In July 2021, CCI was honored to host a Guest Speaker Chat featuring Hannah-Mei and Kate from CACH-All! CACH-All is a support group for families in (or originally from) the United Kingdom who have completed an intercountry adoption (or are in the process of doing so). Although started as a group for families of adoptees from China, it now includes children and young adults adopted from 17 countries. Hannah-Mei and Kate are both adult Chinese adoptees from the UK who are now part of the CACH-All board. We chatted with them about their experiences as Chinese adoptees in the UK, discussed how that informs their work at CACH-All, and talked more generally about how traditionally family-led organizations are transitioning to adoptee leadership.
CCI September 2020 Adoptee-Only Guest Speaker Chat Featuring Nikwi Hoogland, Founder of Adoptiepedia
ABOUT
On Thursday, September 24th, 2020 at 3 PM EDT, CCI held an Adoptee-only Guest Speaker Chat featuring Nikwi Hoogland, founder of Adoptiepedia! The foundation Adoptiepedia is a Dutch initiative organised by Founder & CEO Nikwi Hoogland, co-founder and team leader Simone Sommers and visual artist Hong-Lin Stoffels. It's a platform for all Dutch Chinese adoptees to help them through life as an adoptee, including exploring the themes of Roots, Mental Health, Racism, Identity and China (culture, history, etc).
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RELEVANT LINKS
Adoptiepedia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adoptiepedia/?hl=en
Adoptiepedia Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Adoptiepedia/
CCI November 2019 (Inter)National Adoption Month Adoptee-Only Guest Speaker Chat
DATE: Tuesday, November 19th, 2019 from 8:00 - 8:30 PM EST Live stream through Zoom to YouTube
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.
For our extra special CCI November Guest Chat, CCI is honored to welcome Laura Williams, transracial Chinese American adoptee, researcher, and mentor within the Chinese adoptee community. She came to speak to CCI members about her own story, her research, her findings, and her experiences as a Chinese adoptee working in the adoption research field.
ABOUT LAURA: Laura X. Williams, is a transracial Chinese American Adoptee, adopted from Yi Wu, Zhejiang, China who grew up in Verona, New Jersey with her parents and pet cats. As a graduate of Goucher College’s Masters in Cultural Sustainability program, Laura explored topics of adoption identity, social barriers among adoptive parents, cultural context surrounding adoptees in the United States, and holistic group processing techniques. Laura has eight years of research and mentorship experience throughout her local adoptive communities. She now lives and works in Denver, Colorado pursuing licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist. Combining it with her past research, Laura hopes to merge her two fields of study into an innovative gift for continued exploration of intersectional identity development throughout one’s lifetime.
CCI January 2019 Adoptee Only Guest Speaker Chat Featuring Katie Naftzger, LICSW
You can view her book on Amazon here.
ABOUT THE CHAT
For our first CCI Guest Speaker Chat of the year, CCI was honored to welcome Katie Naftzger. She spoke to CCI members on a Google Hangouts video-chat that will be live-streamed and saved to YouTube.
Ms. Naftzger is a psychotherapist, adoption-specialist, and the author of Parenting in the Eye of the Storm: The Adoptive Parent’s Guide to Navigating the Teen Years. She is a Korean-adoptee who has been involved with KAAN (the Korean-American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network) Conference for many years. Join our discussion about social-work as an adoptee and her experience within the adoption community.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Adult adoptee and family therapist Katie Naftzger shares her personal and professional wisdom in this guide to help adoptive parents remain a calm parental influence in the midst of stormy and erratic teen behavior. This guide describes the essential skills you need to help your adopted teen confidently face the challenges of growing up and outlines four key goals for adoptive parents:
· To move from rescuing to responding
· To set adoption-sensitive limits and ground rules
· To have connecting conversations
· To help your teen envision their future
Parenting in the Eye of the Storm contains invaluable insights for adoptive parents and simple strategies you can use to prepare your adopted teen for the journey ahead and strengthen the family bond in the process. It provides answers, guidance and understanding - working as a road-map through the tempestuous teenage years. (Text Source: https://www.jkp.com/uk/parenting-in-the-eye-of-the-storm-1.html)
FROM THE BOOK
“In some ways you’re starting from scratch. When they were younger, it was about comfort and learning and structure. Now, it’s about preparing them for the future, for adult relationships and responsibilities, and staying connected for the long haul.” —– page 34
RELEVANT LINKS
Ms. Naftzger’s website: https://adoptiontherapyma.com
Link to Parenting in the Eye of the Storm: The Adoptive Parent’s Guide to Navigating the Teen Years on publisher’s site: https://www.jkp.com/uk/parenting-in-the-eye-of-the-storm-1.html
Parenting in the Eye of the Storm: The Adoptive Parent’s Guide to Navigating the Teen Years Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Parenting-Eye-Storm-Adoptive-Navigating/dp/1785927019