Celebrating Community, Honoring Healing
This past month was rich with connection, growth, and reflection. One of the most meaningful experiences for me was attending a healing retreat with six other BIPOC adoptees in Napa, CA. The days were full—breathwork, yoga, ceremony, sunrise walks, nourishing food, and soulful conversations. The retreat was organized by Shawn Sodersten, a former We the Experts panelist, who led last year’s session on alternative healing modalities—what a gift to have been invited to such a healing space.
April’s Adoptees with Physical Disabilities panel was deeply impactful. It was an honor to learn from our panelists, M.C. Hudson-Franzese, Carlos Mitchell, Maddy Ullman and Ryder Richard, about the intersection of disability and adoptee identity. Their lived experiences invite us all to reflect more intentionally on inclusion and visibility.
Looking ahead, we have some truly exciting news and programs!
This next week we will be hosting our second non-adoptee panel discussion of 2025: Non-Adoptee Scholars who are changing the mainstream narrative alongside our adoptee community, Alan Dettlaff (Scholar/Author), Zabrina Aleguire (Attorney) Gretchen Sisson (Author), Angela Olivia Burton (Attorney), and Claire Galofaro (Investigative Reporter). You won’t want to miss this panel!
I am heading to Colorado this month, where we will host our second annual Adoptee Social on Friday evening at Mango House and then Saturday afternoon/evening partnering with an amazing film maker, Dewi Sungai, for two screenings of her powerful film My Name Is Not Amy.
In May, we will be deep in planning for two important events happening the first week of June:
Excited to be joining forces with Adoptees United for a Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon! We’ll be reshaping the adoption narrative that lives online—one entry at a time. Imagine what the world will learn when adoptee voices are the ones writing history. This is how change happens. We are powerful when we work together.
June 7th Adoptee Social: Adoptees Got Talent! And yes—we need local adoptees with talents as good as (or better than!) mine (see video below 🤣) to sign up and share your brilliance. Submit here!
Before I close, I want to acknowledge that Mother’s Day can be complex. For many adoptees, it brings up feelings of grief, longing, and contradiction. You may be holding space for multiple mothers, or estranged from the families who raised you. To our adoptee community: you are allowed to feel whatever you’re feeling. Honor your truth.
