Opportunities for the adoption constellation | September 2025
Published 7 months ago • 16 min read
I attended a well done webinar this week on updates in immigration polices. The organization is faith based but is open and religious language was minimal. Here are their upcoming webinars https://www.icwelcome.org/webinars Unfortunately, in this webinar they confirmed what had already been noticed by adoptee attorney Greg Luce that USCIS is redacting more and more from FOIA requests purposefully to make proving citizenship more difficult.
Friday, I did a webinar for an Indiana group and to get ethics CEs I presented on clinical ethics with search & reunion for a couple of hours. I think they were unsure about the topic, but everyone seemed struck by all of the new things that they learned. There is always more to learn, and I am always adding new slides to my trainings. Check out the research in this email as that first one has some interesting things to consider.
Later this week, I am headed to Texas to provide an adoption competency training for the therapists at High Sky Children's Ranch. I am very pleased that they sought this out for their staff. I will also do a couple of hours with parents while I am there. Keep my pets in your thoughts as the young adults staying home with them are not nearly as nurturing as I am.
So many things coming up, so make sure you click through to read the entire email.
Consultation Group Opportunity for Therapists
September 3rd 9am EST | $60
As we work on leveling up our knowledge and skill with working with the adoption constellation, I believe some of the best learning comes through case presentation, discussion, and consultation.
Participants get to lead the content for this group. Bring any case you would like help with or just to listen and share. And, yes, we will talk about the various iterations for the Constellation Set-ups for Brainspotting with the Adoption Constellation as they fit for each case as well as a variety of other resources.
This is one of my absolute favorite groups, and I hope you can join us. This is an online group, although the scheduler that we use says it is in-person. I will be sending a meeting link and calendar invite to all participants. The scheduler allows me to get a consultation group agreement signed, and lets you securely enter your credit/debit card information. (Don't forget that this should be tax deductible and professional growth, but check with your local CPA to be sure). Just $60
by Adoption Mosaic
Every adoptee deserves parents who are willing to engage in hard conversations about race, especially when their experiences differ from their child's. This course is an opportunity for parents to learn, unlearn, and begin building awareness of their own racial identity. Attending this course is a step toward lifting the burden many transracial and interracial adoptees carry within their adoptive families.
Transracial Parenting—an 8-week course designed to offer adoptive parents a supportive, compassionate space to deepen their understanding of race and racism.
The history of race and adoption in the U.S.
How to talk about race and racism
The identity struggles many transracial adoptees face
How race and racism show up in your family and community
Our team of experienced facilitators—all transracial adoptees themselves, including Astrid—will guide these conversations with care, honesty, and lived expertise. Transracial Parenting 2025 begins September 16—registration is now open!
Your kids are now adults with their own thoughts and feelings about adoption; unfortunately love is not enough for you to engage in tough conversations about adoption with your adult adoptees. Be a part of a community that is learning to think deeply and critically about adoption and practice talking about the tough stuff. Click here to learn more.
Your Quotes for a Blog
If you are a member of the adoption constellation, would you add a word or a few to this google form to help me write a blog for Adoption Knowledge Affiliates about why community and connection are so important for the adoption constellation?
Join Cam Lee Smalls for the Open House on Tuesday Sept 9th at 11am Central Time for a free 60-minute interactive workshop that gives a sample of the 6-week consultation cohort starting in Oct. Live education and support to deeply enhance how you approach adoptive parenting.
PS: for adult adoptees, this could be an invitation for members of your family to gain insights and new entry points into the dialogue, feel free to share where it feels appropriate, I'm cheering for us! -Cam
In Evangelical homes across the United States, sex outside of marriage is a sin against God. So, when Abbi becomes pregnant at 16, her devout parents hide her away at the Liberty Godparent Home, a little-known facility for pregnant teens on the campus of Liberty University. The Home says it helps girls decide what comes next – whether that’s parenting their babies or placing them for adoption. But inside the facility, the girls hear a different message: God wants their babies to go to more “deserving” Christian couples. Some girls will find the strength to fight back. Others will have no choice but to give in. And some, like Abbi, will turn their grief into resistance – and take a stand against the system before more mothers lose their children to adoptions they never wanted.
Join Cate & Ty as they sit down with Dr. Abby, a transracial adoptee, birth mother, and adoption-informed therapist. Dr. Abby breaks down the true meaning of informed consent in adoption, revealing the systemic issues and personal traumas often hidden beneath the surface. She also shares her personal journey, from her coerced relinquishment as a teenage birth mother to her own experience as an adoptee navigating identity and reunion.
Jackson TerKeurst’s new book, The Only Way Forward is Back: A Story of War, Adoption, and Finding Your Purpose in God’s Plan, is an inspirational memoir taking the reader on a journey through war-torn Liberia to the United States, watching God do a mighty work during difficult and heart-breaking circumstances.
Jackson is an entrepreneur and leader who continues to defy the odds as a first-generation immigrant from West Africa who owns and runs a small business. The adopted son of bestselling author and speaker Lysa TerKeurst, Jackson is passionate about drawing together people from diverse backgrounds to experience authentic community. He lives with his wife and their two children outside Nashville, Tennessee.
Thank you, Cherish, for offering to be the firs therapist for AKA's new quarterly Ask a Therapist event for the adoption constellation!
I want to highlight a book with each newsletter, so we can all continue to grow and learn. AD
From what I can tell Amanda Peters, a writer of Mi’kmaw and settler ancestry, author of bestseller and Andrew Carnegie Medal winner for Excellence in Fiction The Berry Pickers is not adopted; however, she does a pretty good job handling the related concerns in her novel about a young native girl who is taken by a white family and the brother who blames himself for her disappearance. It is a lovely novel worthy of being a bestseller and sadly believable given the time period. It could be appealing to many inter country and transracial adoptees. From Amazon: July 1962. Following in the tradition of Indigenous workers from Nova Scotia, a Mi’kmaq family arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come. In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret. “An unforgettable exploration of grief, love, and kin,” (The Boston Globe), this show stopping debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time.
For more recommendations, check out my (affiliate) Amazon Storefront
Early bird registration available through September
Would You Rather? A Conversation on Adoption & Abortion | TEDxTWU
Since not all sources agree on some points, it is a good idea to read several. Below are just a few related to adoptees specifically.
Adoptees United’sCitizenship Clinic assists intercountry adopted people with US citizenship or immigration issues. The clinic’s services include legal screenings, consultation and advice about legal options, and legal representation to secure a Certificate of Citizenship or, if needed, a Certificate of Naturalization.
AFFCNY has put together two really thorough lists of resources. The Immigration Resources pictured below includes a listing of several legal resources and other information. The Citizenship Resource for Intercountry Adoptees resources is also full of very helpful links. They have also invited Greg Luce to be a Keynote for their May conference.
NAKASEC also has a 24/7 hotline, where you can call and receive live confidential assistance in English or Korean. If you or someone you love is confronted by police/ICE/CBP or has been detained, you can call 1 844 500 3222 for immediate support. For non-emergency calls, such as requesting help determining your immigration status, please contact legal@adoptees4justice.org.
Adoptee Processing Group
with Katy Perkins Coveney, LCSW-S
Open to adopted people age 21+, in the U.S.Mondays at 6:30p EST (5:30p CST), cost is $65 per session. Please let me know which ones you would like to sign up for. You don't have to plan all the way thru 2026, just listing them here to keep all in one place. If the majority can't make a date we can discuss in group whether you'd like to reschedule or cancel together. If you're interested in referring clients please let them know that they will be asked to meet with Katy virtually for up to 30 min to assess goodness of fit before their first meeting.
2025 9/8, 9/22, 10/6, 11/10, 11/24, 12/1, 12/8 2026 1/26, 2/9, 2/23, 3/9, 3/23, 4/13, 4/27, 5/11 Related dates: 10/20 (virtual meetup for folks attending the retreat)10/25, adoptee retreat day in Dallas TX area. Registration will be available soon.
Seeking Research Participants
Estrangement Research
Chinese International Transracial Adoptees
Anica Falcone-Juengert, a transracial, Chinese adoptee and student at Whittier College, is currently recruiting Chinese American adoptees to share their thoughts and opinions about family. Questions: afalcone@poets.whittier.edu
Racial & Adoption Microaggressions Impact on Transracial Adoptees of Color
From Molly Sawdy,clinical psychology doctoral candidate at Suffolk University: I identify as an international, Chinese transracial adoptee. I am recruiting participants for my dissertation study titled, A Mixed-Method Study Examining Stressors on Adult Transracial Adoptees of Color (TRAC) Mental Health [IRB #2250982-1].
Purpose of the Study: We are interested in better understanding how stressors such as racial microaggressions and adoption microaggressions affect the mental health of adult transracial adoptees of color. Although there is growing research on the experiences of adopted individuals, there are limited studies that center the mental health and wellness of transracial adoptees of color. We hope the information gathered from this study will be used to bolster the development of culturally responsive assessment tools and interventions, and to inform the development of resources and training to foster cultural humility for therapists providing services to transracial adoptees of color. We are hoping to recruit a target sample of 100 participants.
Eligibility Criteria:
(1) Age 18 or older, (2) Self-identifying as a transracial adoptee (i.e., belonging to a different racial category of adoptive parent(s)), (3) Identify as a person of color, and (4) Internationally adopted to or domestically adopted in the United States.
If you meet the above criteria, please consider taking the eligibility survey: https://bit.ly/TRACMH
Participants who complete the online survey will have the opportunity to: (1) enroll in a raffle to win 1 of 20, $25 gift cards, and (2) participate in a virtual focus group aimed to better understand experiences of microaggressions for adult transracial adoptees of color.
Preliminary Exploration into Adoption Reunions
Using the Preliminary Exploration into Adoption Reunions Survey, our goal is to gather information regarding such adoption reunion topics as; how and if individuals prepare for being in reunion, how individuals respond to being in reunion, how reunions are enabled, and topics related to transnational or transracial adoptees, etc.
Arace, A., Agostini, P., & Prino, L. E. (2025). Mental Models of Attachment in Adoptive Parents and Children: The Case of Institutionalized and Adopted Young Adults. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 22(5), 776. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22050776 (full text)
ABSTRACT
Transracial adoptees’ racial-ethnic sense of self may be shaped by interactions with other people of color within and outside of the home. Fifty-one transracial adoptive parent-adolescent dyads completed an online survey to assess sibling family constellations based on race, the racial diversity of several contexts and relationships in which adolescents interact, and adolescent racial-ethnic identity. Transracial adoptees varied in their exposure to people who look like them, with some reporting exposure to mostly white and others reporting more ethnically diverse experiences. The study suggests that adoptees have healthier racial-ethnic identity when raised in families with at least one sibling of color and when engaged in more multicultural experiences. It further novelly offers racial mirroring as theoretically bound to Symbolic Interactionism as a potential mechanism for understanding transracial adoptee racial-ethnic identity development in context.
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Jones, Grace H., "The International Transracial Adoption Effect: Measuring The Well-Being of Korean Adoptees vs. Non-Adopted Korean Americans" (2025). Honors Theses. Paper 1480. https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/honorstheses/1480 (full text)
ABSTRACT
In this study, I examine the differences in well-being and long-term outcomes between adopted and non-adopted Korean Americans. The vast majority of adopted Korean Americans are placed with white, heterosexual couples, positioning them in a unique position in American society. While they are raised in white families and often disconnected from Korean culture, they are still perceived and treated as Asian by society. Scholars refer to this tension as the transracial adoptee paradox. This study explores how that paradox affects both economic and non-economic outcomes. The analysis finds that adopted Koreans tend to earn higher incomes than their non-adopted peers, but adoption is associated with 0.722 fewer years of education. In terms of non-economic indicators, adopted Korean Americans are 5% more likely to be married, yet they have, on average, 0.0739 fewer children than non-adopted Korean Americans. These findings underscore the complex ways that race, family, and identity intersect to diverge the life trajectories of transracial adoptees from non-adopted individuals.
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Neider, E., Wang, X., & Guan, T. (2025). Navigating identity: The experiences of Chinese women adopted into families. Frontiers in Sociology, 10, Article 1615777. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2025.1615777 (full text)
ABSTRACT
Introduction: This qualitative study explores the experiences of 12 Chinese women, aged 18–22, adopted by White families in the United States. While China’s one-child policy led to the international adoption of thousands of Chinese girls (1979–2015), qualitative research on their perspective about their adoption and cultural identity remains limited. Adoption is often misunderstood and stigmatized, particularly regarding its lasting impact. This study uses the intersectionality theoretical framework to understand the unique experiences of being Asian and adopted.
Methods: 12 participants took part in 60- to 90-min semi-structured interviews conducted in person or via Zoom. 17 questions explored topics such as feelings about adoption, identity, and experiences with racism. Narrative and thematic content analysis were used to interpret the data.
Results: All participants expressed gratitude for being adopted but many felt embarrassed and uncomfortable discussing adoption, especially in childhood. Their environments shaped how they navigated identity—those in less diverse areas felt especially alienated. Many identified more with White culture than Asian culture. Most felt a stronger connection to White culture than to their Asian heritage and faced challenges being fully accepted by either White or culturally Asian peer groups. Every participant recounted instances of racism or being subjected to stereotypes.
Discussion: Findings emphasize the importance of awareness and support from families, peers, and professionals. Social workers should consider adoptees’ cultural identity and emotional experiences in assessments and therapy. Educating adoptive families and partners on racial and cultural dynamics can reduce isolation and strengthen support for transracial adoptees.
For Therapists near Indianapolis and curious...
Brainspotting is one of the modalities that fits what I think is needed for competent Adoption Therapy
On-Demand Webinar Replay
Events to Note
For Educators & Therapists February 16-17 Creating Trauma Sensitive Schools online conference by ATN (proposals accepted through July 15)
September 9 Free Workshop for Adoptive Parents by Cam Lee Smalls Tuesdays October-November 6 week Adoptive Parenting Consultation Group by Cam Lee Smalls
