This is an IHeart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

We pull out of our house.

We get about two blocks from the old house.

And he looks at me and he says,

I think I'm getting ready to be arrested.

Within seconds of that coming out of his mouth, the squad car lit us up and pulled us over.

Within seconds of that, the deceptions that change everything.

Today, we're sharing April's story.

Growing up in San Diego, April was extremely close to her parents.

She'd been adopted by them when she was six weeks old.

Her dad was her best friend.

I was definitely a tomboy growing up, and so my joke had always been that I was the son

my dad never had. I know how to change a spark plug on my car and all of the things within the

engine. They had a typical middle class of urban life. Religion and faith were the foundation

of their family.

I was born and raised in the church.

I grew up with Christian values.

Church gave April purpose and community.

I have a fierce sense of wanting people to feel like they belong.

Being adopted, you deal with trauma in the sense that you were almost rejected from birth. So I want people to know that they belong, that they have a place. The church also fed

April's passion for music. My mom got me into piano lessons at an early age, and so I always played at church.

...