NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH. How are you doing out there, friends? We know this is a challenging month for some of you. Adoption is as much about pain and loss as about joy and love. It is as much about ethical concerns as it is about helping children to find families. Put 200 people in a room and you will get 200 perspectives on adoption. Now, check yourself … how many of those speaking in your room are actually adoptees? Here at KAAN, we applaud the many voices out there sharin

Patrick Amunson attended his first KAAN conference this summer and found it to be life-changing. Amunson, a videographer, decided to give back by collecting stories of others equally impacted. Thanks to his generous offer, we are excited to provide this opportunity to share your unique stories and experiences at KAAN. This video is especially timely as we head into our 20th year of improving the lives of adoptees and their families by connecting the community and providing op

As the media buzz kicked off by #RachelDolezal swells around “new” conversations of race, identity, and misappropriation, a national adoptive community organization prepares for its seventeenth annual conference on these same topics. Leaders from across the country will converge in St. Louis, MO from June 26-28, 2015 at an event hosted by KAAN (the Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network). “This conference places adoptee voices firmly at the center of discourse and of

On this day in 1998, a group of Korean government leaders, Korean-American leaders, adoptee leaders, and adoptive parent leaders met in Sacramento for a leadership summit that led to the founding of KAAN. “We brought prominent invited leaders from across the United States to speak, and they spoke eloquently. Yet, as a grass roots organization, KAAN has always felt every voice in the adoption community has value. We allowed all adoption community members in attendance at the l

We are now accepting proposals for our 17th annual conference to be held in St Louis, MO, from June 26-28, 2015. Forms and complete details are available on our website at http://www.KAANet.org. Proposals are due by November 1, 2014. We seek speakers who believe in KAAN’s mission and want to participate fully in the conference as attendees as well as presenters. We invite people from many backgrounds to submit a proposal, especially adult adoptees. Conference Theme and Topics

KAAN 2014: A Return to Minneapolis A Korean Adoption Conference Highlights That the Time is NOW to Listen To and Support Adoptees For immediate release CAMP HILL, PA – A national conference returns to the Twin Cities for the first time since 2002. On June 27-29, 2014, attendees from across the Unites States and beyond will converge in Minneapolis for this distinct event that is part inspiration, part academy, and part reunion. Themed “The Time is Now,” the time is right for t

by Mark Hagland Stephanie Kripa Cooper-Lewter, Ph.D., was abandoned in northern India in the 1970’s, and adopted at the age of two-and-a-half years. She grew up in Aitkin, a small town in Minnesota located more than two hours north of Minneapolis-St. Paul. After receiving her Bachelor’s degree at Bethel College and her Master’s degree at the University of Minnesota, she received her Ph.D. in social work from the University of South Carolina. She lives in Columbia, South Carol

1. We believe in the worth of every individual. Everyone has something to give and something to learn. We are a meeting place for different perspectives so that both individuals and the community can grow. Respectful debate is expected. 2. Being a meeting place sometimes means holding back a little. Our desire to be a gathering place of different perspectives means our organization does not take positions on many issues. Our nonprofit status restricts us from political advoca

An Interview by Mark Hagland For the fifth year in a row, Jennifer Griffith Hilzinger will help lead a session for all KAAN attendees on racism and white privilege. She will join Terra Trevor, Stephanie Kripa Cooper-Lewter, and Mark Hagland in initiating a participatory discussion on those topics. Jen and Terra are transracially adoptive parents, while Kripa and Mark are adult adoptees (born in India and South Korea, respectively). Recently, Jen spoke with Mark about this sta

My pastor and good friend (who also happens to be an adoptive sibling) recently gave a sermon where she referred to ecotones. It was a new term for me. Ecotones are those in-between places where distinctly different parts of the environment encounter one another. Think of forest meeting meadow or ocean greeting shore. Think of the reed bank where a river and estuary connect. The term itself is a fusion of two ideas: eco referring to ecology and tone to the Greek tonos or tens

I am incredibly excited to be able to participate in two of the sessions at this summer’s KAAN Conference, because they speak to so much of what motivates me to be a part of KAAN every year. As an adult transracial international adoptee, I have spent a lifetime walking a complex, sometimes-challenging, sometimes-joyful journey, one that is inevitably difficult to explain to those to whom it is foreign. What I have known for years, though, is that I share that journey with oth