 For Immediate Release:
10/21/21
Adoption Vanguard Award Given to Ardent Adoption Reform Advocate During National Adoption Awareness Month Austin, TX - Adoption Knowledge Affiliates (AKA) is honored to announce Dawn Scott as the recipient of our Adoption Vanguard Award for 2021. Dawn has been an incredible advocate for adoption transparency for over a decade. Serving as an ally to adoptees in their fight for original birth certificate access, Dawn was a founding member of the Texas Adoptee Rights (STAR) Board of Directors, pushing for the passage of HB984 (2015), SB 329/HB547 (2017), and HB2725 (2019). After her tenure, she continued her advocacy for the passage of HB1386/SB1877 (2021) as a member of the STAR Advisory Board. Dawn has volunteered with AKA in almost every possible capacity. She has served on the AKA Board of Directors in numerous roles, including as AKA President. She has also served as a key member of the AKA conference planning committee, ensuring continuity of process, mission, and scope, while challenging and supporting colleagues to think more creatively about content and marketing. Dawn currently serves as the co-facilitator of two AKA Peer Support Groups - one for adoptive and foster parents and one for individuals with DNA discoveries. Dawn is connected to adoption through her role as an adoptive parent. The award will be presented on November 5, 2021, 9:15 am at AKA’s “Elevation: Voices in Adoption & Foster Care” virtual conference, during National Adoption Awareness Month. The virtual event delivers two full days of content with three powerful conference keynotes, Allison Davis Maxon, M.S., LMFT, Stephanie Drenka, and Angela Tucker. Surrounding the three keynotes are dynamic, afternoon presentations and workshops from local, state and national professionals, advocates, experts, and creatives - all connected to adoption and foster care. Evening programming includes a Friday night premiere of Betwixt & Between: A new play by adoptee Maggie Gallant. This event offers professionals CEU earning opportunities. The target audience for the conference is the adoption and foster care community; adjacent communities such as donor conceived individuals and people with DNA discoveries; therapeutic practitioners, social work professionals, and reform advocates. Attendees receive knowledge, skills, support, and networking opportunities. ### About Adoption Knowledge Affiliates Adoption Knowledge Affiliates (AKA) is a unique non-profit organization, serving Central Texas since 1992. AKA provides support and education to adopted people, birth / first families, prospective and current adoptive and foster parents, and adoption professionals. We offer peer support, search assistance, educational programs, resources, and an annual conference with top-tier adoption professionals. In 2020, we expanded our services to include those with unexpected commercial DNA results. Whether it be due to adoption, donor conception, or other circumstance, we are ready to provide the same level of support as we have for nearly thirty years.
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 For Immediate Release:
10/7/2021
National Adoption Awareness Month Innovative Adoption Conference in November Austin, TX - Adoption Knowledge Affiliates (AKA) presents”Elevation: Voices in Adoption & Foster Care” during National Adoption Awareness Month. The virtual event, scheduled for Friday & Saturday, Nov 5-6, 2021, delivers two full days of powerful content with three powerful conference keynotes, Allison Davis Maxon, Stephanie Drenka, and Angela Tucker. Surrounding the three keynotes are two days packed with dynamic presentations and workshops from local, state and national thought-leaders, advocates, and experts, all connected to adoption and foster care. Evening programming includes a Friday night premiere of Betwixt & Between: A new play by adoptee Maggie Gallant, followed by a Q&A with the Austin playwright and cast. This event offers professionals CEU earning opportunities. The target audience for the conference is the adoption and foster care community; adjacent communities such as donor conceived individuals and people with DNA discoveries; therapeutic practitioners, social work professionals, and reform advocates. Attendees receive knowledge, skills, support, and networking opportunities. This innovative virtual conference, taking place during National Adoption Awareness Month, demonstrates the commitment of small, grassroots nonprofits, in this case Adoption Knowledge Affiliates, to meet the needs of their community. AKA has found a way to bring the support they are committed to providing to their membership and community in a cost-effective, accessible way, If you would like to volunteer or sponsor the conference email aka@adoptionknowledge.org. ### About Adoption Knowledge Affiliates Adoption Knowledge Affiliates (AKA) is a unique non-profit organization, serving Central Texas since 1992. AKA provides support and education to adopted people, birth / first families, prospective and current adoptive and foster parents, and adoption professionals. We offer peer support, search assistance, educational programs, resources, and an annual conference with top-tier adoption professionals. In 2020, we expanded our services to include those with unexpected commercial DNA results. Whether it be due to adoption, donor conception, or other circumstance. We are ready to provide the same level of support as we have these past 30 years.  For Immediate Release:
October 10, 2021
New ‘Ghost Kingdom’ play premieres during National Adoption Awareness Month A new play exploring the complexities of the adoption ‘ghost kingdom’ debuts online in an exciting virtual reading at the Adoption Knowledge Affiliates (AKA) 2021 Conference. The playwright, the director, and one of the lead actors are adoptees living in the US and UK. The play, Betwixt & Between, premieres as part of the conference line-up on Friday, November 5 at 6:30pm CST. Non-conference attendees wishing to participate can purchase a separate ticket. A talkback with members of the cast, the playwright, and the director follows the 50 minute virtual reading. Playwright Maggie Gallant also wrote the critically acclaimed play Hot Dogs at the Eiffel Tower, about her search for her French Papa. She performed the show at the 2015 AKA Conference. It went on to performances in Canada, including the Winnipeg International Fringe Festival, followed by a 5-week run at the Hyde Park Theatre, Austin. For Betwixt & Between, Gallant asked JMTC Theatre Artistic Director, playwright and adoptee rights advocate, Suzanne Bachner to direct the show. Bachner, from New York City, is adopted and wrote about her experience in the award-winning play, 'The Good Adoptee'. Bachner and Gallant are joined by British actor, playwright and founder of Motormouse Comedy, Karen Bartholomew. Bartholomew’s adoption reunion play, 'Giving Up Marty', was selected for the 2020 Vault Festival in London. Rounding out the cast is Austin actor Genevieve Schroeder-Arce, who plays thirteen-year old Eloise, and Bachner’s partner in JMTC Theatre, actor Bob Brader, who narrates the play. The Design Team includes Graphic Design by Erik Niells of Square Bear Studio in Austin, and Video Design by Broadway Projection Designer Chris Kateff. Recorded live across three time zones, the play is set in New York City on January 15, 2020, the day that New York adoptees gained the right to obtain their original birth certificates. Lucy, played by Gallant, unwittingly steps into the liminal space between knowing and unknowing, aka The Gap’. There she is confronted by her fantasy self, Eloise, and the Caseworker assigned to help them both. When Eloise pushes too far, Lucy must grapple with who she is, who she was, and who she might have been. The Ghost Kingdom is a term coined by Betty Jean Lifton, an adoptee and influential psychologist who specialized in adoption therapy and fought for adoption reform. The Ghost Kingdom describes the hypothetical world adoptees enter when imagining their birth relatives. The two-day AKA Conference is open to anyone connected to the adoption and foster care community, including adjacent communities such as donor conceived individuals and people with DNA discoveries; therapeutic practitioners, social work professionals, and reform advocates. Attendees receive knowledge, skills, support, and networking opportunities. ### About Adoption Knowledge Affiliates: Adoption Knowledge Affiliates (AKA) is a unique non-profit organization, serving Central Texas since 1992. AKA provides support and education to adopted people, birth / first families, prospective and current adoptive and foster parents, and adoption professionals. We offer peer support, search assistance, educational programs, resources, and an annual conference with top-tier adoption professionals. In 2020, we expanded our services to include those with unexpected commercial DNA results. Whether it be due to adoption, donor conception, or other circumstance. We are ready to provide the same level of support as we have these past 30 years. |
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Since 1992, AKA has offered essential knowledge and lifelong support recognizing adoption as a complex, on-going and intergenerational process. We serve people touched by adoption in all its variations – infant, open, closed, domestic, international, transracial and kinship. We need your help in reaching our fundraising goals. Please contribute to our Annual Fund Drive!
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Adoption Knowledge Affiliates
PO Box 4082 Austin, TX 78765 |
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