Shedding Light on the Adoption Experience, VI

An Educational Conference about Realities: The Lifelong Effects of Adoption and the Need for Family Preservation

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Saturday    Sept 25   12:45 - 2:15 pm

René HoksbergenJean Provance Leslie Wagner

Keynote Panel Discussion

Prof. René Hoksbergen, Educator, Holland, Jean Provance,  Adoptee, United States, Leslie Wagner, Mother, Canada

How and why domestic adoption
was stopped in the Netherlands.

Saturday    Sept 25   2:15 - 3:30 pm

Ann Fessler

Keynote 400 
Ann Fessler, Adoptee, Author, Artist, Filmmaker

              A Girl Like Her

Ann Fessler, author of “The Girls Who Went Away” will present her new film A GIRL LIKE HER (2010) which explores the gap between the public images and private experiences of women who surrendered children for adoption in the 1950s and 60s. The film combines “educational” films and newsreels about dating, pregnancy, “illegitimacy” and adoption from the time period, with the voices of women who actually experienced the events depicted.

Key to Symbols:  A-1st Parent Realities, C- On Being Adopted, E - Search Ethics, F-Support Issues,  G - Healing Concepts,  H - Clinically Speaking, I- The Road Ahead, J - Other, S- Self Help

 Saturday 3:45 -5:00 pm
401 Betty Jean Lifton,  Adoptee, Author, MHP
C The Adoptee with a Thousand Selves - and None: Adoptees often feel they have no self. But they do: An adopted self. Exploration of some of the selves. A few are: the Invisible Self, the Abandoned Self, the Vampire Self, the Alternate Self, the Impostor Self - and many more.

402 Karen Wilson Buterbaugh, Mother, Author, Educator
A,S Not by Choice -  A Perfect Crime?: Adoption Practices and Exiled Mothers of the Baby Scoop Era. What is the truth? An historical examination and frank discussion of closed adoption practices during the Baby Scoop Era and how they negatively impacted unprotected, single (‘unwed") mothers, especially those who were interred in maternity homes.

403 Christine Murphy, Adoptee, Author
C,S Why was this so hard for me?  Why did it take 15 years to agree to a reunion?  Follow one  adoptee as she ignores the truth, denies the truth and eventually accepts the truth.

404 Penny Partridge, Author, MHP &  Evie Bond. Adoptees

C,S

 Exploring our Adoptoin Experience via the Arts. :Art can also be surprisingly transformative,  whether we think of ourselves as artists or not - the arts can help us express the   the  "inexpressible," develop "new" parts of ourselves, connect us to others.

405 Kevin Hoffman, Adoptee
C, S Growing Up Black In White:   Hear the  crazy, funny, and scary story of a biracial transracial adoptee  growing up in Detroit in the  70's.

406 Sharon Stein McNamara, Adoptee, MHP
BCH
When adoptees feel suicidal:  Theoretical and practical methods for coping:  Adoptees are in a higher risk category for becoming suicidal when relationships are disrupted or attachment figures fail them.

407 Shannon Kline, Adoptee, Playwright, Actress
CEF REUNION: an autobiographical play about  search and consequences... will dramatically illustrate the  conflicted internal world of adult adoptee (Misty Watkins) confronting search/reunion with inner child (Little Misty). 

408
David DaSilva, Adoptee
GS Making Peace with Your Past and Embracing Your Future:  An open discussion on the steps that need to be taken to heal, a  presentation on what has worked for me and solicitation of ideas  from the audience.

409 Carol Barbieri, Adoptee, Singer
C, S
Medical Crisis Prompts Search: When adoptee Carol Barbieri's son was diagnosed with a  life-threatening heart condition, she began a frantic search for her natural family... Carol's search uncovered some shocking secrets:

** We would like to suggest that you use terms such as "mother," "natural mother," or "first mother" (other examples are "parent," 'first father," "natural family," etc.) in presentations, as opposed to using "birth" prefixes. (An increasing number of mothers of adoption loss and adoptees experience this prefix as offensive and oppressive). Thank you!

6:30 pm - 9:30pm

Banquet & Entertainment - Grand Ballroom


10:00 pm - Midnight

Hospitality Party - Park Central  (Room TBA)