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By Marci Purcell On the heels of AKA and Adoption Network Cleveland's collaboration for our 2020 conference this past fall, the two groups came together once again for a DNA Discovery Panel Event. The panel, which served as AKA's large group quarterly meeting, was facilitated by Traci Onders and featured a number of people impacted by commercial testing DNA discoveries, including our very own Dawn Williamson-Scott, AKA former president and active member. Dawn, a wealth of information on many things adoption related, has been cofacilitating our DNA Discovery Peer Support Group from it's inception in September 2020. The group meets on the second Thursday of the month. In advance of the DNA event, Traci Onders, search specialist from ANC gave a written interview with Severance Magazine. Traci speaks eloquently about the complexities of using DNA as a search tool in finding biological family. AKA, and our long history serving the adoption community, is also mentioned in the article. During the event, the folks at AKA expressed gratitude for the invitation to work with Adoption Network Cleveland, again and hope more opportunities arise in the future. If you are at all connected to or impacted by a DNA discovery, whether through a formal adoption search, misattributed parentage, unexpected family finding, or donor conception, please reach out to AKA. We would love to support you at our monthly DNA Discovery group, the second Thursday of the month, 7pm, central time. The meetings are held over Zoom. RSVP to aka@adoptionknowledge.org.
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 For Immediate Release:
September 28, 2020 Pandemic Inspires Nonprofits Across States to Create Innovative Adoption Conference Austin, TX - Adoption Knowledge Affiliates (AKA) and Adoption Network Cleveland (ANC) have joined forces to present “Journeys of Discovery: Navigating the Intersections of Adoption.” The virtual event, scheduled for Friday & Saturday, Oct 23-24, 2020. delivers two full days of powerful content with conference keynotes, Sharon Kaplan Rozsia and Nikki & Torrey Carroll, and our key plenary ethics panel, featuring UT Austin’s Monica Faulkner with an array of highly qualified panelists. Following the Keynotes are two afternoons and evenings packed with dynamic presentations from local and state thought-leaders, advocates, and experts from their respective fields related to adoption and foster care. Evening programming includes a Saturday night streaming of Hot Dogs at The Eiffel Tower, by Maggie Gallant, followed by a Q&A with the Austin playwright. Texas legislator, Rep. Gina Calanni, will also be recognized for her adoption advocacy. This event offers content from national experts, as well as information specific to Texas. The target audience is the wider adoption and foster care community, along with professionals and advocates. Attendees receive knowledge, skills, support, and networking opportunities. AKA and ANC have contracted with Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition New York (AFFCNY) to create the virtual conference platform. Three organizations from different parts of the country working in collaboration, all as a direct result of the pandemic. Both ANC and AKA had in-person conferences canceled due to safety concerns in the spring. This innovative virtual conference celebrates the resourcefulness of nonprofits and their commitment to meeting the needs of the community. All three organizations have discovered a way to bring the support they are committed to providing to their membership and communities in a cost-effective, accessible way, not before considered by these nonprofits. 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 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. About Adoption Network Cleveland Adoption Network Cleveland: The Ohio Family Connection is an innovative non-profit organization with over 30 years of experience serving the adoption and foster care communities. Our organization fulfills otherwise unmet needs for information, advocacy, education and support for adult adoptees, birthparents and birth family; adoptive, kinship and foster families; youth in foster care and foster alumni; and related professionals. More recently, the organization has expanded its services to use its expertise in adoption search, reunion with birth family, and peer support networks to assist those who have been donor-conceived or have misattributed parentage. Adoption Network Cleveland is a member of Greater Cleveland Community Shares. For Immediate Release:
September 25, 2020 Texas Legislator to Receive Advocacy Award from Central Texas Nonprofit Austin, TX - Adoption Knowledge Affiliates (AKA) has announced its pick for our annual Adoption Vanguard Award (AVA) award. The AVA will be presented to Texas state legislator, Rep. Gina Calanni (Katy, TX). Rep Calanni was the primary author of HB2725, legislation aimed at granting Texas-born adopted adults legal access to their original birth certificates, introduced during the 87th Texas legislative session. This human rights issue is gaining momentum around the country. The most recent example is the passage of similar legislation in New York, now in effect since January, 2020. Particularly poignant is that Rep. Calanni herself is adopted. Using her lived experience and exhibiting compassion for all parties, she authored and vigorously fought for the passage of a streamlined bill designed to correct identity rights and information access violations inflicted upon adoptees for over half a century due to outdated statutes. In securing an impressive 34 cosponsors for the bill, Rep Calanni illustrated the support and urgency for this issue, its passage likely imminent. As a freshman legislator, her success in building a bipartisan coalition of her colleagues while engaging powerful stakeholders in the issue, Calanni clearly furthered the cause of adoptee equality. Like prior AVA recipients, whose collective activism has served to elevate all impacted by adoption and also have a personal adoption connection, Representative Calanni’s commitment to restoring the civil rights and dignity of adoptees has earned her this esteemed AKA accolade, along with the admiration of the broader adoption community. We are honored to add her to the ranks of previous AVA award winners, which include journalist Evy Ramos, foster care champion and Change1.org founder Courtney Jones, and renowned open adoption author Patricia Martinez Dorner. WHAT: The Presentation of the AVA to Representative Gina Calanni. WHEN: October 23 and 24, 2020 6:30 PM (Central Time) WHERE: At the “Journeys of Discovery: Navigating the Intersections of Adoption” Conference on The Mighty Networks platform. WHO: Expected attendees are members of the press, those directly connected to adoption, allied community members, and adoption and foster care advocates and professionals INFO: https://www.adoptionknowledge.org/overview.html Contact Info:
Adoption Knowledge Affiliates Adoption Knowledge Affiliates (AKA) is a unique non-profit 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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