Voices For Change: The New AAOM Speaker Series

November Speaker Series Line Up.

Hosted by Anna Sarkitova
Presented by Adoptee Advocates of Michigan (AAOM)

About the Series

We’re proud to launch the AAOM Speaker Series, hosted by Anna Sarkitova, international adoptee, advocate, and proud member of the Adoptee Advocates of Michigan board.

In each conversation, Anna sits down with powerful authors, community leaders, and changemakers who are advancing justice, visibility, and equity for adoptees and their families. Together, these discussions bring forward the lived experiences, insights, and leadership that continue to shape adoptee advocacy today.

Why It Matters

The AAOM Speaker Series is part of our ongoing grassroots fundraising campaign supporting our activism, community building, and educational and legislative outreach. As a volunteer-run organization, every contribution helps us compensate our speakers and sustain these vital conversations within the adoptee community.

Whether you are an adoptee, a member of the adoption constellation, or a passionate ally, this series is an opportunity to stay informed, get inspired, and support conversations advancing truth, identity, and justice for adoptees and families.

Suggested Donation

💙 $10 suggested donation (or more if you are able).
Can’t donate? Come anyway — your presence matters.

Upcoming Events

Check out our featured conversations below. Links will be added as events go live:

• November 9th, 2025
  When Voices Unite: Adoptees, Birth Parents, and the Path Towards Justice
  Be part of this vital conversation with Renee Gelin, President of Saving Our Sisters, and Katie Burns, Founder of The Family Preservation Project and Resource Coordinator for Saving Our Sisters, interviewed by adoptee advocate Anna Sarkitova. Together, they’ll discuss the new Episcopal Church Resolution 2022-D074 project, the fight for birth parent justice, and how empathy, truth, and unity can drive change in U.S. adoption.
  

• November 16th, 2025
  Bridging Worlds: the Lifelong Impact of Transnational Adoption and Identity
  A conversation with Sandi Morgan Caesar, MSW, Intercountry Adoptee, and ANC Transnational Adoptee Group Facilitator. Sandi is a Panamanian-born adoptee and child welfare advocate who uses her lived experience and reunion story to advance understanding and justice within the adoptee community.
  

• November 23rd, 2025
  Decoding DNA: Finding Biological Family with Search Angel Susan Christin
  Inspired by a family search, Susan now volunteers as a search angel, using her expertise in forensic DNA to help adoptees understand their DNA results and reconnect with biological relatives, having already reunited more than 200 families. She is also an AAOM Board member and conducts a monthly workshop to assist Michigan adoptees in obtaining their birth information from the state of Michigan.
  

• November 30th, 2025
  Creative Truth-Telling: An Adoptee Conversation with Sullivan Summer
  Sullivan Summer, Adoptee, Author & President, Adoptees for Family Preservation is an independent scholar, writer, and adoptee rights advocate whose work explores the Black and transracial adoptee experience; as President of Adoptees for Family Preservation, she champions awareness of adoption industry practices and their impact on adoptees and families.
  

• December 7th, 2025
  Inside The Adoption Paradox: Featuring Author, Jean Kelly Widner
  Join Anna Sarkitova in a conversation with Adoptee Author, Jean Kelly Widner about her new book The Adoption Paradox: Putting Adoption Into Perspective, a groundbreaking exploration where Jean draws on research and nearly 100 personal interviews to expose the real complexities of modern adoption and the evolving journey of adoptee identity.
  

• December 14th, 2025
  At the Intersection of Truth, Race and Identity, A Spotlight Interview with Ned Andree,
  Hosted by Tiana Hawver
  A Special Event with transracial adoptees Ned Andree and Tiana Hawver, exploring how race and adoption shape the lives of adoptees of color. Ned shares how his experiences as a biracial adoptee and community advocate informed his recent encounter with the police, while Tiana brings her expertise as a speaker and creator of the documentary Reconnecting the Dots. Together, they address adoption secrecy, identity access, and the systemic inequities transracial adoptees face.
  

• December 21st, 2025
  A Conversation on Reunion and Healing: A Birth Mother-Daughter Dialogue
  Linda Reboulet and Louise Okuri reunited after decades apart and turned their experience into a mission to support others. This event explores what helps and harms in reunion and how they created Traveling Together thru Trauma, a community for everyone impacted by adoption and family separation.
  

• December 28th, 2025
  Living the Intersections: Adoption, Race, and Gender with Sanjay Pulver
  Adoptee advocate Sanjay Pulver joins host Anna Sarkitova for a conversation about growing up transnational, transracial, and transgender, and how these overlapping identities shaped his life and activism. From his early beginnings in India to his work in adoptee rights and LGBTQ advocacy today, Sanjay offers thoughtful insight into identity, belonging, and the complexities adoptees face.
  

• January 4th, 2025
  Tanya Kaanta,  Executive Director and Owner of Adoptive Family Travel The Ties Program
  Dr. Kaanta is a Korean adoptee, sociologist, and former academic whose work explores intercountry adoption, identity, and advocacy; after two decades in higher education, she now brings her expertise and empathy to connecting adoptees and families through Ties. https://www.thetiesprogram.com/
  (Link coming soon)
  

• January 11th, 2025
  Patrick Armstrong, Transracial Asian American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator based in nearby Indiana.
  Patrick Armstrong is a transracial Korean American adoptee, award-winning podcaster, and community facilitator who shares his journey of identity, reclamation, and self-acceptance through the Adoptee Consciousness Model, helping others explore the stages from rupture to self-love.
  (Link coming soon)
  

• January 18th, 2025
  Gregory D. Luce, Adoptee Rights Attorney, adopted person, founder of the Adoptee Rights Law Center, Executive Director of Adoptees United Inc. and runs the Adoptee Citizenship Clinic, which assists intercountry adoptees with immigration and citizenship issues nationwide. A national leader in adoptee rights legislation, Greg also helps lead coalitions across multiple states, including the Michigan Adoptee Rights Coalition, to advance access to original birth certificates and equal rights for adopted people.
  (Link coming soon)
  

• January 25th, 2025
  Dr. Lisa Astalos Chism, DNP, APRN, BC, CSC, MSCP, CBCN, TICP, FAAN, FAANP, Nurse, Author & Michigan Adoptee
  Dr. Chism, is a doctoral-prepared nurse practitioner, certified menopause practitioner, sexual health counselor, and trauma-informed care specialist. In her book The Adopted Nurse: A Memoir of Courage, Compassion, and Hope, she weaves her professional expertise with her lived experience as an adoptee, exploring healing, resilience, and the power of compassion in both medicine and life.
  (Link coming soon)
  

Join Us

Your participation helps uplift adoptee voices and ensures these crucial conversations continue to reach the people, families, and policymakers who most need to hear them. If you are an adopted person or birth parent who would like to be interviewed as part of our series, or an organization interested in sponsoring our cause, please contact us by email or message us on social media.

We can’t wait to see you all there!
— The AAOM Team