On 30 January 2023, a small group of intercountry adoptees in the UK participated in a webinar panel event to share their thoughts and experiences with adoptive parent organisation, AdoptionUK.
In this webinar you’ll meet Sarah Hilder adopted from Sri Lanka, Joshua Aspden adopted from Ecuador, Emma Estrella adopted from Brazil, Meredith Armstrong adopted from China, and Claire Martin adopted from Hong Kong. Together we answer some questions that adoptive parents at AdoptionUK ask.
Watch the webinar and below is a timecode, key messages and relevant resources.
Webinar Timecode
00:20 Intro from AdoptionUK
01:03 Intro from Lynelle from ICAV
02:44 Sarah Hilder
03:35 Claire Martin
05:34 Meredith Armstrong
07:39 Emma Estrela
09:39 Joshua Aspden
12:17 How to protect myself from scammers while searching for family – Lynelle
17:23 Tips for approaching life story work – Meredith
20:54 Do you feel life would have been better if you’d been adopted by a family in your birth country?
21:27 Joshua
24:56 Emma
28:00 What would we want adoptive parents know when starting out on an intercountry adoption?
28:24 Claire
32:25 Meredith
35:12 Sarah
38:24 Emma
40:24 Joshua
43:34 Lynelle
45:30 What connects you most to your heritage?
45:45 Sarah
48:23 Claire
49:30 Joshua
51:07 Planning on visiting foster family, any tips or hints to manage the big emotions that will come up for adoptee?
51:30 Meredith
52:24 Emma
54:25 Lynelle
56:24 Jo ending and thanks
Summary of Webinar Key Messages
Click here for a pdf document
Relevant Resources
Can we ignore or deny that racism exists for adoptees of colour?
Connecting with people of colour is not automatic for transracial adoptees
Race resources for adoptive parents
Culture resources for adoptive parents
Global list of post adoption support specific to intercountry adoptees