At Adoptees Connect we strive to make a difference in the lives of Adult Adoptees and those impacted by Adoption. We provide a service to Adult Adoptees in our communities that’s otherwise unavailable.
Being adopted is often one of the most challenging experiences in a person’s life. It’s said to be a lonely journey, and it often can be. It can feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders when you have no one in your life to share your experiences with. It can feel isolating and, often many adoptees give up because they just don’t have the motivation to keep going. It can be discouraging in many ways.
We aren’t designed to walk our journeys alone.
We all need support every now and then. Connecting with other Adult Adoptees who understand is a life changing experience. Even if they are at different stages of their adoption journey, they’ll understand what it is you’re going through and be able to give you the encouragement you need to keep going.
Adoptees Connect Groups help many people cope with the emotional aspects of being adopted by providing a safe place to share their feelings and challenges. They also allow people to learn from others facing similar situations.
Benefits of participating in an Adoptees Connect Group may include:
- Feeling less lonely, isolated or judged
- Gaining a sense of empowerment and control
- Improving coping skills and sense of adjustment
- Talking openly and honestly about adoptee feelings
- Reducing distress, depression, anxiety or fatigue
- Developing a clearer understanding of what to expect with your situation
- Being around others that speak the same language as you
- Comparing notes about resources, what has helped and not helped in healing
- Identify triggers and how to process them
- Building lifelong relationships
- Bringing quality of life
- Exciting activities together
- Empower one another by sharing experiences, strengths and hopes
- Resource Referrals
- Advocacy
In Adoptees Connect Groups, you’ll find Adult Adoptees with problems like yours. Members of a connect group usually share their personal experiences and offer one another emotional comfort and moral support. They may also offer practical advice and tips to help you cope with your situation.
At Adoptees Connect we’re focused and dedicated on building lifelong relationships with one another. We’re walking life out together by planning fun activities, hosting small group monthly meetings and walking life out together. Adoptees Connect is where adoptee voices meet.
This is the basis of what Adoptees Connect was founded on.
Pamela was born in Waterloo, Iowa where she was adopted in a closed adoption in 1974. She has been active and involved in the adoption community for over ten years, networking primarily with the adult adoptee population. She shares her personal journey at www.pamelakaranova.com and has used her story to help her fellow adoptees worldwide.
Pamela loves spending time with her three adult children, pets, and close friends in her spare time. She also loves spending time alone. She’s an avid hiker and waterfall chaser and loves the simple things in life—sunrises, sunsets, bonfires, kayaking, hot tea, and being in nature, connected to Mother Earth.
Lynn was born and adopted in Chicago, Illinois during the Baby Scoop Era and grew up with lots of unanswered questions about her identity. She has facilitated both local adoption and kinship support groups, as well as writing and speaking in the adoption community. She is a member of her local genealogy community, serving as a search angel for those with unknown parentage. She writes at her blog, No Apologies for Being Me. Lynn lives in Ohio with her husband, daughter, and two mini Australian shepherds.
Ellie Rosen was born and adopted in Rhode Island. Since 2019, she has facilitated the Adoptees Connect – Providence, RI group. Ellie has a Bachelor’s in Psychology and a Master’s in Public Administration.
She currently works for a college access nonprofit, supporting low income students in achieving their postsecondary dreams, and previously worked at a children’s psychiatric hospital as a behavior specialist.
Her reunion journey formally began in 2015. Ellie describes her experience as an adoptee as astonishingly and equally beautiful, painful, complex, humbling, and surreal. Through it all, she is honored to offer and receive the unmatched support adoptees are able to provide one another.
Where Adoptee Voices Meet 