TITLE: Adoptees & Religion

DESCRIPTION

Have you ever wondered about the nature of faith, spirituality, free will, and how any of it connects to adoption? Join us at the next Adoptee Speakers Series, "We The Experts," as we unpack the complexities of Adoption and Religion. Our four panelists and myself (Astrid) discuss the history of religious practices in adoption and how personal experiences and exposure (or lack thereof) to religion has shaped our identity. This conversation includes a discussion of religion in our: adoptive families, birth families, birth countries, and what happens when our worlds are not in line with each other, religiously speaking.

PANELISTS

Tiffany Henness is a biracial, domestic infant adoptee from Oregon. She founded the Adoptee Influencer Network and is a TRA educator for a non-profit called Be the Bridge. Her experience growing up in conservative evangelicalism have inspired her to study, write and speak about the themes of adoption in the Christian, Protestant Bible and how that impacts adoptee identity and faith. Tiffany is looking forward to this panel as she is always eager to discuss the intersection of adoptee identity formation with religious and racial/ethnic identities.

Bonita Croyle (she/her) was born in Philadelphia and was transracially adopted with her twin sister by a Mennonite farm family in Lancaster County, PA in 1992. Bonita currently lives in Arizona where she works in legal marketing. She is also the Founder of The Ebenezer Project, where she seeks to empower change makers working for racial justice in Anabaptist communities. Through The Ebenezer Project, Bonita has led dozens of interfaith anti-racist workshops and webinars. Bonita is honored to be on this panel and looks forward to sharing her story.

Sara Easterly is a domestic adoptee whose private adoption took place in the 1970s at the end of the Baby Scoop—when patriarchy, religion, and coercion played a role in many adoptions, including hers. Sara’s memoir, Searching for Mom, won a Gold Medal in the Illumination Book Awards for “exemplary Christian books,” among many other honors. Her essays and articles on adoption have been published by Dear Adoption, Feminine Collective, Godspace, Psychology Today, Red Letter Christians, and Severance Magazine. Sara’s excited to join this panel, as she has a passion for undoing some of the damaging messaging in evangelical circles when it comes to adoption.

Ilbersalle Fallon (he/him) is a transracial adoptee from Haiti. He came to the United States at the age of two in 1986. Ilbersalle was raised with his adoptive family in Nebraska and Oklahoma. In his youth, his family's love for him and culture of church and Christian values were welcoming, but as an adult his personal ideologies and beliefs have shifted from that of his childhood. Ilbersalle is now grown , and opinionated about all things religion, race, and, adoption related. Ilbersalle currently resides in Austin, Texas where he is a personal chef and caterer. He looks forward to being on the panel to further his own understanding and expand the range of the intersections of race, religion, and adoption.

Alternate Panelist, Tim Saubers (he/him) is a transracial adoptee born in Guatemala and raised in the suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin by a conservative, white, Christian family. After coming out at 17 and experiencing disconnect from organized religion, he began exploring spirituality and finding meaning in his life in less structured ways. His lived experience centers mainly on navigating through religious spaces, and familial expectations regarding religion, through the intersecting lenses of his Queer and TRA identities. Tim currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin where he works to disrupt and reform the mental health and substance use service systems at the local, state, and national levels.