Voices – One to Watch

Recently, some colleagues and I watched the poignant documentary, “Reckoning with the Primal Wound.” In this film, Rebecca Autumn Sansom ponders the meaning of the concept of the “primal wound” in adoption. This term, which refers to loss, grief, and trauma as an inherent part of the adoption experience, was originally coined by Nancy Verrier in her book, The Primal Wound. Upon reading the book, Sansom felt validated in her sense that she had suffered as a result of having been adopted. She then set out to document her own experience, along with the perspectives of people in both her adoptive and birth families, in particular that of her birth mother.