For Black and queer adoptees, identity is often layered, complex and negotiated in spaces that were not built with them in mind. When you grow up adopted into a society shaped by racism while also navigating queerness, the questions “Who am I?”, “Where do I belong?” and “Am I safe to be fully seen?” can carry a different weight. Join Shania Ives, an adopted person, therapist in training and the founding director of The Dunbar Project CIC, a UK-based non-profit organization that supports adoptees and care leavers, as she describes how adoption intersects with loss, attachment, identity formation and, for many, developmental trauma.

Shania examines how intersecting identities shape mental well-being, relationships, and the sense of belonging, and highlights the unique challenges and resilience of adopted people living at these intersections. Shania highlights how adoption professionals and parents can better understand, support, and advocate for adoptees whose identities exist at the crossroads of race, sexuality, and adoption.