Do your little bit of good where you are;
it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. – Desmond Tutu

The words of W.B. Yeats, Joan Didion, and Amanda Gorman all stand at the brink of 2022 and implore us to mindfully reckon with our challenges. After an unvarnished reflection, their words encourage me to acknowledge our vulnerabilities, regroup, live embodied in the present and still look at the big picture. Nourish ourselves, our communities, and go hand in hand into 2022.

As an adoptee and adoptive parent, community connections have increasingly been a place of support and growth for me over the last twenty months. There have been wonderful spaces to learn and share at virtual conferences in 2021, Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Cultures, and KAAN, the Korean American Adoptive Families Network. In this, its 20th year, The Adoption Initiative Conference will be held virtually on March 25-26. AIC will address The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives, and KAAN returns June 24-26 in person!

New media continues to deepen our understandings of the adoptee experience and its multitude of intersectional nuances. To name a few, I am Adoptee’s “Reflections on the Adoptee Journey” conversations, with Glen Morey’s SideXSide films, the Labor of Love: A Podcast for BIPOC Adoptees Navigating Parenthood, and Adopted Feels podcast, 100% real talk with two Aussie-Korean adoptees give voice to varied perspectives.

Affinity groups continue to provide compassionate and safe spaces for different members, and a pandemic silver lining meant that virtual groups could nearly be globally inclusive.… Read the rest “Slouching into 2022 – Can the Center Hold?”

Ryan Gustafson and Hana Crisp created the Adopted Feels podcast that explores adoption-related topics including mental health, race, and identity, challenges dominant narratives about adoption, and helps to build an online community. Robyn Joy Park, LMFT and I were honored to participate in a discussion about our individual and collaborative healing journeys and our perspectives on connections and mental health for our communities. It was a good time. Keyword: Sea Leg

Listen HERE to the podcast.

“In this conversation, Angela and Robyn talk about how they became therapists who specialize in adoption, the challenges, and rewards of this work, how their mentorship relationship turned into a professional partnership and deep friendship, and the online community they have built for adoptees of colour, some practical advice for adoptees looking for a new therapist or seeking therapy for the first time, and more—all with wisdom, candor, and humor.”… Read the rest “Angela and Robyn on the Adopted Feels Podcast”

Is there space for all our voices? November is designated as a month for adoption conversations. Not too many years ago, it was expressly considered a celebration of adoption. We now know that it is a much more complex and difficult conversation for adopted people, birth parents, and yes, for adoptive parents, too. Adoption includes separation, and that grief and loss is often held ambiguously, without recognition or understanding. For many transracial and/or inter-country adoptees the liminal space between cultures and ethnicities can be an enduring challenge. We now have many more opportunities for access to support and resources. Some spaces are large, and others intimate, and I hope that everyone who feels the need, will keep checking in, until they find that safe, representative space to “just be you”.… Read the rest “November Conversations . . . Our Space”