SYF WEBINAR: The Importance of Connection with Other Adoptees: Adoptee-led Spaces and Well-Being

SYF WEBINAR: The Importance of Connection with Other Adoptees: Adoptee-led Spaces and Well-Being

SYF Nov. Webinar 2023 Hero Image
Date Nov 09, 2023
Time 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Cost $ 15.00
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Thursday, November 9, 2023 | 1:00PM – 2:30PM EST 

Extended Access Available Nov. 10 – Dec. 10, 2023

Use coupon code CONNECTIONS at checkout to receive your free registration. CEUs for this webinar are also available, learn more.

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Adoptee-led groups, especially groups started by adult international and transracially adoptees, have burgeoned since the 1990s in the United States, with virtual groups and social media spaces growing over the past decade. Some of these adoptee organizations developed the first formal mentorship programs for adopted youth. while others formed international networks. This workshop will provide a brief overview of the history of adoptee-led groups and spaces, and provide preliminary findings from the national study, Mapping the life course of Adoption Project (MAP), to discuss the importance of adoptees’ connections with others who share the same lived experience on well-being.

Presenter

Headshot of Hollee McGinnis.Hollee A. McGinnis, MSW, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work. In addition to being adopted from South Korea, she has almost 30 years of community organizing, practice, policy, and research experience relating to the life course of adopted persons and youth in alternative care (adoption, foster, orphanages). Her research broadly examines social and cultural determinants of mental health and well-being, with a focus on improving outcomes for youth and adults with histories of childhood adversity and involvement in systems of child welfare. Specifically, her research centers the lived experiences of individuals who are adopted or experienced institutional care, focusing on experiences over the life course on adoptive and racial/ethnic identity development; attachment trauma, racism, and cultural loss; and adoptee-led mutual aid. Prior to her doctorate at Washington University in St. Louis, Dr. McGinnis was Policy Director at the Donaldson Adoption Institute. She received her Master of Science from Columbia University School of Social Work, and a post-Master’s Clinical Fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center. In 1996 she founded Also-Known-As, Inc., a non-profit adult intercountry adoptee organization. She has been recognized by the U.S. Government with a Congressional Angel in Adoption award for her work on adoption and her expertise has been recognized by the news media with interviews conducted for pieces in the New York Times Magazine, BBC News and NPR.