TITLE: Adult Children of Adoptees & Adoptive Family Relationships

DESCRIPTION

We The Experts: Non-Adoptee Speaker Series will feature adult children of adoptees coming together to share their unique perspectives on navigating their relationships with their adoptee parent’s adoptive family. The panel offers a platform for open and honest dialogue about the complexities of familial connections brought together through adoption. Questions this panel may contemplate include:

What are some ways that this relationship with your adoptive extended family is different from more traditional family systems?
How do you see the adoptee experience showing up in your relationships with your adoptive extended family?
What are some challenges in navigating these relationships?
What are some ways that your adoptive extended family of your parent has shown up positively in your life?

PANELISTS

Bianca Butler (she/her) is a California native and the daughter of a biracial adoptee. She received her BA in Ethnic Studies from Mills College and is currently completing her Graduate Certificate in Spirituality and Social Change at Pacific School of Religion. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bianca is in reunion with members of her biological family. She has been on her journey alone since she was a teenager; searching for biological family, taking ancestry tests, and researching family history. She is relieved to finally find a community of others like herself. Bianca is excited to be on this panel to connect with other children of adoptees.

Jessani Blakley (she/her) was born and raised in Oregon by her wonderful mother Jennifer Poole, a domestic, same race adoptee. She is a student at University of Oregon studying Environmental Science. Since Jessani was a kid she had a humorous time trying to explain her non-nuclear family dynamic to other people. Having both an adoptee mother and divorce prevalent in her family has meant more for her than just having twice as many grandparents. Jessani is excited to share her experience growing up with an adopted mother and connecting with others about the similarities or differences in their experiences.

Marrit Kim van der Staaij (she/her) was born and grew up in the Netherlands. She has been living in Daegu, South Korea for almost a year. Her roots come from both countries, as Marrit’s mother was adopted from Korea. Her mother passed away at a young age. Currently, she is on the journey of finding her biological family in Korea, and facing obstacles along the way. Marrit is learning Korean to connect more deeply with her heritage and is writing a memoir about her journey as a Descendants of Korean Adoptees (DoKADs) and living in Korea. She is also an advocate for the rights of DoKADs. Marrit thinks it is incredible to be part of building a community for descendants of adoptees by sharing her story, especially since the community is just beginning to unfold.

Andre Bullock Jr. (he/his) is the son of an adoptee. He was born and raised on the Southside of Chicago and is 33 years old. Andre wants to share his experience of being the son of an adoptee and is also eager to hear other situations and scenarios on how being a child of an adoptee affects people in different ways and from different walks of life. Andre looks forward to hearing from the panelists about their perspectives and situations in which being the child of an adoptee has or has not affected their childhood and/or adulthood. He is also curious to learn how others felt growing up knowing there was more family out there that they did not know.

Alternate Panelist, Maya Castro Dabbeni (she/her) has grown up navigating the relationships between adoptive grandparents and birth family as a child of an adoptee. She is biracial, Colombian and Italian, as well as trilingual, Italian, Spanish and English. She has spent most of her life in adoptee-led spaces which gave her the resources and language to openly discuss her experience as a child of an adoptee. To this day she is still uncovering connections to her Colombian roots, in addition to exploring how generational trauma and epigenetics affect children of adoptees. Maya is currently a third year student at San Jose State University majoring in International Business with a double minor in Spanish and Italian. Maya is excited to share some of the intricacies of the language and experiences of being an adult child of an adoptee navigating multiple familial relationships.