Building the Village: A Q&A with Cam Lee Small
In his essay From Silence to Support: Building a New Village for Adoptive Families, licensed therapist and adoptee advocate Cam Lee Small offers a clear and compassionate call to action for adoptive parents and professionals. Drawing on nearly two decades of direct work with adoptees and families, Cam challenges the oversimplified narratives around adoption and invites us to build something better—together.
In this companion interview, Cam reflects on the personal experiences that shaped his voice, the power of breaking silence through community, and why his work through Therapy Redeemed is rooted in both lived experience and professional care.
Watch Cam’s TEDx Talk “Why Adoptees Need a New Kind of Village” for more.
Q&A with Cam Lee Small
The Village We Needed: Your Vision Behind the Message
Q: What inspired you to write this piece at this moment in time? Can you share more about the vision behind “building a different kind of village” for adoptive families and what that has looked like in your own work or life?
Cam:
I wrote this piece as kind of a reminder to myself about why I do the work I do. I remember being at an adoptee camp many years ago, watching first graders stand up during the closing program and share what they learned from the week. I was moved to tears. I was reminded of how overwhelmed I felt at that age—the confusion, the ache, the angst, sadness, and worry. And hoping for ways that this next generation wouldn’t have to go through that kind of journey without support.
I don’t want to project my personal experience onto other adoptees, but I do want to be part of a community that meets people in those moments, offers a hand, and says, “You’re not alone.”
I know many adoptees who’ve struggled with identity and belonging, faith and doubt, spent years searching for their birth family, crawling through seasons of paralyzing fear and frustration. Me, too. We’re not alone. And I came back in a way I never could have predicted.
There are a ton of things I wish I knew during those earlier years of my life. I know how important storytelling and community spaces have been for us and what it’s meant for each one who’s been a part of it. My ambition is to keep building that village together with anyone else who’s on a similar path.
My work toward that vision includes providing one-on-one and group mental health services. It also includes educational resources for adoptees, families, and professionals. It even goes wider still, but it all flows from this deep desire to contribute to the kind of village I wish I had growing up—and to keep learning what kind of village others need now.
Personal Reflection on Silence and Support
Q: You talk powerfully about the silence in adoption spaces—both systemic and interpersonal. Can you reflect on a moment in your own journey when that silence was most deafening—or when it was finally broken?
Cam:
When I think about silence in adoption spaces, I think of the dominant cultural narratives around adoption. We as neighbors and community members could be doing so much more to amplify adoptee voices, create spaces for healing, and shift the conversation toward mental health and adoptee-specific support.
I’m not saying every organization needs to make a statement after every child welfare story hits the news—but I’ve worked with many families who felt profoundly let down by their agencies. Wishing they had been better prepared. Wishing the support didn’t stop the moment a child was placed.
That’s the silence I want to help address.
And I don’t say that to blame people working in these systems. We’re up against misinformation, fear, and a lack of resources.
What helped break that silence in my own life was community. Other adoptees inviting me into new conversations. Mentors and role models—some I met in person, others I learned from over time through my own journey.
Seeing how adoptee elders have used their voices to push conversations forward—that’s the kind of silence-breaking I’m rooting for.
From Therapy Redeemed to the TEDx Stage
Q: Your journey as both a professional and an adoptee has taken you to so many places. Can you share the personal evolution behind founding Therapy Redeemed and how your lived experience informs your clinical work today?
Cam:
Founding Therapy Redeemed came from weaving together my personal story with my clinical training. A lot of it started during my undergrad and grad years in Madison, WI—volunteering at local events and adoptee camps. Through those experiences, I met people at all different stages of their story. Journeying alongside them really shaped me.
My birth search and reunion process also played a huge role. After earning my license in Minnesota, starting a private practice felt like a natural way to provide adoptee-specific services—locally and virtually. I wanted any adoptee, anywhere, to be able to connect with someone who gets it.
Therapy Redeemed actually started as a blog—a small attempt to share something real and practical with the community from my little corner of planet adoptee. It’s grown into a space for clinical services, education, and advocacy.
These days that looks like keynotes, support groups, online courses, professional training… all grounded in the goal of building villages adoptees can trust.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to this work, but I try to stay attuned and responsive to what our communities need in real time. I’m still learning, but I believe as we keep walking this path together, good things will keep growing.
If Cam’s words resonated with you, his 8-Week Adoptive Parenting Consultation Group is a powerful next step.
It’s more than a class—it’s a community for honest questions, meaningful conversations, and practical tools to support your family through every stage of the adoption journey.
