“Happy New Year” are words that come with some hesitation right now, especially with the state of the world and here in Portland, OR, where I call home. I find myself wanting to bask in the small, grounding joys, as I do every year at this time. This is what makes my New Year happy. Designing my vision board with “the ladies.” Baking yummy contucci (biscotti) and delivering them to people I love. Wandering the downtown farmers market on a Saturday morning. Sitting with my knitter friends who are patiently teaching me how to knit socks. Stopping by the hardware store with a friend to pick up tools for a house project.

Content Warning

…and then, DAMN IT!! A truck filled with masked ICE agents turns right in front of my car, and suddenly everything moves in slow motion. Deep breath. I close my eyes and then remember the panel I facilitated just hours earlier, and I say to myself, “JOY will be my act of resistance today!” To the four panelists, Yaron, Elizabeth, Jeff, and Gabriel, thank you for showing up this past Saturday and for grounding us.

How do we practice the “both and” at a time like this?

One practice I am doing in these first months of 2026 is making room for conversations that sound like this: “I want to wish you a Happy New Year, and if that is not what you are needing to hear right now, I am here to listen to what feels right to you today.” There is space for tenderness and truth. There is space for grief and joy to sit side by side.

I am so deeply grateful for our incredible community as we step into January together. This month at Adoption Mosaic, we are centering connection and care with:

• Adoptees and Where We Find Joy, a panel rooted in honesty, vulnerability, and meaning (recording available soon in the library)

• Adoptee Only Wellness Chat, a space to breathe and be witnessed among peers

• The launch of Conscious Adoption: Lifelong Tools for Successful Parents, a course grounded in adoptee lived experience and practical, compassionate tools

I also want to say a huge thank you to all of you who donated to our newly founded nonprofit. My heart is so full. Your generosity, belief, and care are felt in a very real way, and they make this work possible in ways that still take my breath away.

Thank you for choosing presence, curiosity, and care in a world that often asks us to harden. May we keep finding one another, one honest conversation and one small joy at a time.

With warmth, solidarity, and so much gratitude,

Join us TOMORROW, January 14th for our biannual Wellness Chat created exclusively for adult adoptees. In the season following the holidays, a time that can surface grief, complexity, and exhaustion, this gathering offers a supportive virtual space to pause, breathe, and reconnect with other adoptees in community. Together we’ll hold space to check in with ourselves and one another, share reflections, and offer mutual support as we continue navigating personal and collective challenges.

This is an adoptee only event.

Begins January 22, 2026

"every adoptee deserves to understand their origin story, and to hear it told with honesty, nuance, and care"

Adoptive parents, are you prepared to talk about adoption in a way that is full of complexity and nuance from the moment you decided to adopt and beyond? Adoption Mosaic knows the challenge of trying to develop these skills on your own. This course provides tools to talk with your child(ren) about the complexities of how you became a family, because every adoptee deserves to understand their origin story, and to hear it told with honesty, nuance, and care. Check out the website to learn more about this life changing course: adoptionmosaic.com/lifelong-tools-for-successful-parenting

• Parents: Wondering if this course is right for you? 

• Adoptees: Not sure how to approach your parents about attending this course? 

Schedule a FREE 15 minute Zoom meeting with Adoption Mosaic founder and CEO, Astrid Castro. Click here to schedule.

• Adoption Professionals: Do you know someone that could benefit from taking this course? Please forward this information to them!

Join us Saturday, February 14, 2026 for We the Experts: Perceived Same Race Black Adoptees! Our conversation will center Black adoptees who were raised in families or communities where they were perceived as “same race” and explores the complexities of that experience. Panelists will discuss how adoption shaped their racial identity, sense of belonging, and connection to Black culture. They will also share the ways they navigated assumptions, expectations, and realities of being both Black and adopted. We hope you can join us for this important discussion!

Adoption Mosaic is pleased to be an Outreach Partner for the national PBS broadcast of the new film, Vivien’s Wild Ride, by legendary film editor (and birth mother) Vivien Hillgrove. After a prolific 50-year career in film, Vivien loses her eyesight, forcing her to revisit her past—including the trauma of relinquishing her child for adoption—and reinvent herself and her art. The film is “a poignant exploration of resilience, artistry, and what it means to truly see both in cinema and in life.” 

Watch Vivien’s Wild Ride on PBS on January 26th or stream it on the PBS app here.

Save the date! Thursday, February 26, 2026 from 5:00-6:15pm PT we will be hosting a virtual conversation with Vivien’s Wild Ride Director/Producer Vivien Hillgrove and her daughter, Kathleen, with whom she was reunited. The discussion will center on the documentary and its themes of relinquishment, identity, healing, and chosen family. Join the waitlist to be among the first to know when registration opens! 

Begins March 4, 2026
Join the Waitlist!

"This is a space for adult adoptees to think critically, connect deeply, and heal in community."

Adoptees, are you experiencing any level of estrangement with any members of your adoptive, birth/first families? You don't have to move through this alone. Adoptee Beacon creates space for honest conversation, shared understanding, and compassionate growth. Registration is opening soon!

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Each month, we uplift and promote adoptee-led events, programs, content, services, and information from the greater adoptee community.

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