May
2026
Our Community
Support the Protect Adoptees and American Families (PAAF) Act
A community petition is gathering support for the Protect Adoptees and American Families Act (PAAF), a bipartisan bill designed to provide citizenship protections for internationally adopted adults excluded under current law. The legislation seeks to address a longstanding legal gap that has left many adoptees without the rights and security promised through adoption.
Migrating Toward Wholeness:
Virtual Healing Retreats for Adoptees
Dr. Liz DeBetta’s Virtual Migrating Toward Wholeness™ Retreats support adoptees in reclaiming voice, agency, and connection through trauma-informed writing and reflective practice. Each retreat is designed to honor nervous-system care, consent, and the power of lived experience. Flexible options in 2026 include single retreats and a six-month healing journey.
WHEN:
May 16, 2026
June 20, 2026
WHERE:
Online
Holding Compassionate Space:
Adoptee-Led Sacred Plant Medicine Retreats
Mee Ok, a Korean adoptee, is co-founder of Inin Nete Sacred Plant Medicine Healing Center in Pucallpa, Peru, where she apprentices in the Shipibo tradition alongside Maestra Maricela, adoptee Maestro Francisco, and their children. Inin Nete offers 8-night guided ayahuasca retreats with a 4:10 healer-to-guest ratio and a maximum of 10 participants. The center is indigenous-owned and rooted in lineage-based initiation built for decolonization and reconnection with the sacred.
Offering a $500 scholarship to international adoptees and birth mothers from the Adoption Mosaic community!
WHEN:
June 1-9, 2026
August 21-29, 2026
WHERE:
Pucallpa, Peru
AKA presents Taming the Tropes: In Conversation with Adoption Pop!
A conversation and Q&A with Adoption Pop! hosts podcast journalist Haley Radke, filmmaker Kristal Parke, and cultural critic Sullivan Summer. Adoption Pop! started in late 2025 with weekly episodes that burst pop culture's favorite adoption tropes. With wit and astute insight, the show explores how adoption is represented in popular media and challenges how the world commonly views the adoptee experience from the perspective of those who have lived it.
WHEN:
June 15, 2026 @ 7pm CST
WHERE:
Online
COST:
Free for AKA members
$12.51 for non-members
Ethiopian Adoptees Foundation: 5th Annual Gathering
The EAF Gathering is a meaningful event that brings together Ethiopian adoptees ages 18 and older from across the United States to build connections and community in person. It creates a supportive space for shared experiences, cultural connection, and lasting relationships.
This event is open to Ethiopian adoptees age 18 years and older.
WHEN:
June 17-21, 2026
WHERE:
Dickens Lodge
Sevierville, TN
COST:
$250 - includes five days of housing, meals, and all scheduled activities.
Finding Tico: The Memoir by Jay Barbanel
Finding Tico is the story of a boy taken from chaos, separated from the only person who knew his beginning, and sent into a world where even his own name disappeared.
Raised across continents, with fragments of memory and an ache he couldn’t name, Jay spent years searching for the truth about where he came from and who he was.
His search led him to eleven siblings, and ultimately, to himself.
At its core, Finding Tico is about identity, belonging, and reclaiming a life that was never meant to be forgotten.
This book is dedicated to Jay's parents, who saved his life...twice.
The Adoptee's Journey by Cameron Lee Small
Adoptee and counselor Cameron Lee Small names the realities of the adoptee's journey, narrating his own and other adoptees' stories in all their complexity. He unpacks the history of how adoption has worked and names how the church influenced adoption practices with unintended negative impacts on adoptees' faith. Small's own tumultuous search for and reunion with his mother in Korea inspired him to help other adoptees navigate what it means to carry multiple stories. His adoptee-centered advocacy helps adoptees regain their agency and identity on a journey of integration and healing, with meaningful relationships in all their family systems.
A Flower Called Orphan Girl by Merika Goolsby
"I am a former foster youth and adoptee who has navigated the shadows of multiple forms of child abuse. It’s taken me a lifetime to share my journey, but I’ve finally found the courage to open up. For years, I was told, “Tell your story; it will heal you.” I struggled to believe that anyone would care, and the thought of helping someone else felt even more daunting. But here’s the truth: keeping my experiences a secret only served to protect my abusers—those who prioritized their reputation over my pain. I realized that I wasn’t just safeguarding their image; I was denying myself the chance to heal.
In my memoir, A Flower Called Orphan Girl, I lay bare the realities of life in the foster care system. This is more than my story; it’s a call to listen to the voices of adoptees and former foster youth. We’ve lived through a system that often claims to serve but, in reality, causes deep harm.
If you’re looking for a powerful, heartfelt read that sheds light on these experiences, I invite you to order my book on Amazon. Click the link to discover a story of resilience and hope. Your support cannot only help me share my truth but also contribute to a broader conversation about the realities faced by many in the child welfare system.
Thank you for being part of this journey with me. Your engagement can help change lives."
I Was Never Just Observing—I Was Assigned to See by Dr. Adam Anthony
In this introspective meditation, Dr. Adam Anthony explores the experience of seeing beneath the surface of everyday interactions and recognizing the deeper truths often left unspoken. Through themes of intuition, discernment, and personal responsibility, the piece reflects on what it means to embrace one’s calling with clarity and intention.
The Embodied Rewire™: Creating Wealth & Teaching Your Nervous System How to Sustain It
A powerful community for women of the global majority ready to align mind, body, and spirit while building sustainable wealth.
Learn to expand your capacity, elevate your business, and create success that lasts - through embodiment and nervous system regulation (and your sexual energy).
TIES - Language at the Lake
Guatemalan Ties Language at the Lake invites adoptees of all backgrounds and their loved ones to slow down, connect, and experience Guatemala in a warm, authentic way. Set along the stunning shores of Lake Atitlán in San Pedro La Laguna, this program blends meaningful Spanish learning with cultural exploration and community connection. Each day offers something memorable: morning language lessons, afternoons exploring local markets and Tz'utujil traditions, and peaceful moments by the lake. It is an opportunity to deepen your relationship with Guatemala, build community, and feel truly welcomed into the heart of this vibrant lakeside town.
Questions? Contact [email protected] or (303) 418-4579
3rd Annual BIPOC Adoptee VOICES Conference: Registration is Open!
This multi-day conference returns for its third year—an empowering, transformative gathering created by and for our community.
This event is exclusively for adults (18+) who identify as:
-BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) adoptees
-BIPOC descendants of adoptees
-BIPOC former or current foster youth in the child welfare system, adopted, or living with a legal guardian
Attendees can expect plenary sessions, engaging program sessions, support and affinity groups, community-building spaces, and more as we come together to honor our stories, deepen connection, and build collective power.
WHEN:
July 23-26, 2026
WHERE:
Portland State University
Portland, OR
Adoptees of South America + Extended Latin Americas: Monthly Zoom Calls
Adoptees of South America + Extended Latin Americas is a volunteer based, peer centered group for adult adoptees with ties to South America & Extended Latin Americas by birth or birth parent. Our mission is to provide adoptees with a space for connection, support and encouragement in any step of their journey.
Monthly Zoom Calls (18+): Conversations on adoptee-related and broader topics. Times rotate monthly to include members across time zones.
Have content to feature?
In the "Our Community" section of Adoption Mosaic's monthly newsletter, we uplift and promote adoptee-led events, programs, content, and services. If you are an adoptee and would like to have your work featured in our newsletter, click the button below to submit a content application. Please note that due to space limitations, we may not be able to feature everything that is submitted to us.
