An event covering state-level legislation and tips about political messaging, featuring experienced adoptee rights advocates and legislative staff, each of whom is an adoptee.
What’s the best response to the question “but what about birthparent privacy?” Or how do you respond to a legislator who says “this means all adoptions will now be open, right?” We’ll discuss how to tackle the many questions and “whataboutisms” that adoptee advocates get when they seek to change discriminatory state laws, plus how to craft your own effective messages in supporting pending legislation.
Join us on February 16, 2022, at 3pm Pacific/5pm Central/6pm Eastern to talk about state legislative politics and how to stick to effective messaging in support of adoptee equality. We’ll be joined by Adoptees United board members (and New York and Texas state legislative advocates) Annette O’Connell and Shawna Hodgson, plus we’ll get an insider’s view from Salena Koster, a Minnesota-born adoptee and current state legislative staffer.
We’ll also publish a messaging sheet you can use for yourself or in your own states in drafting testimony, writing letters of support, or talking with legislators and their staff.
Join Adoptees United for this important event, which is the first in a series of discussions about effective political messaging in the work that we do.
Registration
Participants
Shawna Hodgson
Treasurer/Board Member
Adoptees United Inc.
Shawna Hodgson is a Texas-born adoptee, sixth generation Texan, and board member of Adoptees United. She became active in adoptee rights in 2014 and worked closely with legislative sponsors in both the Texas House and Senate. She is a leading national advocate for adoptee rights, a board member of American Adoption Congress, and is the spokesperson for the Texas Adoptee Rights Coalition.
Salena Koster
Legislative Staff Supervisor
Salena Koster is an attorney and Minnesota born adoptee raised in the southern suburbs of the Twin Cities. She is the Legislative Staff Supervisor for the Minnesota Senate DFL Caucus, and has served as a legislative assistant and as a communications advisor to various state legislative campaigns. She chairs her town’s Park Board and is a founding board member of Parents Together Minnesota. She is the mother of two young children. The views expressed for this event are her own.
Annette O’Connell
Board Member
Adoptees United Inc.
Annette O’Connell is a New York born adoptee and Adoptees United board member. She has been active in the adoptee rights community since 2014, and is the spokesperson for the New York Adoptee Rights Coalition, which was instrumental in passing equal rights legislation in New York state in 2019. She is also a Search Angel and serves on the board of Bastard Nation