Schedule and Updates

Screening of the award-winning short documentary film, Generations Stolen, followed by a discussion about the film and a conversation about the future of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). Featuring the film’s co-producer, Gabrielle Glaser; Shannon Smith, director of the Minnesota-based ICWA Law Center; and Shana King, ICWA Law Center, Parent Mentor, Three Affiliated Tribes. Open and free to the local community. Open Book Performance Hall, Doors Open 4:30pm CDT/Event begins at 5:00pm. In-person and available virtually.

Discussion with Korean intercountry adoptees and advocates Peter Møller, Ryan Gustafson, and Jennifer Kwon Dobbs about their work and involvement in filing cases with South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is now investigating past adoptions from the country. Plus additional updates on legal cases being filed in relation to current adoption practices. Virtual only, starts 8:00pm Minneapolis (Friday) • 10am Seoul (Saturday) • 11am Sydney (Saturday).

In this talk, Sara Docan-Morgan, professor of communication studies (University of Wisconsin, La Crosse) and adult adoptee, will discuss her longitudinal research on adult Korean adoptees who have been in long-term relationships with their birth families. Their stories suggest that, rather than being a happy ending to adoptees’ journeys, reunions can challenge adoptees’ understandings of self, family, adoption, and culture. Details of this research can be found in her book, In Reunion: Transnational Korean Adoptees and the Communication of Family (Temple University Press). Sara Docan-Morgan, PhD. Open Book, Room 203, 10:30am |

Question and Answer for both Session 1 and Session 2 immediately after Prof. Park Nelson’s presentation.

Immediately after Session 1, with Q&A after completion of this session.

This presentation will focus on common depictions of adoption in film and television to show a history of particular tropes around adoption representation that is mostly divorced from real life adoption experiences.  Analysis of these images reveals the deep symbolic meaning that have been attached to adoption imagery and the cultural work that these representations do despite the general absence of adopted people in their creation. Kim Park Nelson, PhD. Open Book, Room 203

Question and Answer for both Session 1 and Session 2 immediately after Prof. Park Nelson’s presentation.

Lunch catered from Baba’s, featuring local Palestinian-inspired food, including hummus, salad, and other treats. Room 203.

Minnesota-based Network of Politicized Adoptees will present on how our organization is pushing against dominant narratives both internally and externally. Panelists will highlight how we’re building a community of politicized adoptees and how important the way we operate as an organization is to who we are. NPA has transformed in the last 13 years and we will share lessons learned about how to sustain a multi-ethnic, adoptee-led, social justice group. This session will include a panel of current Chinese and Korean adoptee leaders who’ve been with the organization for different lengths of time. Panelists/Organizers: Katherine Wald; Kurt RuRim, Margie/Eun Joo Andreason. Open Book, Room 203, 12:15pm to 1:30pm.

Presented by Dr. Liz DeBetta, writer and performer of the award-winning solo show Un-M-Othered, this interactive workshop will introduce adoptees to the ways that personal storytelling and the arts can be used to advance advocacy. Participants will learn how reflective writing can help give voice to the internal experience of being adopted and be used to reshape public discourse by making the invisible visible. Using a trauma informed approach participants will be guided through a series of writing/sharing exercises to begin to write a self-narrative that honors lived experience. By turning inward and writing from the body, adoptees may find ways to grapple with complexity, further define individual identity, and find healing by breaking silences.Grounded in principles of writing as a healing practice participants will leave with tools to begin to think about writing as a generative process that can be used to find clarity, understand the effects of trauma, promote personal growth, and become the seed of storytelling work as advocacy and activism. Dr. Liz DeBetta. Open Book, Room 203, 1:45pm to 3:00pm.

Adoptees United’s board and additional guests open up a free-ranging discussion about the future—specifically “The Future Adoptee.” Plus an overview of Adoptees United’s new legal clinic for intercountry adoptees. Open Book, Room 203, 3:15pm to 4:30pm

An ongoing project to provide missing context and content for the world’s online encyclopedia, focusing on adopted people and their experiences. Open Book, Room 305.

Informal and get-together at Prye’s Brewery, within walking distance or an easy ride from Open Book. Open to the community. No registration required. Prye’s Brewery, approximately 6:30pm [Map/Directions].

The parade starts at 3rd & Hennepin and proceeds down Hennepin Avenue to Spruce Street. 11am to 2:00pm, Downtown Minneapolis. More information: Twin Cities Pride Parade

Celebrate Minnesota’s new equal rights law, which restores the right of all Minnesota-born adopted people to request and obtain their own original birth records. Tickets are $20.00 per person and include entry to the party, a light dinner, drawings for AncestryDNA kits, and a celebration with the adoptees, advocates, and legislators responsible for making equal rights a long-sought reality in Minnesota. 4:00pm to 7:00pm, The Preserve Center, Eden Prairie. Info/Tickets.