In post-war America, building a nuclear family was paramount, which meant unmarried pregnant women were often pushed to give up children, whether they wanted to or not. Gabrielle Glaser joins host Krys Boyd to tell the story of how a system of closed adoptions across the nation operated on shifty moral ground and separated mother from child in the name of a wholesome environment. Her book is “American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption.”

This episode originally aired on March 17, 2021.