Guest Speaker Series: Get Involved, Interact, Learn

As part of CCI's Adoptee Only Chats, we have initiated a Guest Speakers project to invite influential figures in the Adoption Community to speak about their inspiring work. We host a live-streamed video chat via Zoom (previously Google Hangouts) and live-streamed YouTube, moderated by a CCI board member and with a reserved amount of spots for our members to listen to our speakers’ stories and engage in productive dialogue. We then share the video with our community. We hope that these chats can inform and inspire those interested in getting more involved in the Chinese Adoptee community and the greater adoption community.

About

This project gives our members a chance to speak "in-person” with influential figures in the Adoption Community. Speakers share their fascinating life stories and personal journeys so far. Many are also advocates for Asians in media and entertainment and are actively engaged in organizing the adoptee community.

Previous guests have included: Grace Newton, author of Red Thread Broken; Lynelle Long, founder of InterCountry Adoptee Voices; Dan Matthews (DANakaDAN); Jennifer Jue-Steuck, founder of Chinese Adoptee Links / Global Generations; Jenna Ushkowitz and Sam Futerman, founders of Kindred Adoption; Mike McDonald, host of the Rambler podcast; and Kira Omans, 2015 Pacific Miss Asian American.

Format of Chats

The chats are in the form of video-chats over the platform Zoom and live-streamed on the popular video site YouTube. They are moderated by a CCI Board Member who will ask them questions about their work and experience in the adoption community. After a short introduction, CCI members are allowed to freely inquire about the speaker's stories as well as their career and influence in the greater community.

Participation

Guest Speaker Chats are announced on our Adoptee-only Facebook group. All Chinese adoptees ages 18 and over are welcome to participate by simply clicking the link on provided on the post. Please note that the video will be streamed over YouTube and saved on our channel.

Everyone in our community (not just Chinese adoptees) is invited to watch the live-stream and to Tweet their questions (@cci_adoptees). Afterwards, the video is posted online in an unlisted link on YouTube.

mission statement

We hope that these chats can inform and inspire those interested in getting more involved in the Chinese Adoptee community and the greater adoption community. In this way, we hope to encourage further leadership and foster effective, productive dialogue within the International Adoptee Community.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Our Guest Speaker chats are NOT endorsements of the individuals, their work, or their personal views on adoption.

November (Inter)National adoption month Adoptee-only Guest Chat

The annual CCI November Guest Chat is a special edition of our Adoptee Only Guest Speaker series and is held in honor of November (Inter)National Adoptee Month. It hopes to amplify adoptee voices that critically and thoughtfully engage in challenging dominant adoption narratives, as well as to encourage others to think about the social, economic, and political conditions that underlie and perpetuate the international adoption system and that inform adult adoptee communities. So far, for this special chat, we’ve been honored to host Grace Newton, Chinese adoptee activist, speaker, and author of acclaimed blog on transnational and transracial adoption, Red Thread Broken, and Laura Williams, transracial Chinese American adoptee, researcher, and mentor within the Chinese adoptee community.

Procedure

All Chinese adoptees who are over the age of 18 are eligible to participate.

To join in the chat, join our Adoptee-only Facebook Group and be on the look-out for the the post with the time and date of the chat, as well as the dedicated Zoom link. Clicking on the Zoom link will bring you into the waiting room. A moderator will let you into the room when the chat is about to begin.

1. In order to secure a spot, you must be online at the chat start time. We will NOT let anyone into the chat who is late.

2. If you plan on having your video on, please find a well-lit area to engage in the chat.

3. Please be sure to be in a quiet space while you are on the chat. When other people are speaking, please mute your microphone by pressing the button that looks like a microphone with a line through it. We will run through all of these rules again once everyone is online.

REMINDER: Our chats are streamed live to YouTube and then saved as an unlisted video, meaning that anyone who has the link can view the video, however it is not searchable. Even if you turn your video off, your name or whatever name you change yourself to on Zoom might be shown on camera.

Any questions or concerns about these chats, please don't hesitate to get in touch!