The Evolution of Adoption Practice:
Activist and Community Perspectives
The Adoption Initiative
St. John's University in Collaboration with Montclair State University
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
WELCOME TO THE VIRTUAL CONFERENCE!
Friday, March 25 and Saturday, March 26, 2022
Download a PDF of the Program Schedule AIC 2020/2022
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We wish for you the strength to endure. In particular, to our Asian community members, increased racism and violence continues to escalate, as times become more desperate. Let us stand together.
Please see The Adoption Initiative's Statement on Black Lives Matter #BLM(download PDF) crafted by Daniel Drennan ElAwar on behalf of the Adoption Initiative.
The Adoption Initiative is planning to offer Continuing Education Units for Psychology.
Continuing Education Credits are available for Psychologists from the American Psychological Association (APA) and the New York State Educational Department through the St. John's University office of Postgraduate Professional Development Programs.
There is a processing fee of $25.00 for psychology (APA) credits payable via check or money order which should be mailed to:
Rafael Art. Javier, Ph.D., ABPP
St. John's University
Office of Postgraduate Professional Development Programs
Marillac Hall 402B
8000 Utopia Parkway
Queens, NY 11439
A certificate of completion will be mailed to you after the conference.
To register for this conference, please fill out the Adoption Initiative Attendee Registration Form on this website.
(On the Tickets page, click "Select Number of Attendees" to complete the form.)
To purchase tickets for the conference and/or to make a donation to the Adoption Initiative, go to Adoption Initiative on EventBrite.
DONATIONS, DISCOUNTS, AND SCHOLARSHIPS
In an effort to be inclusive of those whose lives have been impacted by care and welfare systems including adoption, as well as those who might not necessarily have the means to pay for conference registration for other reasons, we are asking participants to consider donating more to help cover the costs for potential attendees so impacted.
Further to this, we are on a case-by-case basis extending discounted registration to those unable to attend due to financial constraints. Please contact Daniel Drennan ElAwar [drennan@panix.com] for further information if you would like to attend but are unable to for financial reasons.
We thank all of our community for thus allowing a broad spectrum of participants to attend our conference, and for helping make sure that all those who wish to attend are able to do so.
Create an account and register for the conference. After completing the registration, tickets can be purchased at EventBrite.
The Adoption Initiative Conference is seeking to promote inclusivity for all. We will seek to provide American Sign Language interpreters throughout the conference upon request. Please email the adoptioninitiative@gmail.com with requests and indicate requests when registering. Requests for accommodations can be placed when registering for the conference. Requests must be placed by Monday, March 7, 2022.
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
Password for the Vimeo Videos: AIC2022PAID
AM Friday Session A Pt.1 Susan Devan Harness https://vimeo.com/708185567
AM Friday Session A Pt. 2 Michele Kriegman https://vimeo.com/710420474
The Structure of Non-Belonging in American Indian Transracial Adoption
Transracial adoption has typically been studied and talked about within the realms of psychology and social work, which places much of the onus of non-belonging either on the individual or on the family unit.
In using the lens of cultural anthropology, the issue of non-belonging for transracial adoptees in the U.S. has deeper roots that extend far into American culture and history. Susan Devan Harness explores how American Indian transracial adoptees experience non-belonging through intricate boundaries: White and American Indian.
She helps us understand what is at stake for the American Indian transracial adoptee: loss of cultural identity, the loss of kinship groups who hold such significance in Native culture, loss of pride in our identity and heritage from our branding as "enemies of the state" as taught in schools and pervasive in pop culture.
She asks why it's important to care? Because powerful forces are attempting, through legal channels to abolish the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. It has nothing to do with the protection of American Indian children, and everything to do with the one thing American Indians and the U.S. government have always fought over: the land.
Links shared during the chat
https://www.nicwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Setting-the-Record-Straight-ICWA-Fact-Sheet.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_for_Extinction
The Unfinished Business of Adoptees Who Are Native American / First Peoples: Legal, Cultural, and Identity Issues to Navigate & Reclaim
Concepts covered:
History of Indian Adoption Projects run by the federal government to promote adoption to white families; Indian boarding schools in Canada & USA.
Avenues back to one's tribe: Examples of Adoptee "Re-Culturation"
- Pow-wows for adopted American Indians and First Peoples,
- Adopt-an-elder, and online networks;
- Truth & Reconciliation Commissions (Wabanaki example)
- NMAI and other resources Decision points and impacts:
- Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) vs. state laws and/or social work policy;
- Cherokee rolls and race; and
- Conflicting definitions of belonging/right of return
Case study: "Tribal rights" through birth-parents and "anonymous donors"
Personal story: How four adoptees, my stepsons and I, braided together a meaningful Iroquois narrative, accepting some losses are for keeps.
Conclusion: What's at stake and ways you can support ICWA
Links shared during the presentation:
"Fearless" Mohawk Ironworkers, Walking High Steel, NPR: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3048030
Haaland v Brackeen:
https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/21-376.html
Reunion Land Bookshelves: Adoptees, DCPs & Fostereds
www.bookshop.org/shop/reunionlandpress
The Birth-Fathers' Club Series:
https://bookshop.org/lists/featured-in-2022-the-birth-fathers-club-series
Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/author/michele
• Rock Memoir • From a Desert City by the Sea • Finding Faith
Give back and protect ICWA Donate to the Supreme Court Project of the Native American Legal Fund https://secure.narf.org/page/64457/donate/1
Donate to the National Indian Child Welfare Association
https://www.nicwa.org/donate-online/
Links shared during the presentation:
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
CE Eligible: A Call to Action: The Use of Intersectional Ethics to Navigate Ethical Dilemmas
Password for the Vimeo Videos: AIC2022PAID
AM Friday Session B Pt. 1 with Bibiana D. Koh https://vimeo.com/710467654
AM Friday Session B Pt. 2 with Sunny Reed https://vimeo.com/710549170
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
CE Eligible: Open Adoption and Open Foster Care: Best Practice in Adoption
CE Eligible: Understanding foster care & adoption from the youth's perspective
Password for the Vimeo Videos: AIC2022PAID
AM Friday Session C Pt. 1 with Jeanette Yoffe https://vimeo.com/710474959
AM Friday Session C Pt. 2 with Yasmin Mistry https://vimeo.com/710493714
Open Adoption and Open Foster Care: Best Practice in Adoption
Since the practice of openness took hold in the U.S. in the 1980s and 1990s, adoption professionals, researchers, and the affected parties themselves have identified many benefits for birth families, adopted children, and adoptive parents. Some challenges have been documented too, including ones stemming from early misunderstandings or conflicting expectations.
It is critically important for adoption professionals, as well as members of birth and adoptive families, to understand openness and the factors that are key to shaping effective open adoption relationships. This awareness is critical in the making of decisions related to openness before child placement and in navigating open relationships over time.
Jeanette will share strategies she currently puts into practice and insights she's gained from her work helping families navigate openness. This session will speak to best practice in building open relationships for all involved in a child's life and is grounded in the "best interest of the child." Jeanette will share from her own personal foster care experience and talk about the relationship she still has today with her foster family.
Links shared during the presentation:
Understanding foster care & adoption from the youth's perspective.
A film screening followed by a panel discussion with foster care alumni and young adult adoptees. This interactive discussion is geared towards foster/adoptive parents who wish to learn how to best support the physical, emotional, and mental health needs of youth who have grown up in the child welfare system.
View film here: http://www.fostercarefilm.com/feeling-wanted
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
CE Eligible: On 'Contingent Anonymity': Korean Adoptee Experience of 'Blending In'
Password for the Vimeo Videos: AIC2022PAID
AM Friday Session D Pt.1 with Ryan Gustafsson https://vimeo.com/710920181
AM Friday Session D Pt.2 with Boon Young Han & Kim Stoker https://vimeo.com/710972478
On 'Contingent Anonymity': Korean Adoptee Experiences of 'Blending In'
Transnational adoption – in the rare instances it is viewed as a type of migration – is imagined as a linear, one-way movement. It has often been remarked that South Korea did not expect transnational adoptees to desire to return. However, adoptees started visiting in significant numbers in the 1990s and by the 2000s, an estimated 3,000 - 5,000 Korean adoptees were visiting each year (E. Kim 2007). In this paper, I focus on a key theme that emerges in adoptee writings and interviews: the phenomenon of 'blending in.'
I start by briefly outlining the contours and impacts of what is known as the "transracial adoption paradox" (Lee 2003), which describes the complex experiences of adopted people of color navigating predominantly white communities and social worlds. Second, I provide some social and historical context for my analyses of adoptee experiences in Korea. Then, I develop a phenomenological account of 'blending in', drawing on the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Alia Al-Saji, and Gayle Salamon. Rather than retreat, I argue 'blending in' is a contingent anonymity, a provisional way of being seen. It can also serve a critical function, illuminating the ways in which adoptees are hyper(in)visible in their adoptive countries. While 'blending in' is inextricably tied to experiences of racialization, there are adoptee-specific aspects to this phenomenon as well
This presentation offers an account of overseas adult adoptees' returning and resettlement experiences, focusing on the decades of activism and advocacy carried out by adult adoptees in efforts to advance their own rights as well as those of their original families.
The modern Korean social welfare delivery system has a unique history. Indeed, the State has traditionally not been involved with direct services; rather the system has largely been shaped by foreign aid provisions and privately-run initiatives established in the immediate post-war era (Korean War 1951-1953). Despite, increasing investment in welfare South Korea's social spending remains only roughly half of the OECD average (23.1%). In 2017, public social spending amounted to 10.1 % of GPD and private social spending to 2.7%. In the absence of public and private spending, community work has been and remains of great importance to minority groups.
Committed individuals have since the early- and mid-1990s worked to promote adoptees' rights in South Korea. Among the most valuable achievements to date is adoptees' eligibility for the F4 visa in 1999, allowing multiple entries and up to a 3 year sojourn period, with unlimited renewal. This has been followed by eligibility for dual citizenship in 2011. The community has also provided and ensured funds for mental health services and support for incarcerated individuals.
For this presentation, the presenters will provide a brief historical overview of adult adoptees' various contributions to changes in legislation, policy, and practice, focusing on efforts to revise the Special Adoption Law in 2011 and their ongoing work during the current administration. The 2011 revision was unique in that it was spearheaded by stakeholders such as adult adoptees, at-risk families, and original families. Their collaboration was historic as they challenged a prevalent adoptive parent-focused adoption paradigm.
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
Password for the Vimeo Video: AIC2022PAID
Keynote Address: Dr. Raven Sinclair https://vimeo.com/708175114
Links shared during the the presentation:
Click on "Rooms" in the top right corner of Dryfta's website to join at roundtable. These interactive discussion tables enable discussion/meeting via text, audio, and/or video. Rooms are themed and you can join the appropriate room or create your own! Each room can hold up to 35 people.
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
Password for the Vimeo Video: AIC2022PAID
Keynote Panel: Adoptees as Immigrants https://vimeo.com/715857332
Panelists:
Links shared during the the presentation:
CE Eligible Symposium
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
Password for the Vimeo Videos: AIC2022PAID
PM Friday Session A Symposium on Racial and Adoption Microaggressions https://vimeo.com/715849228
This symposium will present four studies of microaggressions in the lives of adoptive families and include same-race and transracial adoptive parents from the U.S., with data gathered online or through interviews.
Adoptive families, especially those in visible adoptions, must navigate the gaze and often unsolicited discourse from others in their communities. Reflecting bias and implicit assumptions, others' comments can invalidate or denigrate adoptees, adoptive parents, and/or birth parents. Whether intended or unintended, these messages are known as microaggressions. Understanding the specific types of adoption microaggressions (e.g., "She's so lucky!"; "Where are her real parents?") and racial microaggressions (e.g., "Where is your daughter from?"; "I love your silky hair – can I touch it?") can enable professionals to collaborate with and support families in identifying strategies for effective management.
Presentation 1: Adoptive Families Navigating Adoption Microaggressions: Internal Boundary Management and Preparation-for-Bias.
Presenters:
Seungmi Lee, Tufts University
Jiayi Liu, Tufts University
Ellen Pinderhughes, Tufts University
Co-Authors
Xian Zhang
Anna Kimura
Ana Jurca
Presentation 2: Racial Microaggressions Experienced by Transracial Adoptees: Do Parents Talk About Them?
Presenter: Jiayi Liu, Michigan State Univ.
Co-authors
Seungmi Lee, Tufts University
Olivia Hobert, Tufts University
Madeline Smith, Tufts University
Kaila Caffey, Tufts University
Ellen Pinderhughes, Tufts University
Presentation 3: Diverse Communities: Adoption & Racial Microaggressions Experienced by Adoptive Parents of Chinese Adoptees
Presenters:
Amanda Baden, Montclair State University
Ellen Pinderhughes, Tufts University
Ebony White, Drexel University
Elliotte Harrington, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ.
Co Author
Xian Zhang
Presentation 4: "You Have Mistaken Assumptions" How Parents' Role, Parent's Preparation for Bias, and Children's Ethnic Self-Labels Are Interrelated Among Transracial Adoptions from China
Presenters:
Ellen Pinderhughes, Tufts Univ.
Olivia Hobert, Tufts University
Co Author:
Xian Zhang
Frequently Used Abbreviations:
AMAs Adoption Microaggressions
CS Cultural Socialization
DBP Deficient Birth Parent
ERS Ethnic-Racial Socialization
MAs Microaggressions
PfB Preparation-for-Bias
RMAs Racial Microaggressions
SRA Same Race Adopted
TRA Transracially Adopted
Links Shared
at minute 16:25:02 From Amanda Baden to Everyone:
https://theater.ucsc.edu/faculty/amy-mihyang-ginther
At minute 16:29:34 From Ellen Pinderhughes (she/her/hers) to Everyone:
https://adoptionsupport.org/nti/mh-benefits-and-features/
Contact Information shared in Chat:
Seungmi.lee@tufts.edu.
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
Password for the Vimeo Videos: AIC2022PAID
PM Friday Session B Pt. 1 with Envisioning a Future Without Adoption https://vimeo.com/716418587
PM Friday Session B Pt. 2 Abolishing Adoption minute 40:03 https://vimeo.com/716418587
We are a collective of unapologetic international and transracial adoptees who have been meeting weekly for over a year. We empower one another, transforming our collective adoptive trauma and loss into a space of healing. Our embodied knowledge ignites our dreams as we organize towards a more liberatory world where families are resourced, and all adoptees belong. We plan to discuss:
Our analysis of the Transnational Adoption Industrial Complex (TAIC) and why abolition is the only answer.
In our presentation we share our dreams for a future without international adoption, how our collective came to be, the importance of a political home for adoptees, and the future of adoptee activism.
Panelist Bios:
Sarah Koff is a transracial international adoptee from Taiwan. She is an unapologetic writer, coach, and consultant focused on the intersection of social justice and the transracial adoptee experience. She is committed first and foremost to the wellness of adoptees.
Meghan Kelly is a queer transracial international adoptee from China. She is committed to analyzing and uprooting the adoption industrial complex in community with other adoptees.
Chris Santizo-Malafronti is a queer abolitionist and transracial international adoptee from Guatemala. They truly believe that in order to change adoption, adoptee voices must be heard and held central, both in and outside of academia.
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
Password for the Vimeo Videos: AIC2022PAID
PM Friday Session C Pt. 1 Michele Kriegman TBA
PM Friday Session C Pt. 2 Hollee McGinnis TBA
PM Friday Session C Pt. 3 Olivia Zalecki TBA
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
Password for the Vimeo Videos: AIC2022PAID
PM Friday Session D Pt.1 with Zenia Ismail Allouche https://vimeo.com/717415891
pM Friday Session D Pt.2 with Daniel Drennan https://vimeo.com/717363307
This collaborative oral history research-creation, grounded in Indigenous methodologies (Kovach, 2009; 2010; Smith, 1999; Wilson, 2008), amplifies the critical narrative of transracial/intercountry adoption through the life stories of individuals who experienced transracial/intercountry adoption (adoptees), regardless of their places of origin and adoption. An Advisory committee of adoptees guided the research and 22 collaborators (including the Advisory committee) worked together to ensure a co-authored representation of these long-silenced voices. The creative outcome was a Zoom oral history available here:
https://storytelling.concordia.ca/projects-item/ineradicable-voices-narrations-toward-rerooting/
Research Abstract can be found here: https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/988750
The oral history revealed complex, intimate, intense and unique pathways with intersections of colonial systems, identity formation, and enduring racism.
Search for origins was perceived as necessary for the healing process and Indigenous custom adoption was identified as the best community-based practice in parallel with investing in preventing separation and breaking the vicious cycle of poverty.
The research-creation is timely amidst the tragic discovery of the remains of more than 1000 children buried at different colonial residential schools following the 15 May 2021 final report of the Laurent Commission on Children's Rights and Youth Protection calling for reform of the youth protection system in Quebec.
Internationally, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will expose children to the risk of falling into transracial/intercountry adoption; and some 150 million people across the globe will be pushed into poverty due to loss of work from lockdowns and closures. Lebanon is of particular concern because of the country's unprecedented economic and political crises.
My Vigil: From the Residential Schools to Gaza [A Creative Performance]
A poster seeking support for an Indigenous girl being rehomed in British Columbia… the recent discoveries at the residential schools… the continued destruction of Gaza, Palestine, and Lebanon... These violent events are not isolated incidents, but wholly connected and linked one to the other; their unlinking is equally tactical.
This piece combines spoken word, music, and poetry to show the condition of all who are displaced, dispossessed, and disinherited by systemic oppression and to inspire us with the vigilance to face it and fight it through revolutionary activism.
Collaborating with me on this piece is Amany Es-Sayyed in Beirut, as well as Ziad Sader in Nabatieh South. I am grateful for their gracious cooperation as well as their inspiring spirit.
Go to the rooms to meet up
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
Password for the Vimeo Videos: AIC2022PAID
AM Saturday Session B, Deported Adoptees Speak https://vimeo.com/719762492
Deported adoptees discuss and take questions about how gaps in adoption laws have failed them and resulted in their deportation back to their birth countries. They discuss their current lives and the continued fight to return to their families, friends, and country.
o Michael Mullen, president AKA, alsoknownas.org
o Anissa Druesedow, adopted in 1976, deported back to Jamaica 30 years later, leaving behind her daughter.
o Mike Davis, adopted in 1976, deported back to Ethiopia 29 years later, leaving behind his wife to whom he is still married and 4 children.
o Joe Nugent, adopted in 1972, deported back to Morocco 49 years later.
o Also Known As YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn9Q6Nnf3AlMCBqWRCHknpg/featured
o Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yQy1S0qLz4
o Go Fund Me: benefiting 10 Deported Adoptees
https://www.gofundme.com/f/deported-not-forgotten
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
Password for the Vimeo Videos: AIC2022PAID
AM Saturday Session A, Pt.1 Valerie Andrews https://vimeo.com/717445618
AM Saturday Session A Pt. 2 Mirah Riben https://vimeo.com/717461898
AM Saturday Session A Pt. 3 Gregory Luce https://vimeo.com/719399804
Mother Activism in Canada: The Road to the Senate
In 2009, following in the footsteps of Australia, Origins Canada took up the mantle to obtain a national inquiry/senate study into forced adoptions in Canada. After ten years of persistent activism, a senate study was obtained, culminating in the Senate Report "The Shame is Ours". This presentation follows the very difficult road followed by activists and reformers in Canada to obtain the study, and the ongoing fight to have its recommendations implemented; including the right to mental health supports.
Valerie Andrews, PhD Student, York University, Executive Director, Origins Canada
Links Shared During Zoom Chat:
report from the Canadian Senate in French and English:
https://sencanada.ca/en/info-page/parl-42-1/soci-adoption-mandate/
at minute 01:08:48 Valerie Andrews: here are apology videos: https://www.google.com/search?q=youtube+apology+to+those+separated+by+adoption+julia+gillard&oq=youtube+apology+to+those+separated+by+adoption+julia+gillard&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i64.16376j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
o Links shared
o Report from the Canadian Senate in French and English: https://sencanada.ca/en/info-page/parl-42-1/soci-adoption-mandate/
o Link to multiple apology videos: https://www.google.com/search?q=youtube+apology+to+those+separated+by+adoption+julia+gillard&oq=youtube+apology+to+those+separated+by+adoption+julia+gillard&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i64.16376j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Ensuring Ethical Practice in Child Adoption: A Guide for Legislators, Practitioners and Consumers of Adoption Services
Everyone assumes adoption is in the best interest of children. Is it? In whose best interest are fraudulent birth certificates? Are there sufficient regulations and enforceable guidelines in place to eliminate corruption, commodification, exploitation, coercion and conflict of interest? How much does money play a part?
Links shared by Mirah Riben:
o https://tinyurl.com/Mirah-Riben-ethics (slideshare.net)
o https://mirahriben.blogspot.com/
MIRAH RIBEN is author of two internationally acclaimed books: shedding light on… The Dark Side of Adoption (1988) and The Stork Market: America's Multi-Billion Dollar Unregulated Adoption Industry (2007) and more than 250 articles. Her works are cited in more than 80 books, professional journals and theses. An advocate for family preservation and ending falsified birth certificates since 1980, Riben investigates and writes to expose corruption, coercion, exploitation, commodification of children for adoption and anonymous contract conception. She co-founded the original Origins of NJ in 1980, and is former director of the American Adoption Congress, and past VP of Origins-USA.org.
o Links shared by Mirah Riben:
o https://tinyurl.com/Mirah-Riben-ethics (slideshare.net)
o https://mirahriben.blogspot.com/
The History and Parameters of Undoing Your Adoption
West Virginia once had a law that allowed an adult adopted person, at age 18, to "dissent" to their adoption and void it automatically. So why are there no laws today that allow a specific right of an adult adoptee to annul or undo their own adoptions, especially when it may no longer be in their best interest?
What legal barriers to annul an adoption exist and how hard is it to overcome those barriers? If the right to annul your own adoption was more widely recognized, what would that right look like?
Ultimately, the power to end your own adoption as an adult would constitute a shift in political and personal power and the reclaiming of adopted people's autonomy. Gregory Luce, an attorney who represents adult adopted people - including a client who vacated her own adoption - will outline the history of annulments in the United States and how that history could influence efforts to establish a right to annul your own adoption, something very few states have ever allowed.
Links Shared: Powerpoint presentation
o Links Shared: Powerpoint presentation https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vSNFVqBjobx_sN9KKoenpzRLhblbAc6e43T-SFjRC_9eQounWxC86L_ghxtYM4Wg-jzy2-rql_QjLec/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000
CE Eligible: Coming Out of the Fog and Grieving the Ghosts
CE Eligible: Microaggressions Targeting First/Birth Mother's Experiences in Adoption
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
Password for the Vimeo Videos: AIC2022PAID
AM Saturday Session C, Pt.1 Liz DeBetta https://vimeo.com/717802924
AM Saturday Session C Pt. 2 Emerson Dickman https://vimeo.com/719426629
AM Saturday Session C Pt. 3 Amanda Baden, Rebecca Randall, Elliotte Harrington, LaShawn Adams, Amy Kobus https://vimeo.com/717783291
Coming Out of the Fog and Grieving the Ghosts
Based on Betty Jean Lifton's concept of "Ghosts in the Adopted Family" this workshop will utilize therapeutic writing/sharing to help attendees learn tools to begin to process the grief and loss inherent in adoption. By acknowledging the different types of loss that need to be grieved for adoptees, adoptive parents, and first families this workshop aims to forge connections through writing to the self and others involved in individual adoption stories to create space for healing in community. Poetry and expressive writing can heal and transform by allowing the writer to emotionally express pain and trauma in a way that not only releases accumulated stress but also creates a connection to others. In this workshop, adoptees will learn the theory behind creative expression and the healing of trauma and put it into practice by generating their own poetry and prose to express grief, loss, and emotional pain. Learning the benefits of using writing as a tool to manage emotions and process them is beneficial for adoptees, adoptive parents, therapists, and first families.
Join me to explore the therapeutic links between expressive writing and healing of trauma and learn how to build a narrative through poetry that helps integrate the loss of the original family and self to create knowledge and understanding that facilitates psychological growth and can help organize the emotional effects of the primal wound and help begin to grieve the ghosts.
The Role of Genetic Expectancy in the Psychopathology of Children Who Are Adopted
The identity formation difficulties of many children who are adopted are based on the inability to bring childhood identifications and attributions into sufficient focus to establish a consistent set of expectations. The lack of a genealogical identification, in this culture, interferes with the ability of the child and others to attribute behavior and outcomes to internal or external factors. This inability to identify with genetic antecedents results in the over-representation of exaggerated behaviors, among children who are adopted, which behaviors are for the purpose of distinguishing the boundaries of external influences and to differentiate a discrete self. The importance of Genetic Expectancy (a theory of expectations based on a knowledge of one's heredity) in the process of identity formation. Genetic Expectancy is a self-created theoretical network of identifications based on knowledge of biological ancestors. The defused responsibility and decreased cognitive mediation resulting from the inability to individuate from genetic antecedents may respond to a treatment intended to differentiate a discrete self. The child needs this knowledge to form a healthy identity and the parent needs this knowledge to establish realistic expectations and attributions. The more that is known about biological roots and heredity the easier it is for the adolescent to break the shell of early identifications and expectancies and form a separate mature identity.
Whether or not information concerning genetic origins is available, the child's development of an internal locus of control and the ability to employ self-serving bias to develop a positive self-image should be the primary goal of the therapeutic experience of both the parent and the child. A parenting style rich in active listening (See Ginott, 1956; Ginott 1969; Gordon, 1975), that promotes successful decision-making and problem solving (Clabby and Elias, 1986), and that rewards autonomy and self-reliance, encourages the development of the psychological strength necessary for the child who is adopted to successfully individuate. A popular discussion that is highly destructive and has gained some traction in the field of adoption appears to be the theory that the aberrant behavioral manifestations, experienced during adolescence, by children who are adopted reflect an emergence of a genetic predisposition. This sounds logical, advances the influence of nature over nurture, and relieves parents of the burden of blame and guilt for possible failures in nurturance. The problem with this entire discussion is that the "aberrant behavioral manifestations" that are displayed by many children who happen to be adopted is a behavioral signature that is absolutely unique to this population. There is no meaningful corollary to any populations other than children who happen to have been adopted. By definition, a behavioral signature that is unique to the population of children who are adopted cannot be the result of genetic predisposition.
Emerson Dickman is Past President of the International Dyslexia Association, a member of the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities, the Professional Advisory Boards of the Center for Development and Learning and the National Center for Learning Disabilities, Secretary of the Arc of N.J., a member of the Learning Disabilities Roundtable sponsored by the Division of Research to Practice of the U. S. Department of Education, Chairman of the Protection and Advocacy Agency for the State of New Jersey, and a founding board member and past Secretary of the Alliance for Accreditation and Certification of Structured Language Education.
Microaggressions Targeting First/Birth Mother's Experiences in Adoption
For generations, adoption was often seen as a "solution" to unwanted or unplanned pregnancy. Throughout history, women have been pressured, coerced, and forced to relinquish their rights to parent their children. First/birth mothers remain the most understudied, stigmatized, and misunderstood stakeholder in the adoption and foster care world. This presentation explores the stigma targeting first/birth mothers, based on findings from a qualitative interview study of microaggressions that target them. Using a grounded theory approach, interviews of 12 birth parents from the U.S. were analyzed, revealing experiences of oppression, discrimination, and stigma. The most common microaggression themes: (a) shameful/inadequate birth parents; (b) infantilizing adoptees and birth parents; (c) phantom birth parents; and (d) sacrificial birth parents.
Examples of adoption microaggressions both targeting birth parents and committed by them will be presented, and the intersections between adoption and racial microaggressions will be explored. Within the attitudes targeting first/birth parents exist the assumptions that first/birth mothers are invisible yet are also viewed as self-sacrificing, immoral, irresponsible, negligent, and unprepared for parenting. The mixed messages sent by microaggressions that both express gratitude for birth mothers' sacrifices and judge them as shameful or immoral can lead to mental health challenges that become lifelong. The presentation concludes with a discussion of implications for future research and clinical practice.
Amanda Baden
Rebecca Randall
Elliotte Harrington
LaShawn Adams
Amy Kobus
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
Password for the Vimeo Video: AIC2022PAID
Keynote Panel: Adoption as Privilege and Oppression https://vimeo.com/720230286
Click on "Rooms" in the top right corner of Dryfta's website to join at roundtable. These interactive discussion tables enable discussion/meeting via text, audio, and/or video. Rooms are themed and you can join the appropriate room or create your own! Each room can hold up to 35 people.
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
Password for the Vimeo Video: AIC2022PAID
Keynote Panel: What IS the Best Interests of the Child https://vimeo.com/720236178
Jae Ran Kim (Moderator)
Links and Highlights during Chat: WIKI
Links and Highlights during Chat:
WIKI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child
.GOV https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/best_interest.pdf
WIKI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_interests
On Your Feet Foundation: https://onyourfeetfoundation.org/
https://ouramazingforeverfamily.com/
https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amandine_Gay
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPuy5g3n2AIyD2PES23yOcGr1uJzjLfDQ
https://adoptionsurveysblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/28/results-in-naturalbirth-mom-perceptions-in-open-adoption/
CONTEXT FOR LINKS AND HIGHLIGHTS FROM CHAT
13:39:41 From Haley Radke // Adoptees On to Everyone:
Shanyce would you be comfortable sharing a link to your blog? I would love to read more about your experiences.
13:46:18 From Shanyce H to Everyone:
My blog is https://ouramazingforeverfamily.com/ I go by my middle name on the blog so you will see my post listed as Danelle. :) We post about once a month although we try to be more frequent hahaha.
13:51:07 From JaeRan Kim (she/hers) to Everyone:
https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child
13:53:48 From Derek Kirton to Everyone:
Part of the problem is that western (esp. Anglo-Saxon) legal systems construct best interests in individual terms, when oppression operates largely at group levels. Even more problematically, individual decisions in adoption can serve to mask wider structural oppressions i.e. the answer to poverty, domestically or globally is said to be more (individual) adoptions, which leave wider social forces untouched or even more entrenched. Best interests need to be understood, defended and advanced collectively (considering children rather than just 'the child'), as implicitly for example in ICWA, but as Susan H highlighted earlier, this (and its underpinning) is always vulnerable to attack.
14:27:14 From JaeRan Kim (she/hers) to Everyone:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amandine_Gay
UKRAINE AT-RISK CHILDREN
14:16:09 From Mary Pollock(she/her) to Everyone:
What would best interest of the child look like in regard to displaced children and families within the context of the conflict in Ukraine? In this instance, it can be exceedingly challenging to maintain the child within their own country and even culture due to the mass displacement of millions of Ukrainians. What would be your perspective(s) regarding best interest of the child in cases such as this?
14:19:06 From Zeina Ismail-Allouche to Everyone:
Save the children has just made a statement to halt the massive adoption of Ukrainian children and allow time to re-unify the children with parents
14:20:10 From Amanda Baden to Everyone:
How do we manage all the rescue-religious adopters? There are some real dangers there.
14:20:12 From Mary Pollock(she/her) to Everyone:
What would be your recommendation with regard to next steps if reunification of these children with their birth families is not possible though?
14:20:32 From Doris Michol Sippel to Everyone:
Pres Zelinsky has put a stop to any adoptions out of Ukraine because of potential fraud, kidnapping, child trafficking,... He is, in fact, following what we have been promoting for years: countries need to take care of their own children, and, wealthy people should not see opportunities to grab up children as in Savior Complex. So, Ukraine's children are not going for international adoptions right now. It is in the News.
14:21:10 From Adam Pertman to Everyone:
Adoption should not even be a serious topic of discussion during situations like the one in Ukraine.
14:21:31 From Doris Michol Sippel to Everyone:
Exactly, Adam!
14:21:38 From Adam Pertman to Everyone:
Except to explain to people why it's a bad, inappropriate idea.
ADOPTION AS GENOCIDE
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPuy5g3n2AIyD2PES23yOcGr1uJzjLfDQ
OPEN ADOPTION
14:43:44 From Michelle to Everyone:
Agree with Shanyce 100%. APs seeing their adoptee's grief and loss makes them try to erase it. This leads to a majority of open adoptions being closed! Holding space for the adoptee's discomfort is a huge gift.
14:53:00 From Michelle to Everyone:
Question… New wisdom suggests open adoptions are supposed to be best for child, yet 76% fail. If the best interest for adoptee is center, how do we make open adoptions more successful? (… basing "failure rate" on this survey where 76% of Birth mothers said "Open Adoption Has Not Worked Well" and 61% said the adoptive family closed it, often against their will, and often between age 4 to 7) Source: https://adoptionsurveysblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/28/results-in-naturalbirth-mom-perceptions-in-open-adoption/
14:53:28 From Valerie Andrews to Everyone:
^^^^ This
14:57:26 From Adam Pertman to Everyone:
Enforceable agreements would be a good start, in my view.
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
Password for the Vimeo Videos: AIC2022PAID
PM Saturday Session B Pt. 1 Johanne Thomson-Sweeny https://vimeo.com/719972962
PM Saturday Session B Pt. 2 Susan Branco, Saana Stella, & Amelia https://vimeo.com/719972962
What Help Do International Adoptees Need When Experiencing Post-Adoption Contact Through Social Media
Introduction: It is becoming more and more common to hear that an international adoptee has found their birth family through social media. Social media, such as Facebook, has changed how adoptees experience their search and reunion. With these online communication tools, adoptees and their birth families can find and contact each other faster than by going through more official channels, like the government. However, this type of search and reunion can be unsettling in different ways.
Aims: The aim of the research on which this proposal is based was to better understand how internationally adopted adults experience social media contact with their birth families.
Method: Eight Quebec international adoptees aged 18 and older participated in individual interviews. The study was conducted by using an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the adoptees' discourses.
Results: The adoptees' discourses mention how support from their adoptive family and their social network, such as emotional and financial support, and from adoption competent professionals helped them face the different challenges brought on by social media contact. Access to different resources, like translation applications, also enabled their ability to manage the situation and its more negative facets.
Discussion: Different types of support and resources play an important role in the outcome of the social media contact between adoptees and their birth families. When participants have access to help and resources, they can better navigate this reality that can be disturbing.
Implications: Adoptees who conduct their search and reunion through social media usually do not have professional help and must navigate the outcomes alone. This study indicates different ways in which adoptees can better make sense of their experience and the help their family, their friends, and professionals can offer for them to live a more positive search and reunion.
Liberating Our Ancestors: Adult Colombian Adoptee First Family Reunions
Adoption reunions, where the adult adopted person finds and meets their birth family member(s), can be complex endeavors given the myriad adoption related developmental issues present for both parties. Transnational adoption reunions add an additional layer of complexity regarding cultural and language barriers. Research from Korean adoptee transnational reunions suggests variations in experiences for the adult adopted person. However, little is known about how adult Colombian adopted persons experience transnational reunions with their Colombian first/birth families. In their qualitative study, the researchers will present the findings gathered from 17 adult Colombian adoptees who shared their reunion narratives.
Recommendations for search and reunion for other transnational adoptees, adoptive families, and adoption professionals will be discussed.
Dr. Susan Branco can be reached at dr.susanbranco@gmail.com
CE Eligible: Twice Removed:Clinical and Practice Implications of Adoptees in Out of Home Care
Welcome to the 10th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference
The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives
Password for the Vimeo Videos: AIC2022PAID
PM Saturday Session A Pt. 1 Sloan Nova and JaeRan Kim
PM Saturday Session A Pt. 2 Brett Furst
PM Saturday Session A Pt. 3 Amanda Woolston and Katy Perkins
Twice Removed: Clinical and Practice Implications for Adoptees in Out-of-Home Care
This presentation will highlight the research findings from two studies examining the experiences of adoptees in residential and out-of-home care. Sloan Nova will share findings from her qualitative study that highlights the lived experiences of adoptees placed in lockdown residential treatment centers during adolescence. The study explores how adoptees make sense of their experiences prior to, during, and post-residential care; how they view themselves currently; and how they understand links between their experiences during residential treatment and their current states.
Sloan Nova will describe the methodology and rationale for the study, the notable gap in the literature beckoning for personal accounts from adoptees placed in residential care, as well as lingering questions in identifying key factors in the adoptee experience pre- and post-residential treatment, such as the role of parenting style and adoption competence of clinical interventions and mental health professionals. Results will illustrate the importance in increased assessment of harmful adoptive family dynamics, as well as clinical considerations for clinicians treating adoptees individually.
JaeRan Kim will discuss her research on the significant legal, relational, and residential losses experienced by intercountry adoptees with histories of adoption discontinuity. The results illustrate the theme of a multiplicity of traumatic losses, both internally and externally and across settings and life domains. This study's findings can inform practitioners on the necessity for trained mental health professionals skilled in providing attuned, trauma-informed care specific to the unique needs of the adoptee and broader adoptive family dynamics.
To conclude, the presenters will share clinically significant overlaps in their data findings that identify topics for future research, areas for clinical improvement, and clinical implications for providers.
Adoption and Addiction: The Role of Biological Parents in the Severity of Addiction
Adoptees make up a significant portion of the Substance Abuse treatment population and are up to twice as likely to become addicts as non-adoptees. While we know that this population of adoptee-addicts exists, there is little to no research or treatment models that focus on helping them.
The purpose of this presentation is to explore the question - Is there a relationship between the levels of attachment to biological parent(s), or the idea of their biological parents, and the severity of substance use in those that are adopted and struggle with Substance Abuse? This presentation will explore the answers to this question, as well as how this information may inform treatment plans and protocols. Treatment of this specific intersection of the adoptee-addict population, including evidence-based therapeutic approaches and vital self-of-the-therapist work necessary for conceptualizing and treating this population, will be introduced and explored as well.
"Dealing With" Adoptees: Exploring Mental Health
Clinical paradigms and professional tools used to address the needs of adoptees and their families, including therapy and psychiatry, that enforce dominant cultural myths about adoption.
Links:
o katyperkins.com
o www.adoptionandtrauma.com
o amandawoolston.com/
o declassifiedadoptee.com/
o thelostdaughters.com/
To make the Social Hour easier to navigate, we will do a whole conference Zoom meeting. We will have breakout rooms for smaller group discussions as well. Here is the link to join the Social Hour Zoom Session.
Join us at https://montclair.zoom.us/j/89600297190?pwd=L0ZnZUVUVWJtSWc4S2Z6c1lKWUtLZz09
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