Lifelong Issues in Adoption: Reframing the Discourse Through Lived Experience

During the past two decades more than 27,000 adoptees have joined Minnesota families from abroad or the public welfare system. Many, if not most, are now at an age where they are grappling with issues of identity and race, questioning how and whether to search for birth family, and wondering if their early experiences might affect their physical and mental health in the future. In addition, there are many issues that are different for adopted persons (e.g., marriage, having a child, shifting identities, and changing names, caring for aging adoptive parents, etc.).

Lifelong Issues in Adoption: Reframing the Discourse Through Lived Experience is a one-day symposium where all speakers/artists will be adopted individuals. Admission fee of $75 includes a full day of lectures, panel discussions, music, and audience participation. Continental breakfast, a morning coffee break, and a box lunch will be provided.

Participants already registered for the full conference (Jul 8-12) do not need to purchase a ticket to this event. Tickets for the Fri, Jul 12 Lifelong Issues in Adoption Conference alone must be purchased separately.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the International Conference on Adoption Research (ICAR-8) from Jul 8-12 is a premier event for attendees from the Global South and Global North who are devoted to ensuring permanent, nurturing family care for every child.

Visit the International Conference on Adoption Research (ICAR-8) website for a full schedule of speakers, bios, topics, and CE credit availability. 

ICAR-8 is an accredited continuing education (CE) course and all individuals in attendance of the course must provide their name, email address, profession, and degree to allow for complete attendance records, whether or not one intends to seek CE credits. Individuals who complete the online evaluation following the course will receive a certificate of completion. Multiple tickets can be purchased but they must be bought individually in order to collect the above information for each attendee. 

Speakers Include:

• Knowledge for Us by Us: Race, Identity Work and Placemaking – Gina Miranda Samuels, PhD
• The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be (Dutton, 2023): Exploring themes of transracial adoption through speculative memoir – Shannon Gibney, MA, MFA
• Mapping the Life Course of Adoption Project (MAP): Health, Well-Being, and Adoptee Connections in Adulthood – Hollee A McGinnis, PhD
• Panel of adoption scholars who are also adopted will share their perspectives on adoption scholarship moving forward – Richard Lee, PhD (Moderator)
• Colombian Transnational Adoption Through a Liberatory Lens: Activism, Reunions, and Reparations – Susan Branco, PhD, LPC (VA), LCPC (MD), NCC, ACS, BC-TMH
• Invisible Families: How Adoptees Use Genetic Testing – Heewon Lee, MS, CGC
• Panel- Panel on DTC-GT and developmental tasks in adulthood that are not studied or are different for adopted persons – Judith Eckerle, MD (Moderator); Kimara Gustafson, MD, MPH (Moderator)

Related Link

International Conference on Adoption Research (ICAR-8)