8th Biennial St. John’s Adoption Initiative Conference
Somewhere Between: #Five Years Later #Adoptee Voices #Power Panel
It was an honor to share the stage with this fully-fledged cohort represented by Haley Butler, Fang Lee and Jenna Cook in May 2014. As Chinese teen transracial adoptees captured on film by Linda Goldstein Knowlton in her award-winning documentary Somewhere Between, these young women (Ann Boccuti, the fourth cast member of the film was in Shanghai at the time of the conference) shared their current scholastic and activist endeavors and opinions as they forge their own narratives. They spoke candidly about their early influences and expressed without reservation their emerging views on whose voices must be heard on adoption. Earlier transracial/transnational adoptee scholars and activists (many of whom presented at this conference) have helped educate governments, institutions and families on the needs and rights of children. Their work has also empowered adoptees to know that we have a voice in these matters. It was powerful to have the opportunity to experience the continuum and glimpse into the future. #justthebeginning
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