Inter Country Adoptee Voices: NAAM

This is day 5 of National Adoption Awareness Month, so this is my daily post to amplify the voices of adoptees.

Inter Country Adoptee Voices (ICAV) was created by and for adoptees all around the world. Based in Australia, ICAV is adoptee-led and adoptee-focused. The site includes an impressive list of adoptee-led groups in multiple countries, as well as groups focused specifically on adoptees from various countries/continents (Bangladesh to Vietnam).

ICAV also maintains a list of adoptee academics with links to their research, as well as a Memorial page for adoptees who have died by suicide or at the hands of their adoptive parents. There are links to blog posts about mental health and other issues. There is a substantive list of post-adoption services provided by adoptees around the globe.

ICAV has a public Facebook page, as well as a private Facebook group for intercountry and transracial adoptees.

I have known Lynelle Long, ICAV’s founder, for a while, and I know she is rightly proud of ICAV’s recent Educational Video Resource Project. I’ve watched several of the videos, which feature a variety of Australian adult intercountry adoptees speaking out about trauma, racism, and other adoption issues. Professionals such as doctors, teachers, and counsellors/therapists are among the intended audience; please share this resource with them.That said, all of us in the adoption community can benefit from the videos.

Adult Adoptees Speak Out on Suicide Prevention

On October 26, 5pm pdt US/8pm est US, United Suicide Survivors International will host a free webinar “Adoption and Suicide Prevention: Adult Adoptees Speak Out.” The panelists are amazing: Jessenia Arias, Kevin Barhydt, Lynelle Long, and Amanda Transue-Woolston. I have the honor of facilitating this conversation.

These four panelists have a wide range of experience and wisdom. Each has deep skills, whether as an author, a therapist, an online advocate for adoptees, a same race adoptee, a transracial adoptee, an international adoptee. All have the lived expertise of having been adopted.

And each one has agreed to share their stories and insights related to suicide and suicidal ideation. This is a very tough topic to speak and to hear about. I am deeply grateful that they will share their hard-earned wisdom, because the rest of us are needing and ready to learn.

Please join us for this important webinar, and please feel free to share the USSI registration link.

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__JIIYzloQ2G-FaGb4uf4oQ