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Film Reveals Dark Side of International Adoption

Jill Hodges and her husband adopted their son from Guatemala when he was six months old. At the time, they had very little information about his birth family in Guatemala. But whe stories began surfacing from that country about corruption in the adoption process and possible coercion, they wanted to find his birth mother to make sure she gave him up willingly, and to create a pathway for their son to connect with his birth family. Hodges chronicles that journey in "Extended Family," which is screening this weekend at the Santa Fe Film Festival.

Hodges traveled with women called searchers, who help connect adoptive parents with their children's birth families. But it's a difficult, and sometimes dangerous, process.

 "Extended Family" will show at the Santa Fe Film Festival on Sunday December 9 with other films starting at noon the Center for Contemporary Arts. For more information, go to santafefilmfestival.com. You can see a link to the trailer here.

20120812JillHodges.mp3
Extended version of interview with filmmaker Jill Hodges

Megan has been a journalist for 25 years and worked at business weeklies in San Antonio, New Orleans and Albuquerque. She first came to KUNM as a phone volunteer on the pledge drive in 2005. That led to volunteering on Women’s Focus, Weekend Edition and the Global Music Show. She was then hired as Morning Edition host in 2015, then the All Things Considered host in 2018. Megan was hired as News Director in 2021.