I’m still buzzing with the incredible energy from the event and working collaboratively with our global community to present to the UN Committees and Rapporteurs as victims of illegal intercountry adoptions!
Our community is amazing when we can harness our power and work collectively!
It’s no small feat to overcome the individual traumas, in and ex-adoptee group politics, national and global politics, the power struggles and toxicity that can deter many individuals from stepping up to become an advocate whilst living the ongoing consequences of our illegal adoptions. But on 20 September we showed what can be achieved when we work together!
To watch the UN event again click here on this 링크. To read the UN’s summary click 여기.
To read ICAV’s collective paper that I presented in my 5 minute speech, presenting our lived experience and suggestions for how to move forward, click 여기.
The paper represents input from adoptive countries (9): Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Sweden, UK, USA; and birth countries (19): Chile, China, Colombia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Greece, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mali, Peru, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Venezuela, Vietnam.
To read my speech and hear our top 4 priorities of action, click 여기.
To watch the incredible family voices of 3 countries of origin, see short 5 minute videos below which we played at the UN meeting.
Click on CC for subtitles in English
I’m so proud of the many who contributed and worked with ICAV to make the UN event the success that it is. Thank you for your trust in ICAV to represent your voice, to work with us to present, and to Voices Against Illegal Adoption (VAIA) for making this possible! May we one day see the end result of our efforts, which will still take no doubt years more work to achieve, but the momentum is growing as we push for the changes needed!
UN Committee members and Special Rapporteurs, France and Ukraine speakers, and Tamil mother
There IS beauty in diversity! It’s a universal truth that we don’t have to be white skinned and fair to be considered beautiful but for so many transracial and intercountry adoptees like me, we can often grow up feeling like we are not as beautiful, especially when raised in isolated areas or with few racial mirrors.
Growing up in rural Victoria, Australia was challenging for me as I was often the only person of colour except for some Aboriginals. I absorbed an unspoken assumption that white is best and hence I felt ugly and ashamed of my ethnicity because I was always surrounded by white peers in the community, on the media, and within my adoptive family. These feelings were enhanced by comments I received all the time of being 저장 그리고 rescued by white people and culture and assumptions of how lucky I was.
My white adoptive family were never taught that we would grow up feeling different, they were naively told, “Love her like your own and everything will be ok”. So my Asianness was rarely acknowledged, my country barely spoken about except in negative ways, and Asian people were considered “foreigners” but yet when I questioned this, the answer would be, “Oh, but you’re not one of them!” My family certainly didn’t understand how to help me look after my long black straight hair, or my darker skin. I got picked on for my flat nose and slanted eyes. Is it little wonder I grew up hating how I looked? I know I’m not alone in my experience because when I speak with some black adoptees, they also mention the lack of understanding by their white families on how to look after their black skin and hair, how people want to touch their hair as if it’s exotic and how they are treated by strangers because of the hue of their skin.
As a young adolescent, looking in the mirror and having my photo taken was immensely challenging as it confronted me with my non-whiteness. I internalised the shame of how I was different and doubled with feelings of abandonment and rejection, it meant my feelings of inferiority as a person of colour, ran deep within and it took me many years to learn self love!
So from this perspective, I wanted to utilise the ICAFSS small grants funding to create an event in Sydney, Australia that would give some adoptees the opportunity to feel proud of who they are, as people of colour, as a diverse group who share the complexities of this journey that only other transracial and intercountry adoptees can relate to.
I created a day where 10 adoptees could come together, be taught how to apply makeup on our differently hued skin and varying shaped eyes, have our makeup be fully done for us, get a portrait photo taken, followed later by going out to celebrate over a sumptuous meal.
Check out our short video of our incredible day together! It was just beautiful to see the joy and pride these adoptees felt in connecting together, learning about how to take care of themselves, and enjoy being in space with people like themselves!
We need more occasions like this in our community to help bring us together and celebrate our diversity! Aren’t they just a gorgeous bunch!
엄청난 덕분에
Lisa Johnstone from Relationships Australia ICAFSS for taking time out of her day to spend helping me setup, clean up, and supporting us all 린지 이브라힘 for sourcing and organising the professional make up artist – Shay Gittany and assistant Chris Relationships Australia NSW for providing us free use of their office and facilities Relationships Australia ICAFSS for the funding via the Small Grants program Australian Federal Government DSS for making this possible via ICAFSS
On 30 July, I ran our 재회와 그 너머 webinar, part 2 of this series in searching and reunion in intercountry adoption. I couldn’t be more proud of our 8 panelists who did an incredible job of sharing some of the nuances and complexities involved! Thank you to each of them!
Ae Ra (born in Sth Korea, raised in Belgium), Alex (born in Romania, raised in Germany and New Zealand), Jonas (born in Haiti, raised in Australia), Sam (born in the Philippines, raised in the Philippines and the USA), Maria (born in Greece, raised in the USA), Ben (born in Guatemala, raised in the USA), James (born in Colombia, raised in Australia), and Raya (born in Russia, raised in Canada).
For those who are time poor, I’ve provided a time code so you can flick to the relevant parts. For those who want a summary of our key messages, they are also included as a pdf.
Time code
00:00:00 Intro – Lynelle 00:01:32 Why this webinar 00:07:16 Introduction of panelists 00:07:22 Ae Ra 00:09:17 Jonas 00:10:33 Maria 00:11:25 Raya 00:13:10 Ben 00:15:42 Alex 00:16:52 Sam 00:20:40 James 00:23:05 Questions 00:23:15 What do you recommend in preparation for reunion? 00:23:30 Maria 00:28:33 Ben 00:32:20 Raya 00:35:25 What challenges have you faced in reunion? 00:35:42 James 00:40:22 Jonas 00:43:19 Raya 00:45:48 Ae Ra 00:49:35 Tips for a media facilitated reunion 00:50:05 Alex 00:51:34 How to deal with differences in language and culture? 00:51:51 Ben 00:55:38 James 01:01:04 What role do I want for adoptive family in / after reunion? 01:01:26 Alex 01:03:10 Jonas 01:06:34 Ae Ra 01:09:47 How do I support myself in reunion? 01:09:53 Jonas 1:11:14 Maria 1:16:12 Sam 1:21:19 How do we manage the financial requests? 1:21:42 Sam 1:23:58 Alex 1:26:12 Ben 1:29:30 What’s it been like to find answers to your questions? 1:29:41 James 1:31:58 Raya 1:34:39 Sam 1:36:52 What role should government and adoption agencies have in reunion? 1:37:12 Ben 1:39:18 Maria 1:42:49 Ae Ra 1:45:56 Closing remarks and thanks
Huge thanks to the Australian Federal Government, DSS for providing Small Grants through Relationships Australia ICAFSS which allowed compensation to the panelists for their time and expertise.
On 26 June, a panel of 6 transracial and intercountry adoptees adoptees from the ICAV network presented to the New Zealand Oranga Tamariki Ministry for Children teams who work in adoption on a variety of questions.
Click below to watch our webinar: (If you are using Google Chrome, click on “Learn More” to view the video)
Time Code
For those who are time poor, I have provided a time code so you can skip to the parts you want to hear:
00:18 Peter McGurk intro 00:41 in English 03:47 Lynelle welcome and introductions of panelists 05:22 Alex K 06:09 Alex G 7:25 Bev 08:58 Gabby 10:58 Mike 11:38 Importance of consulting with a wide range of generations impacted by adoption – Lynelle 13:00 What is ICAV 15:46 ICAVs Vision 16:32 ICAVs main achievements 18:49 ICAVs key achievements Australia 22:20 ICAVs current priorities 24:28 What are some of the distinct stages adoptees go through in our lifetime 33:52 The need for post adoption support services 34:11 Alex 37:46 Mike 40:22 Bev 42:07 Understanding racism 42:19 Mike 46:15 Gabby 51:51 Search and reunion 52:14 Alex 1:02:35 Key messages for workers in adoption 1:03:01 Alex 1:05:56 Gabby 1:09:28 Bev 1:13:32 Main issues for Central Authorities to think about – 라이넬 1:22:34 Peter and close
Key Messages
For those who would like a Summary of Key Messages, click 여기 for our pdf.
We thank Peter McGurck and the New Zealand Oranga Tamariki Ministry for Children for asking us to present to their adoption teams!
As the second part of our ICAV Webinar series on 국제 입양에서의 탐색과 재결합, on 29 July (Europe / USA timezone) / 30 July (Australia timezone) we will be presenting to you our next webinar, 재회와 그 너머.
Here’s an introduction to our amazing panelists:
Ervenotte Lassus-Harbord
Ervenotte is a 46 year old adoptee from Haiti sent to a French family in 1985. She currently works and lives in the UK, having built her own life with a husband and two children. She is a very creative person who loves art, music, languages, and travelling.
Ervenotte reunited with her Haitian family in 2010 and they are still in great connection regularly.
Alexander Kuch
Born in Romania, adopted to Germany and living most of his life in New Zealand, Alexander has been involved with 나는 입양되었다 in New Zealand as a Board Director since it was established in 2015. Within this role at I’m Adopted, he provides resources, raises topics, creates events and gives support for those in the adoptee community. He’s also been involved with ICAV partnering together in 2021 for the documentary screening and discussion of 원초적 상처에 대한 계산 held in Germany.
As a Romanian adoptee, communities like 나는 입양되었다 그리고 ICAV are important not just for adoptees who have been adopted internationally but adopted from everywhere. A highlight was sharing his adoption journey in a TEDx 토크 and co-presenting adoption research at ICAR6 with Dr.Scherman in Canada in 2018.
Professionally, Alexander is a sustainability strategy consultant and he enjoys meeting new people, traveling and having adventures with a highlight being a 134m bungy jump.
마리아 헤킹거
Maria was born in Patras, Greece in 1953. At 3 years of age she was adopted by a family in San Diego, CA., USA. Her childhood was challenging with a wonderful, loving mother but an unstable father who agreed to adoption to save his marriage.
Maria began a 31-year teaching career and traveled to Greece for the first time in 1984. Through sheer serendipity she found her orphanage and then her birth mother, a woman with many secrets. It took 10 years before her birth mother would tell about the rest of the extended family. They spent the next 34 years gathering as a family as often as possible.
In a story that reads more like fiction than fact, Maria chronicled the unlikely tale of her mother-and-child reunion in the book, 제3의 문 너머: 실화를 바탕으로.
Maria travels to Greece, enjoys playing pickleball with friends, and spending time outdoors in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
Sam Roxas Chau 姚 (Yao)
Roxas Chua 姚 (Yao) was born in Manila, Philippines. He is a foundling and was adopted by a second generation Chinese family living in the Philippines. He found out he was adopted at age 12 and sadly, his family had no intention of telling him.
Roxas-Chua 姚 is also a student of poetry, visual and sound arts. He is the author of Fawn Language, 수중에서 이름을 세 번 부르기, Echolalia in Script, 그리고 어딘가에 사랑하는 사람, an adopted-person’s audio podcast journal. His poetry and calligraphy works have appeared in various local, national, and international journals. His art and writing intersects with various disciplines and has led him to speak at universities as a visiting author.
Roxas-Chua 姚 recently completed an Artist-in-Residence program at the Portland Chinatown Museum and he is currently creating musical scores for independent film.
Renate Ae Ra Van Geel
Renate Ae Ra Van Geel was born in South Korea but moved to Belgium in order to be adopted. She is 38 years old and is married with two children.
She found her Korean parents, sisters and brother 11 years ago. Only after both her adoptive parents died was she able to come out of the fog and dive into ‘the process’. It has been a valuable but very bumpy ride ever since. She visited Korea 3 times over the last 2 years, including one time with her husband and children.
As a psychological consultant she counsels and coaches mostly adult adoptees and she is also part of Adoptee & Foster Care (AFC) based in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Ben Fossen
Ben Fossen was adopted from Guatemala at 4 months old in 1990 to a family in the USA. He is an engineer, investor and entrepreneur. He co-founded 과테말라 뿌리를 가진 입양인, a global community of people adopted from Guatemala and currently serves as its Board Chairman.
Ben has been back to Guatemala 30+ times and reconnected with his birth family in 2015. He is very close with them and visits multiple times a year and they have welcomed him as a member of the family.
Ben was involved in lobbying the Guatemalan government and President to get services for Guatemalan adoptees that were approved and implemented in 2021.
James Kinnaird
James was born in Cali, Colombia in 1993 and was separated from his Colombian mother and adopted to an Australian family at the age of 1 year old. Via a long and tumultuous journey of self discovery and unraveling the truths of Colombia’s history of illegal and illicit adoptions, James reached out to the adoptee community on social media in search of his biological family. Not expecting much, he was overwhelmed by the offers of help and assistance within 24 hours of posting his search information. One of the groups, 플랜엔젤 reached out and it was within a very quick timeframe, that his mother had been located and they were speaking together.
In 2021, James was involved in ICAVs Video project for Professionals that developed a much needed resource to educate teachers, doctors, and counsellors about the lived experience of intercountry adoptees.
Outside adoption, James enjoys basketball, music, video games, fishing, travel, history/international relations, music festivals, salsa dancing, reading, a good fiesta, bar hopping, practicing Spanish, cooking and being a snack addicted coach potato.
Raya Snow
Raya was born in Ivanovo, Russia in 1989. At the age of 8 she was privately sold by a biological great great aunt to people in Canada and taken into custody by a Russian speaking family. She now consider herself not an adoptee but a displaced person, trafficked from her birth country into another.
Raya is a contributor to Fireside Adoptees and helps with support, graphics, promotion and hosting weekly chats. She has also been involved with 원초적 상처에 대한 계산, promoting the documentary and offering resources. In past years, she was in the team from 나는 입양되었다, interviewing adoptees, sharing about her life as an adoptee and connecting with other Russian adoptees.
With all the struggles and trauma many adoptees face, Raya has decided to undergo certification in trauma informed coaching to help adoptees acknowledge their grief and re-teach the brain new ways of thinking which allows adoptees to notice their trauma responses and the ways it affects them in the present. Raya believes we can’t change the past but we can change where we are in the present by diving deeper into ourselves.
Lynelle Long – ICAV Host
This incredible team of panelists and webinar host and ICAV Founder, Lynelle Long, look forward to sharing our lived experience with you at our upcoming webinar. If youwish toattend the webinar 재회와 그 너머, click on the RSVP button below:
On 23 April 2023, ICAV ran a panel webinar to bring you the expertise of our Search professionals around the world, sharing their best words of wisdom for what to consider when undergoing searching in intercountry adoption. They directly represented adoptee organisations from Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Sth Korea, Haiti, Colombia and Greece.
Watch the webinar here: 참고: Chrome에서 보는 경우 동영상을 보려면 자세히 알아보기 버튼을 클릭하세요.
Timecode
For those who are time poor and want to skip to the sections that are relevant, here is a timecode to assist:
00:20 Intro, Welcome, Purpose 04:30 Intro of panelists 04:39 Marcia Engel 06:48 Rebecca Payot 09:29 Jonas Desír 10:25 Linda Carol Trotter 12:55 Kayla Curtis 15:22 Hilbrand Westra 17:44 Benoît Vermeerbergen 21:00 Celin Fässler
Questions / Answers
23:28 What does the general search process involve? – Kayla 27:30 What should adoptees to do prepare? – Linda, Marcia 35:51 What are some of the outcomes? – Jonas, Kayla, Linda 46:50 Some possible barriers to expect? – Rebecca, Linda 56:51 What ethics to consider? – Marcia, Kayla 1:06:40 What should a search cost? – Rebecca, Linda, Celin 1:11:46 Who to trust? Hilbrand, Jonas 1:16:16 What issues to consider in DNA testing? – Benoît 1:19:18 What outcomes can result with DNA testing? – Benoît 1:20:40 What DNA tests do you recommend? Benoït, Marcia 1:23:51 What are the advantages of using an adoptee led search org? – Celin, Marcia 1:28:28 What was involved in becoming a trusted Government funded search org? – Celin 1:30:36 What is needed most from Governments to help adoptees in our searching? – Hilbrand, Marcia
Summary of Key Messages
딸깍 하는 소리 여기 for a pdf of our Key Messages from each panelist
자원
Huge thanks to the 26 adoptees who wanted to share their experiences of searching so that others can gain a deeper understanding. They represent experiences of 13 birth countries (China, Colombia, India, Malaysia, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam), sent to 9 adoptive countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Scotland, Sweden, UK, USA).
There’s a resounding silence around the world from the majority of adoptive parents when adult intercountry adoptees start to talk about whether our adoptions are illegal or illicit. Why is that? Let’s begin the conversation and unpack it a little.
As an intercountry adoptee, I was purchased through illicit and illegal means and it has taken me years to come to terms with what this means and how I view my adoption. I’m not alone in this journey and because of what I hear and see amongst my community of adoptees, I believe it’s really important for adoptive parents to grapple with what they’ve participated in. This system of child trafficking in intercountry adoption is widespread! It’s not just a Guatemalan, Vietnamese, Sri Lankan or Russian issue – it impacts every country we are adopted to and from, beginning back in the 1950s enmasse, through to current day adoptions. The 1993년 헤이그 협약 came about because of the vast number of illegal and illicit adoptions. The Hague could possibly blind adoptive parents into believing their adoptions cannot be illegal or illicit because they went through the “approved” process and authority. But while a Hague adoption is less likely than a pre-Hague private or expatriate adoption to have illegal and illicit practices within, it is no guarantee because the Hague lacks mechanisms to enforce and safeguard against child trafficking.
To date, most adoptive countries have also not curbed or stopped private and expatriate adoptions that bypass the Hague processes. This means illegal and illicit adoptions are very much still possible and facilitated through a country’s immigration pathways and usually the only role an adoptive country will play in these adoptions, is to assess visa eligibility. This remains a huge failing of adoptive countries who assume a birth country has all the checks and balances in place to prevent illegal and illicit practices within private and expatriate adoptions.
If you aren’t grappling with what you’ve participated in as an adoptive parent, you can be sure your adoptees are, at some point in their lives. More so these days, as the world around us changes and country after country (네덜란드, 벨기에, 노르웨이, 스위스, 스웨덴, 프랑스) eventually investigates and recognises the wrongs done historically in intercountry adoption. 독일, 덴마크 그리고 호주 are countries where adoptees are currently pushing for their governments to investigate. Support comes from the UN who last year, issued their joint statement on illegal intercountry adoptions.
It’s important we have these discussions and be truthful with adoptees about illegal and illicit practices that are our adoptions. In ICAV, we grapple with the reality, especially when it comes to searching for our origins and finding out the truth. Here’s a webinar I co-facilitated two years ago on this topic. As you’ll see from the webinar, we are all impacted by these practices – adoptees, adoptive parents, and our original families.
When I first started ICAV in 1998, I didn’t want to discuss the darker sides of adoption. I blindly mimicked what I’d heard – being grateful for my life in Australia and thankful that my life was so much better than if I’d remained in Vietnam. It’s taken me years to educate myself, listening to fellow adoptees around the world who are impacted and advocating for our rights and for the dark side of adoption to be dealt with. I’ve finally come to understand deeply what the adoption industry is and how it operates.
My adoptive parents couldn’t deal with my questions or comments about being paid for in France, or the questions I had about the Vietnamese lawyer who facilitated my adoption. They jumped to his defence. But there is no evidence I am an orphan and my 40+ years of searching for the truth highlights how illegal my adoption is, to date: no relinquishment document, no birth certificate, no adoption papers from the Vietnam side, only a few personal letters written from lawyer to adoptive family and an exchange of money to a French bank account, then the Victorian adoption authority processed my adoption 16 years after I entered Australia with parents who were questionably “assessed and approved”.
I’m a parent of teenaged children and I know what it’s like to have those tough discussions on topics we aren’t comfortable with. I’m sure many adoptive parents must feel doubts and possibly a sense of guilt looking back in hindsight, for not looking into things more, pushing away doubts about the process, the costs, the facilitators, in their zeal to become a parent at all costs. If you feel guilt or remorse as an adoptive parent, at least you’re being honest about the reality of intercountry adoption. Honesty is a good place to start. What’s worse for adoptees is when our parents deny and defend their actions despite data that indicates there were plenty of signals of illicit practices from that country or facilitator. Being honest will help your adoptee start to trust you can take responsibility for your actions and not pass the buck to the “other” stakeholders who also contribute to trafficking practices.
The difficult part for us all, is that there are rarely any supports or education on this topic from those facilitating adoption or supporting it – either as pre or post adoption organisations. Even less support exists for those who KNOW it was illegal or illicit adoption and no-one guides us as to what we can do about it except our own peer communities. This needs to change! It should not be the responsibility of the impacted community to provide the industry and authorities with education and resources on what it means to be a victim of the process and how to support us.
At ICAV, we have been attempting to fill this gap because the industry continues to fail us in this way. Here is our global paper we compiled of our responses we’d like from governments and authorities. I hope those who feel guilt or remorse will turn that feeling into an action to demand better supports and legislation for impacted people and speaking up to hold governments and agencies accountable. That is how you’ll help us in my humble opinion. The fact that so many parents who participated in trafficking practices are silent is only damning your adoptee to have to fight the system by themselves.
Thankfully, the work I was involved in, to represent adoptees in the Hague Working Group on Preventing and Addressing Illicit Practices in Intercountry Adoption, has concluded with a published toolkit in which Central Authorities are now provided a template for how they ~ 할 수 있었다 respond to queries from victims of illegal and illicit adoptions. Sadly, this toolkit, like the 1993 Hague Convention is not enforceable and so, it requires those of us who are impacted to spend much time and energy pushing governments and authorities to respond to us in an appropriate manner.
If you are an Australian and you’d like to support us in our push for an investigation by an independent body into Australia’s history of intercountry adoptions, you can participate in our survey as an 입양인 or as an adoptive parent. We aim to gather high level data showing the human rights abuse patterns throughout the birth countries and the ongoing lack of adequate responses from the Australian government and authorities. Prior to this, we created a letter with signatures from the community which was sent to every Australian Central Authority, every Minister responsible for Adoption at both State and Federal level, and to our Prime Minister and State Premiers.
For the benefit of many, I felt it important to provide an easy to read document on what an illicit and illegal intercountry adoption is. My heartfelt thanks to Prof David Smolin who did the lion share of creating this easy to read document. I’m honoured to know some incredible adoptive parents like David who spend their lives advocating and working with us to change this global system.
Last year, I ran a webinar on the experiences intercountry and transracial adoptees have with racism to help raise awareness and give voice to these common experiences as a community. To further address the lack of resources to our community in this area, I have utilised the funding via the 관계 호주Small Grants & Bursaries program to hire Hue, a lived experience company who specialises in anti-racism workshops. Together, Hue and ICAV are offering a much needed space for adoptive parents to discuss, raise awareness, and process some of these issues involved in race, racism, and intercountry / transracial adoption.
Our workshops are free and will be provided as a three part series, as an anti-racism program tailored specifically to Australian intercountry and transracial adoptive parents. Parents from other countries are welcome to join, understanding that the program is being delivered from an Australian perspective (but still relevant to other countries) and in an Australian timezone. Each workshop is capped at 40 to ensure maximum benefit for participants.
The first workshop in the program will cover an introduction to race and racism, developing our understanding and critical thinking around systemic racism and injustice. The second workshop will explore whiteness or white dominant culture, and the ways that our attitudes, and ways of life are impacted by these cultural systems, particularly in an intercountry adoption context. Adoptive parents will complete their series with a workshop on allyship, developing skills for challenging racism when they see it, and supporting their adoptive children through their experiences.
Here is some information about Hue and its facilitator, Elsa, whom I have worked with to tailor these workshops to suit our community experience:
Hue is a racial and social justice organisation founded by two women of colour that delivers a range of training programs that are accessible, engaging and strengths based. Their workshops are facilitated by people with lived experience to provide participatory and nuanced learning experiences for all knowledge levels. They also provide ongoing support and consultation to organisations looking to implement meaningful change into their policies, processes and work culture.
Elsa (she/her) is a queer, Jewish and Chinese woman of colour. She is an educator, facilitator, organiser and performer. She is the co-founder of Hue, an antiracism & social justice organisation that provides training and consulting to organisations. Previously she was the Director of Training at Democracy in Colour and served two terms on the board and QTIBIPOC board committee of Switchboard Victoria. She has a background in Social Work and Psychology, and wrote her honours thesis on how multiracial people from multiple minority heritages engage with their ethnic identities. In 2020 she was awarded one of Out for Australia’s 30 under 30, for LGBTQIA+ role models and leaders and in 2022 she was a semifinalist for the 7NEWS Young Achievers Awards for Community Service and Social Impact. She is passionate about platforming lived experience, building community power, and healing in the process.
The key dates of the workshops for adoptive parents are: 23 July, 6 August, 20 August starting at 1pm AEST. Each workshop runs for 3.5 hours with breaks in between. Input and participation is encouraged via small group breakouts. This is not a sit and listen workshop but if that’s what you feel comfortable doing, then that’s ok too.
If you would like to RSVP as an adoptive parent to participate in our workshop for adoptive parents only, please click on the RSVP image:
On April 23, ICAV will be providing a webinar on some of the complex issues involved in searching in various birth countries, but with specific knowledge of Colombia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Greece, Korea, and Sri Lanka.
Our webinar will be unique in that we are not only bringing our lived experience as individuals, but also presenting as a global resource, highlighting the adoptee led organisations who provide a formal search and support services. Our panelists hold the dual role of knowing intuitively how complex searching is as individuals having done their own searching and also having decades of experience in providing formal search and support services to the community.
ICAV knows intuitively what the latest 연구 (p231) conducted within the Korean adoptee community shows – i.e.,, that intercountry adoptees find their peers and adoptee led organisations to be the most helpful in their searches. There’s nothing better than those who live it knowing intuitively how to best provide the services we need as a community.
If you’d like to be part of our audience, click here to RSVP.
Our 8 panelists are:
마르시아 엥겔
Marcia is the creator and operator of 플랜엔젤, a nonprofit human rights foundation currently based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Her organization has a powerful mission: helping Colombian families find their children who were lost to child trafficking and adoption.
For fifteen years now, Plan Angel has grown a strong community with over 1,000 families in Colombia. The foundation helps these families search for their missing adopted children all over the world, hoping to one day reconnect them with each other. Marcia and her foundation have reunited hundreds of families and continue to support them after their reunion.
Linda Carol Forrest Trotter
Linda is a Greek-born adoptee, adopted by American parents and found her biological family in Greece five and a half years ago. She is the founder and president of 에프티키아 프로젝트, a nonprofit organization that assists and supports, free of charge, Greek-born adoptees searching for their roots and Greek families searching for their children lost to adoption.
In addition to its Search and Reunion program, the Eftychia Project, in collaboration with the MyHeritage DNA company, distributes DNA kits for free to adoptees and Greek families. To date, The Eftychia Project has facilitated the reconnections of 19 adoptees with their Greek families.
The Eftychia Project also actively advocates on behalf of all Greek-born adoptees with the Greek government for their birth and identity rights, including transparency about their adoptions, unfettered access to their birth, orphanage and adoption records, and the restoration of their Greek citizenship.
케일라 커티스
Kayla is born in South Korea and adopted to South Australia. Kayla has been searching for her Korean birth family for over twenty years. She returned to Korea to do ‘on the ground’ searching using posters, newspapers, local police, and adoptee search organisations. In the absence of having a reunion with birth family, she has built a meaningful relationship with her birth country and Korean culture and proudly identifies as Korean-Australian.
In her professional life, Kayla works as a Senior Counsellor for the 국제 입양인 및 가족 지원 서비스(ICAFSS) at Relationships Australia.
Kayla is a qualified Therapeutic Life Story Worker and has a Master’s in Social Work as well as extensive experience working in the area of adoption both in government and non-government, providing counselling, education and training, community development and post adoption support. In this role, Kayla supports intercountry adoptees with searching and navigating this uncertain and complex process between countries, as well as offering therapeutic support to adoptees, on this journey.
조나스 데지르
조나스
Jonas is a Haitian adoptee raised in Australia who has spent many years assisting his fellow Haitian adoptees to search for their families in Haiti. He was adopted from Haiti at 6 years old and eventually was able to find his mother in Haiti. Today he is happily married with children and works a lot to help mentor other younger adoptees and help adoptive families.
Benoît Vermeerbergen
Benoît was born in Villers-Semeuse, France under “Sous X”. This means that his parents and especially his mother did not want to be known or found. His birth certificate literally only shows X’s as parents’ names. Growing up Benoît had a lot of questions trying to understand all of this. After his studies, he purposely began working for the ‘Population Services’ in the hope of discovering more information about his birth mother.
During this process and the years that followed, Benoît helped so many other people in their search (for example, trying to find their biological birth parents), that he made genealogical research his main source of income. It has always been and will always be his greatest passion in life!
Genealogy and adoption therefore are his field of specialisation. In the past couple of years he has also started working in the field of ‘DNA’. In 2019, he found his biological mother through this method. Today, he cooperates with a lot of genealogical and adoption related authorities and helps to invent and build many adoption related platforms. Although Belgium is his home country, he also has experience in doing research abroad, i.e. Australia, Mexico, and The Netherlands.
Rebecca Payot
Rebecca is the founder of the association Racines Naissent des Ailes and co-founder of Emmaye Adoptee’s Family Reunion. Adopted in Ethiopia at the age of 5, Rebecca is a graduate in early childhood psychology specialising in adolescents in identity crisis. She has worked for 20 years in international adoption in France as a consultant and speaker on quest of origins. She is the author of her first book entitled “The Quest of Origins, a Miracle Remedy for the ills of the adopted?”
힐브란트 웨스트라
Hilbrand is a Korean adoptee raised in the Netherlands and has the longest track record, working with and for adoptees in the Netherlands since 1989. Internationally, his name is well known and disputed at the same time by the first generation of intercountry adoptees because he dared to oppose the Disney fairytale of adoption. He is also the first adoptee in the world to receive an official Royal decoration by the King of the Netherlands in 2015 and is Knighted in the Order of Orange Nassau for outstanding work for adoptees and in the field of adoption.
In daily life, Hilbrand runs his own school in systemic work and is a renowned teacher and trainer nationally and his work has sparked great interest in the UK. He spends time bridging the work in this field between the Netherlands and the UK. Hilbrand is a confidant and executive coach for leaders and directors in the Netherlands and also works partly with the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
Celin Fässler
Celin is adopted from Sri Lanka to Switzerland and is the Communications Manager and Board Member at 뿌리로 돌아가기. Back to the Roots is a Swiss NGO founded in 2018 by Sri Lankan adoptees. Its main goal is to raise awareness of the complex search for origins and to support adoptees in their searching process. Since May 2022, Back to the Roots has been funded by the Swiss government and the regional districts in order to provide professional support to adoptees from Sri Lanka to Switzerland.
Sarah Ramani Ineichen
Sarah is adopted from Sri Lankan to Switzerland and is the President of Back to the Roots and may present jointly with Celin in this webinar.
The webinar will be recorded and made available at ICAVs website.
If you have questions you’d like to see addressed in our webinar, please add your comments to this blog or 연락하다 us.
Huge thanks to the Australian Government, DSS for funding this event via our Relationships Australia, Small Grants & Bursaries program.
2023년 1월 30일, 영국의 해외 입양인 소규모 그룹이 웨비나 패널 행사에 참여하여 입양 부모 단체와 그들의 생각과 경험을 공유했습니다. 입양영국.
이 웨비나에서는 스리랑카에서 입양된 Sarah Hilder, 에콰도르에서 입양된 Joshua Aspden, 브라질에서 입양된 Emma Estrella, 중국에서 입양된 Meredith Armstrong, 홍콩에서 입양된 Claire Martin을 만나게 됩니다. 우리는 함께 양부모가 묻는 몇 가지 질문에 답합니다. 입양영국 묻다.
웨비나를 시청하세요. 아래에는 타임코드, 주요 메시지 및 관련 리소스가 있습니다. 참고: Chrome에서 보는 경우 동영상을 보려면 자세히 알아보기 버튼을 클릭하세요.
웨비나 타임코드
00:20 소개 입양 영국에서 01:03 소개 ICAV의 Lynelle에서 02:44 사라 힐더 03:35 클레어 마틴 05:34 메러디스 암스트롱 07:39 엠마 에스트렐라 09:39 조슈아 아스펜 12:17 가족을 찾는 동안 사기꾼으로부터 자신을 보호하는 방법 – 라이넬 17:23 인생 이야기 작업에 접근하기 위한 팁 – 메러디스 20:54 당신이 태어난 나라의 가족에게 입양되었다면 삶이 더 나아졌을 것이라고 생각합니까? 21:27 여호수아 24:56 엠마 28:00 국제 입양을 시작할 때 양부모가 무엇을 알기를 원합니까? 28:24 클레어 32:25 메러디스 35:12 사라 38:24 엠마 40:24 여호수아 43:34 라이넬 45:30 귀하의 유산과 가장 관련이 있는 것은 무엇입니까? 45:45 사라 48:23 클레어 49:30 여호수아 51:07 위탁 가정 방문을 계획 중인데, 입양인에게 생길 큰 감정을 관리하기 위한 요령이나 힌트가 있나요? 51:30 메러디스 52:24 엠마 54:25 라이넬 56:24 조 엔딩과 감사
