Breaking the Silence: The Negative Impacts of Adoption for Black Adoptees
Many adoptees do not get a happy ending like "Matilda" or "Annie." This webinar will uplift the voices of Black adoptees and provide their perspectives on how adoption has impacted their mental health. Panelists will discuss how the adoption industry can be racist and traumatizing for those involved. Panelists will address both their lived experiences and the mental health outcomes of adoptees in general. There will be an opportunity for registrants to learn how to uplift and center adoptee voices. All registrants will have access to the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law adoptee-centered resource materials list, which includes books, articles, and social media accounts to follow.
During this 60-minute webinar you will:
- Hear from Black adoptees about their lived experiences
- Learn how the adoption industry can affect Black mental health
- Be provided with adoptee-centered resources
- Learn how to uplift and center adoptee voices
Meet the Speakers
Delisha (she/her/hers) Delisha Thompson is a same-race adoptee and was adopted at age three from Casa de Esperanza in Houston, Texas. She is a person with lived mental health experience who has worked in a variety of roles. In 2023, Delisha assisted the project leads at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, MHA, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work on website creation, event coordination, and workgroup facilitation for a campus mental health project for PCORI. Delisha earned both her master’s (2018) and bachelor’s (2014) degrees at the University of Maryland College Park. Delisha will be starting law school in 2024 and is focusing on disability and health law alongside her advocacy for adoptees like herself.
Lindsay (she/her or they/them) Lindsay Scribner, 28, was adopted at birth from a private pre-match arrangement to a White Appalachian family in 1995. She attended and graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2018 with a full tuition scholarship as a Darwin T. Turner Scholar. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science with a focus on women, gender, and sexuality studies, race, and history. Lindsay runs an anti-adoption industry TikTok account of 15.3K followers after posting a viral video about the struggles of transracial adoption. Her content focuses on adoption education and a personal look into her adoption reunion and story. Moving forward, she hopes her content promotes conversations on race, adoption research, policy, and law and creates a safe space for adoptees to express themselves.
Karlos (he/him) Karlos Dillard is a published author and social media foster care advocate. Karlos is a Transracial adoptee who was adopted from the Michigan State foster care system at the age of 9. He has a social media platform focused on providing accessible, diverse, and ethical adoption and foster care education. Karlos has led training for foster families and adoption agencies on transracial adoption, adoption trauma, and financial literacy for foster youth. With his unique insight on racial tensions between the white and Black communities, He has been able to curate impactful discussions online and off where everyone learns to value each other and their experience while learning about systemic racism, privilege, and their role in it.
Thaïcha (she/hers) Thaïcha is a queer transracial adoptee, proud mother, and adoption reform advocate. Thaïcha was adopted from Haiti right before she turned three into a white, Dutch American family and was raised primarily in the South. Her TikTok page has given her the privilege to speak with these news outlets and help so many women keep their babies.Thaïcha's page has provided a space for other adoptees to share their stories and find community with people who will validate the feelings that they haven't been able to share with others. Thaïcha also currently works for Trades of Hope. Thaïcha is honored to have this opportunity to speak with all of you, and she hopes you leave the webinar having learned something new.