Current webinars
There are no Adoptees Have Answers webinars currently scheduled. Please check back periodically for updates, or subscribe to the AHA newsletter for upcoming webinars and other events. Scroll down for a full list of AHA webinars available on CD. To purchase CDs, please visit AHA’s CDs for Purchase
Future webinars, tentative dates/times
There are no Adoptees Have Answers webinars currently scheduled. Please check back periodically for updates, or subscribe to the AHA newsletter for upcoming webinars and other events. Scroll down for a full list of AHA webinars available on CD. To purchase CDs, please visit AHA’s CDs for Purchase
Ordering past AHA webinars available on CD
To purchase CDs, go to “Webinars + CDs” on the top menu bar and click on “AHA CDs for Purchase”
With questions about ordering CDs, please contact Janet Hammer at jhammer@mnadopt.org or 612-746-5125.
Past AHA webinars available on CD
Adoptees Have Answers: Enlisting the Experts with Adam Pertman; April 2010 (#2201)
Executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute Adam Pertman provides an in-depth discussion of the institute’s groundbreaking study “Beyond Culture Camp: Promoting Healthy Identity Formation in Adoption.”
Minnesota Orphan Train Riders: Historical Reflections on Adoption Over a Lifespan with Renee Wendinger; May 2010 (#2202)
Renee Wendinger, president of the Minnesota Orphan Train Riders of New York organization and daughter of an orphan train rider, presents the history of the beginning of the U.S. child welfare system and shares images from her personal archive.
How to Start an Adoptee Support Group for Adults with Penelope Needham, Sandra White Hawk and Kate Ingalls-Maloney; June 2010 (#2203)
Three adoptees with support group facilitation experience discuss four different models for starting, facilitating and sustaining adult adoptee-to-adoptee support groups.
How to Start an Adoptee Support Group for Youth with Penelope Needham; September 2010 (#2204)
Penelope Needham, Minnesota educator and adoption support group facilitator, draws on twelve years of experience organizing and facilitating support groups for youth in the public school system to discuss how to start a youth support group, and why such groups are crucial to healthy identity formation.
Beyond Boarding Schools: Truth, Healing & Reconciliation with Sandra White Hawk; October 2010 (#2205)
Sandra White Hawk, Sicangu Lakota adoptee, shares her personal background and the complexity of Native American adoption in the United States, as well as how she developed Truth, Healing and Reconciliation Forums to help Native American adoptees and fosterees reconnect with their heritage and community.
Passages: A Lifetime Perspective on the Developmental Tasks of Adopted Persons with Jae Ran Kim; December 2010 (#2206)
Jae Ran Kim, distinguished adoption presenter, reseacher and AHA Advisory Group member, discusses the model created by psychologists to illustrate how the developmental tasks of adoptees differ from those of non-adoptees, and how these differences manifest throughout the lifespan. Kim also discusses ambiguous loss, a construct originally hypothesized by Pauline Boss, author of Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unsesolved Grief, and how it impacts the lives of people within the adoptee community.
Bringing Birthfathers Out of the Shadows Into Adoption with Mary Martin Mason; January 2011 (#2207)
Based on two years’ research and the resulting book, “Bringing Birthfathers from Out of the Shadows Into Adoption,” Minnesota Adoption Resource Network’s executive director, Mary Martin Mason will present the impact of excluding birthfathers in adoption and the long-term implications for adoptees.
The Skin I Live In, Part I: Transracial Adoptees Speak on Adoption with Robert O’Connor, Julie Hart, Amy Fjellman and Sandy White Hawk; February 2011 (#2208)
Join AHA and AHA Advisory Group members Sandy White Hawk (Native American), Julie Hart (Korean American), Robert O’Connor (African American) and AHA Support Group facilitator Amy Fjellman (Guatemalan American) as they draw from their personal and professional experiences and perspectives to discuss some of the key issues in transracial adoption.
The Skin I Live In, Part II: Transracial Adoptees Speak on Adoption with Robert O’Connor, Julie Hart, Amy Fjellman and Sandy White Hawk; March 2011 (#2209)
AHA Advisory Group members and Support Group facilitators continue the discussion on key issues in transracial adoption.
Looking Back on International Adoption from 30 Years’ Distance with Cheri Register; April 2011 (#2211)
Award-winning MN author Cheri Register discusses her evolution as the parent of two daughters adopted from South Korea.
Activists, Authors and Academics: Adoptees Changing the Discourse on Adoption with Jae Ran Kim; May 2011 (#2212)
AHA Advisory Group member Jae Ran Kim discusses how adoptees are challenging and changing the discourse in adoption through arts, research and academia, and activism.
Adoptees and Parents, Adoptees as Parents with John Raible; July 2011 (#2213)
Dr. John Raible discusses his thoughts on the connections and disconnections adoptees have with parents-and as parents. He builds a case for how the blueprint for all oppression can be seen in the power imbalance between parents and children, and how this can play out in special ways when adoptees become parents themselves.
Dealing with the Tough Stuff: Adoptees and Resiliency, with Deborah Jiang Stein and Carrie Blesener; Sept. 2011 (#2214)
Deborah Jiang Stein is a national keynote speaker and writer who was born in prison where she lived for her first year. Deborah then entered the foster care system and was later adopted. Deborah speaks in prisons and blogs for The Huffington Post. Carrie Blesener is a clinical social worker, currently counseling patients on dialysis. She’s been involved in the adoption world for many years, co-facilitating the Adoptees MN support group and participating in adoption reform and education. Stein and Blesener discuss the complex and sometimes difficult experiences that adoptees may face when learning about their backgrounds. The presenters reflect on their own personal stories reuniting with birth family, and share some resources for handling challenging situations.
