their stories buried—kept hidden by youth protection laws.
🥚Note to adoptees: Youth protection laws will prevent you from learning your mother’s circumstances—whether she was criminalized or not. As one account explains, "girls found wandering the city streets are picked up by police and convicted of vagrancy even though they committed no criminal offence.”
October 12, 2025 at 4:50 PM
🥚𝐀𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐒𝐤𝐲:
We rarely hear about mothers who were pregnant, criminalized, and incarcerated.
Why?
Because girls criminalized as “juvenile delinquents” and locked away in maternity homes, jails, and reformatories have had their stories buried—kept hidden by youth protection laws.
We rarely hear about mothers who were pregnant, criminalized, and incarcerated.
Why?
Because girls criminalized as “juvenile delinquents” and locked away in maternity homes, jails, and reformatories have had their stories buried—kept hidden by youth protection laws.
🥚Note to adoptees: Youth protection laws will prevent you from learning your mother’s circumstances—whether she was criminalized or not. As one account explains, "girls found wandering the city streets are picked up by police and convicted of vagrancy even though they committed no criminal offence.”
October 12, 2025 at 3:14 PM
🥚Note to adoptees: Youth protection laws will prevent you from learning your mother’s circumstances—whether she was criminalized or not. As one account explains, "girls found wandering the city streets are picked up by police and convicted of vagrancy even though they committed no criminal offence.”
🥚Very few adoptees know we were born in prison. I suspect thousands share this history — but it’s hidden behind youth privacy laws worldwide.
Upcoming event with Deborah Jiang-Stein, author of Prison Baby.
Upcoming event with Deborah Jiang-Stein, author of Prison Baby.
October 8, 2025 at 6:01 PM
🥚Very few adoptees know we were born in prison. I suspect thousands share this history — but it’s hidden behind youth privacy laws worldwide.
Upcoming event with Deborah Jiang-Stein, author of Prison Baby.
Upcoming event with Deborah Jiang-Stein, author of Prison Baby.
Reposted by Prison Adoptee
Today, on #MMIW Action Day, we honour the lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People and demand justice and accountability. Too many lives have been lost while governments continue to resist implementing the National Inquiry’s Calls for Justice. 1/2
October 4, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Today, on #MMIW Action Day, we honour the lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People and demand justice and accountability. Too many lives have been lost while governments continue to resist implementing the National Inquiry’s Calls for Justice. 1/2
🥚Canada's "placing-out" system for indentured domestic and farm labour often secured the children of criminalized and incarcerated women and girls.
Full story of the D’Andrea, case coming soon.
Re D'Andrea, 1916 CanLII 479 (ON SC), <https://canlii.ca/t/gw6np>, retrieved on 2025-09-27
Full story of the D’Andrea, case coming soon.
Re D'Andrea, 1916 CanLII 479 (ON SC), <https://canlii.ca/t/gw6np>, retrieved on 2025-09-27
September 27, 2025 at 6:45 PM
🥚Canada's "placing-out" system for indentured domestic and farm labour often secured the children of criminalized and incarcerated women and girls.
Full story of the D’Andrea, case coming soon.
Re D'Andrea, 1916 CanLII 479 (ON SC), <https://canlii.ca/t/gw6np>, retrieved on 2025-09-27
Full story of the D’Andrea, case coming soon.
Re D'Andrea, 1916 CanLII 479 (ON SC), <https://canlii.ca/t/gw6np>, retrieved on 2025-09-27
🥚“Children are being falsely labelled with Russian citizenship and passports,” the Prime Minister told a UN event being held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
“A decree to fast track the citizenship process for abducted children has been signed by Putin himself.”
“A decree to fast track the citizenship process for abducted children has been signed by Putin himself.”
Carney accuses Putin of abducting thousands of Ukrainian children
->The Globe and Mail | #StandWithUkraine #PutinWarCriminal #RussiaUkraineWar | More from BigEarthData.ai
->The Globe and Mail | #StandWithUkraine #PutinWarCriminal #RussiaUkraineWar | More from BigEarthData.ai
Carney accuses Putin of abducting thousands of Ukrainian children
Open this photo in gallery: Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky take part in a meeting during the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press Prime Minister Mark Carney accused Russia...
www.theglobeandmail.com
September 24, 2025 at 6:34 PM
🥚“Children are being falsely labelled with Russian citizenship and passports,” the Prime Minister told a UN event being held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
“A decree to fast track the citizenship process for abducted children has been signed by Putin himself.”
“A decree to fast track the citizenship process for abducted children has been signed by Putin himself.”
Folks in the US pay attention 👇click on the post below to read the whole thread on how to contact your US Senators and your US Representative.
The US Senate has introduced the bipartisan Protect Adoptees and American Families Act, formerly known as the Adoptee Citizenship Act. Let's get this enacted so that thousands of intercountry adoptees finally secure US citizenship. 🥚 adopteesunited.org/congress-int...
The Protect Adoptees and American Families Act | Adoptees United
The fight for US citizenship for all intercountry adoptees continues, with introduction of the Protect Adoptees and American Families Act
adopteesunited.org
September 21, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Folks in the US pay attention 👇click on the post below to read the whole thread on how to contact your US Senators and your US Representative.
🥚This is a tragic story beginning in the 1930s. It’s unbelievable what happened to this family—the children, the foster care system, and the adoptions that followed.
Stay tuned as the descendant uncovers truths long buried… and still hidden behind the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA).
Stay tuned as the descendant uncovers truths long buried… and still hidden behind the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA).
Mercer descendant, playing with ideas of femininity, class, morality, and resistance
States: this fabric will be joined with printed newspaper clippings from the June 1948 Mercer prison riot — the second month my 17-year-old grandma arrived there
🎥 Watch the reel: www.facebook.com/reel/1428738...
States: this fabric will be joined with printed newspaper clippings from the June 1948 Mercer prison riot — the second month my 17-year-old grandma arrived there
🎥 Watch the reel: www.facebook.com/reel/1428738...
September 20, 2025 at 9:09 PM
🥚This is a tragic story beginning in the 1930s. It’s unbelievable what happened to this family—the children, the foster care system, and the adoptions that followed.
Stay tuned as the descendant uncovers truths long buried… and still hidden behind the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA).
Stay tuned as the descendant uncovers truths long buried… and still hidden behind the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA).
🥚Adoption statistics declined rapidly in the early 1970s when “juvenile delinquents” at Training Schools were under investigation.
For adoptees, the YCJA continues to conceal knowledge and block access to records of forced adoptions of mothers criminalized as “juvenile delinquents” in maternity homes, Good Shepherds, the Mercer, asylums, and other carceral sites across Canada.
www.justice.gc.ca/socjs-esjp/e...
www.justice.gc.ca/socjs-esjp/e...
Evolution of Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice System - State of the Criminal Justice System Dashboard
Web Experience Toolkit (WET) includes reusable components for building and maintaining innovative Web sites that are accessible, usable, and interoperable. These reusable components are open source so...
www.justice.gc.ca
September 18, 2025 at 4:23 PM
🥚Adoption statistics declined rapidly in the early 1970s when “juvenile delinquents” at Training Schools were under investigation.
🥚Full article discusses unmarried mothers in maternity homes & ends with a focus on those in Mercer. One of them—my mother—was imprisoned there from Mar/53–Oct/54. Records state her firstborn was being adopted, yet the Ministry holds no record of the agency involved.
#disappeared
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#disappeared
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September 16, 2025 at 7:41 PM
🥚Full article discusses unmarried mothers in maternity homes & ends with a focus on those in Mercer. One of them—my mother—was imprisoned there from Mar/53–Oct/54. Records state her firstborn was being adopted, yet the Ministry holds no record of the agency involved.
#disappeared
Title in ALT text
#disappeared
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🥚🧵1/5
Mari lost a child to adoption while confined in a U.S. 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄—a facility where, as she vividly recalls, “half of the home was devoted to 𝐣𝐮𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭 girls” (@13:40).
🎥 www.facebook.com/mari.steed/v...
Mari lost a child to adoption while confined in a U.S. 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄—a facility where, as she vividly recalls, “half of the home was devoted to 𝐣𝐮𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭 girls” (@13:40).
🎥 www.facebook.com/mari.steed/v...
2.5K views · 130 reactions | This was the 2010 'Would You Believe?' episode I did. Important viewing as we head into #NationalAdoptionMonth
ETA: TW - DV | Mari Tatlow Steed
This was the 2010 'Would You Believe?' episode I did. Important viewing as we head into #NationalAdoptionMonth
ETA: TW - DV.
www.facebook.com
September 16, 2025 at 5:53 PM
🥚🧵1/5
Mari lost a child to adoption while confined in a U.S. 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄—a facility where, as she vividly recalls, “half of the home was devoted to 𝐣𝐮𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭 girls” (@13:40).
🎥 www.facebook.com/mari.steed/v...
Mari lost a child to adoption while confined in a U.S. 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄—a facility where, as she vividly recalls, “half of the home was devoted to 𝐣𝐮𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭 girls” (@13:40).
🎥 www.facebook.com/mari.steed/v...
🥚Errors in adoption studies too!!
"I get asked that many times: What is the worst study? No, there’s just millions of studies."
www.madinamerica.com/2025/09/scie...
"I get asked that many times: What is the worst study? No, there’s just millions of studies."
www.madinamerica.com/2025/09/scie...
Science Under Pressure, Humanity at Stake: An Interview with John Ioannidis
The Stanford professor behind the most famous paper in modern medicine warns that much of today’s research is unreliable, yet insists the project is worth defending.
www.madinamerica.com
September 16, 2025 at 4:33 AM
🥚Errors in adoption studies too!!
"I get asked that many times: What is the worst study? No, there’s just millions of studies."
www.madinamerica.com/2025/09/scie...
"I get asked that many times: What is the worst study? No, there’s just millions of studies."
www.madinamerica.com/2025/09/scie...
🥚
1/4:
Obscured behind adoptees’ records and adoption stats are likely many girls labeled as "delinquents" or wards of the CAS — committed to Ontario Training Schools (OTS) or placed on probation until age 21 (later reduced to 18).
The image below shows the scale of girls under OTS wardship only.
Obscured behind adoptees’ records and adoption stats are likely many girls labeled as "delinquents" or wards of the CAS — committed to Ontario Training Schools (OTS) or placed on probation until age 21 (later reduced to 18).
The image below shows the scale of girls under OTS wardship only.
September 13, 2025 at 10:04 PM
🥚
🥚Adoptees of Bluesky: we urgently need to bring greater attention to the high rate of suicide within our community—worldwide. The trauma of adoption, loss, and identity struggle continues to impact our mental health. It’s time to raise awareness and support healing.
Today, on World Suicide Prevention Day, we remember the lives lost and recommit to breaking the silence and stigma around mental health. 1/4
September 10, 2025 at 7:17 PM
🥚Adoptees of Bluesky: we urgently need to bring greater attention to the high rate of suicide within our community—worldwide. The trauma of adoption, loss, and identity struggle continues to impact our mental health. It’s time to raise awareness and support healing.
🥚"Previous data from Femicide Census suggests far fewer women are killed by adopted sons than biological sons - three, as opposed to 172, over the period of the earlier study."
UK - More women were killed by their son than by a stranger, according to new figures from a campaign group looking at violence against women.
Of 121 women killed by men in 2022, 12 were killed by their sons and 11 were killed by someone they did not know. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Of 121 women killed by men in 2022, 12 were killed by their sons and 11 were killed by someone they did not know. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Femicide Census says more mums killed by sons than by strangers
The Femicide Census says 12 women were killed by their sons in 2022 and 11 by a stranger.
www.bbc.com
September 7, 2025 at 8:59 PM
🥚"Previous data from Femicide Census suggests far fewer women are killed by adopted sons than biological sons - three, as opposed to 172, over the period of the earlier study."
Reposted by Prison Adoptee
According to Ont Agricultural College, in 1934 L. Payne, a grad, published a book: Bread and Water Diets of Prisoners Found Inadequate. In 1947, K. Sandford documented punishment in the dungeon and the bread-and-water diet at Mercer. This raises the question: when was this punitive practice ended?
September 7, 2025 at 4:52 PM
According to Ont Agricultural College, in 1934 L. Payne, a grad, published a book: Bread and Water Diets of Prisoners Found Inadequate. In 1947, K. Sandford documented punishment in the dungeon and the bread-and-water diet at Mercer. This raises the question: when was this punitive practice ended?
🥚Grueling process retrieving records from the Mercer Reformatory. Sometimes descendants reach out after finding a relative in a census—with a baby! Yet access requests are denied under the YCJA. What!?! Ontario maintained the age of delinquency under 16 in the JDA until the YOA.
September 5, 2025 at 4:33 PM
🥚Grueling process retrieving records from the Mercer Reformatory. Sometimes descendants reach out after finding a relative in a census—with a baby! Yet access requests are denied under the YCJA. What!?! Ontario maintained the age of delinquency under 16 in the JDA until the YOA.