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
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.
Benjamin Finegan was born in South Korea and raised by a white family. They work as a community organizer on the national staff of the climate justice organization Sunrise Movement.
Shannon Hennessy is a queer Latina adopted internationally and transracially from Colombia. She finds deep meaning in unpacking the social and emotional consequences caused by the trauma of adoption. 

Inspired by The Combahee River Collective, The Dream Defenders' Freedom Papers, and The Position Statement on Transracial Adoptions by The National Association of Black Social Workers, our paper is a declaration calling for the abolition of the transnational adoption industrial complex (TAIC). This is an important moment both for transracial international adoptees (TRIAs) and the abolitionist movement, given the sizable cohort of TRIAs coming of age at a time when calls for defunding the police and abolition of the prison industrial complex are becoming political common sense. With the murder of George Floyd and the sustained uprising in summer 2020 came a new recognition amongst ourselves, how punitive logics and the ideology of white supremacy undergirds the carceral state as well as the adoption industrial complex. As prominent abolitionist Ruth Wilson Gilmore has stated, "Abolition is about abolishing the conditions under which prison became the solution to problems, rather than abolishing the buildings we call prisons." Similarly, our statement centers on how abolition of international adoption is about abolishing the conditions under which placement of a child internationally became the solution for poverty, domestic violence, houselessness, access to healthcare and the social stigma of unwed mothers. Rather than solely calling for the eradication of the adoption practices, we believe that abolition of transnational adoption is the reimagination of a society that prioritizes families staying together and having access to the resources needed to thrive. In this paper we explore what it means to be a TRIA, briefly address the history of transnational adoption, reject reformist adoption perspectives, and end with calls to action for the parties with stakes in the TAIC. We see this document as part of our abolitionist practice, as we come together in our lived experiences as TRIAs to envision a future without international adoption.