Adoption is widely assumed in our culture to be a win for everyone involved. However, there is a growing community of adult adopted people, first parents, and adoptive families speaking up about the trauma of relinquishment and the associated lifelong mental health issues. In this session, Candac...

Marcia Lane-McGee, author and co-host of the podcast Plaid Skirts and Basic Black, Sarah Schmidth, adoption education advocate, and Muthoni Gaciku Kittredge, co-host of the podcast Birth Mothers Amplified join us for a discussion on birthparent experiences with relinquishment, navigating adoption...

Creating a healthy open adoption relationships is something that birthparents and adoptive parents need to do together to create more positive adoption outcomes, not just for their children but also for themselves. But nobody talks about how to do it. Until now. Join Maryellen Kandu (birthmother)...

In the adoption community, the phrase 'adoptive parents' is often code for 'adoptive moms,' and it's rare to hear from fathers at all, either birthfathers or adoptive dads, but a healthy open adoption requires the work to create and maintain it be done by both adoptive parents. Communication and ...

Birthmom Cathy Crossno tells the story of how she came to place her daughter for adoption, and how she was able to build a strong relationship with both her daughter and her daughter's adoptive parents. Cathy acknowledges the complexities of relationships within the adoption triad, while highligh...

Join us for a powerful conversation with Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard and Vicki Twomey, two birthparents whose families embody the multi-generational experience of adoption. We'll explore the rarely discussed phenomenon of generational birthparents — families where the experience of placing a chil...

Dr. Maxine Bryant provides an important and rarely highlighted perspective as a domestic Black adoptee adopted by Black parents during a time when formal adoption in the Black community was rare. Alongside her personal story, Maxine also brings crucial insight into the history of the practice of ...

Nearly all adoption education focuses on adopting a baby, but does not address what happens as their baby grows into a teen, and then an adult. The tools and information you may need to bring an adopted child into your home aren’t the same tools you may need as they grow into adulthood. We hear ...

Dr. Cawayu reflects on his adoption journey and how it led him from adoptee activism and professional work within the system to researching it academically. Drawing on his PhD research with families of origin in Bolivia, this session engages with broader debates on understanding the current issue...