AKA's 2025 Virtual Conference
November 7-8, 2025
November 7-8, 2025
The AKA Board of Directors and Conference Committee are excited to bring you our 2025 virtual fall conference. We are excited to once again offer innovative content from thought-leaders, advocates, creatives, and professionals in the adoption community.
2025 Keynote Speakers:
April Dinwoodie Relinquished into foster care at birth and adopted by the age of two, April Dinwoodie grew up navigating life as a Black/biracial woman in predominantly white spaces. Her personal journey—shaped by questions of identity, belonging, and family—has fueled her lifelong commitment to fostering empathy, inclusion, and understanding. In a world demanding truth and transformation, she confronts hard realities head-on, igniting urgent conversations that push us to build a more just, connected, and humane society.
As the host of two podcasts, "Born in June, Raised in April: What Adoption Can Teach the World!" and "Calendar Conversations: A Guide for Adoptive Parents," April promotes dialogue about identity, family, and cultural differences. A former Chief Executive of the Donaldson Adoption Institute (DAI), she has led national adoption reform initiatives and founded AdoptMent, a mentoring program for adopted and foster youth. Currently, April serves as Executive Director of Transracial Journeys, Communications Consultant for The Quality Improvement Center on Engaging Children and Youth and DEIB leader at Steven Madden, LTD. She also facilitates adoption support groups and serves on advisory boards. April speaks nationally and internationally, including engagements with the UPMC Hospital System and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption/Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Summit. Learn more at Aprildinwoodie.com. photo credit: Jeff Forney/Innocent People Project |
Patrick Armstrong (he/him)
is a storyteller and creative entrepreneur, which is his way of saying that he likes to talk a lot. He is the host and producer of two award-winning podcasts: Conversation Piece, which explores the untold stories of Indianapolis and its people, and The Janchi Show (pronounced: JohnChee), which amplifies and celebrates the Asian adoptee experience. Through conversation-based media and storytelling in all forms, Patrick works to provide new perspectives on the world – and people – around us and empower both individuals and organizations to meet difference, not with fear and judgement, but with curiosity and affirmation. |
Recorded sessions
Recorded sessions will be available for 90 days to all conference attendees as part of the initial registration package. This may not include all live virtual conference content, as Q&As and support sessions will not likely be recorded. No content will be recorded without prior notification to attendees. Please allow 1 week processing time of recordings before they are made available.
Recorded sessions will be available for 90 days to all conference attendees as part of the initial registration package. This may not include all live virtual conference content, as Q&As and support sessions will not likely be recorded. No content will be recorded without prior notification to attendees. Please allow 1 week processing time of recordings before they are made available.
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Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
We will be providing CEU certificates based on how many sessions you choose to attend. Any recorded content will be available to registrants for 90 days following the conference. For more CEU information for conference attendees, visit the CEUs & Certificates of Attendance section of the Conference Portal on our website. |