Healing the Invisible Wounds: Adoption, Identity, and Belonging with Julie Matye

In this introspective episode of The Empowered Grief Journey, Julie Matye opens up about the quiet, complex grief that comes with being adopted. Though deeply grateful for the loving family who raised her, Julie shares the subtle ache that remained — a longing to understand where she came from and who her biological parents were.

She reflects on how this “identity grief” shaped her early life and later guided her path as a social worker, supporting children in the state system. Julie’s story sheds light on the often-overlooked side of adoption — the coexistence of love and loss, gratitude and longing, belonging and wondering.