Amplifying Adoptee Voices: 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 adoptee-led change.
Suggested Donation
đź’™ $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
Sandi Morgan Caesar, MSW Intercountry Adoptee, and ANC Transnational Adoptee Group Facilitator
Panamanian-born adoptee and child welfare advocate Sandi Caesar uses her lived experience and reunion story to advance understanding and justice within the adoptee community.
(Links coming soon)November 23rd, 2025
Susan Christin, Search Angel, DNA Expert, AAOM Board Member
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.
(Link coming soon)November 30th, 2025
Sullivan Summer, Adoptee, Author & President, Adoptees for Family Preservation
Sullivan 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.
(Link coming soon)December 7th, 2025
Jean Kelly Widner, Adoptee and Author of new book The Adoption Paradox: Putting Adoption Into Perspective.
Jean is the author of The Adoption Paradox: Putting Adoption Into Perspective, a groundbreaking exploration of modern adoption practices that weaves research with over 100 personal stories from across the adoptee constellation to reveal the complexity of adoption today.
(Link coming soon)December 21st, 2025
Hollee McGinnis, PhD, MSW, Intercountry Adoptee, community advocate, scholar/Professor, writer & healer.
Dr. McGinnis is a South Korean adoptee, scholar, and community advocate with nearly 30 years of experience researching and organizing around transnational and transracial adoption, whose work—including Mapping the Life Course of Adoption—examines identity, trauma, and the lifelong impact of separation and care systems.
(Link coming soon)December 28th, 2025
Sanjay Pulver, Indian adoptee, Educator, and Advocate
Sanjay’s work centers on adoptee rights, adoption abolition, and the intersections of transnational adoption and LGBTQ+ identity; he shares his journey through panels, podcasts, and trainings to promote awareness, healing, and equity.
(Link coming soon)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 25th, 2025
Lisa Chism, Michigan Adoptee, Nurse, & Author
Lisa Astalos Chism, author of The Adopted Nurse: A Memoir of Courage, Compassion, and Hope, shares her journey of love, loss, and self-discovery as an adoptee and nurse, offering insight into healing, resilience, and the transformative power of compassion.
(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