KAAN 2025: Full Schedule

The KAAN 2025 Conference will take place at The Grand Hyatt in Atlanta, GA, on June 20-22. The theme this year is Growth and Change. As always, we offer an adoptee-only track alongside our general breakout sessions, which are open to all. We also offer programs for adults and youth (ages 8-17). All are welcome, including adoptees, birth families, family members (adoptive parents, spouses/partners, siblings and children of adoptees), service providers, and Korean Americans. We look forward to seeing you there!

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at tech@wearekaan.org.

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9:30am EDT

Journey to Korea: Healing Through Connection

Saturday June 21, 2025 9:30am - 10:45am EDT

Buckhead BR 1 (Lower lobby)

This session explores the transformative journeys of four Korean adoptees returning to their birth country, and the unexpected benefits and bonds formed through this shared journey. Speakers will share personal stories of how connecting with Korea impacted their understanding of self and belonging. The discussion will address the evolution of identity, the effect on relationships with family and partners, and the emotional complexities involved.

Speakers

Peter Beerman

Peter Beerman grew up on Long Island, NY, and has dedicated much of his career to working in nonprofits, technology, and data analytics. He also owns and operates a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school that offers free women’s self-defense classes and workshops to different groups. His... Read More →

Jennifer Simms-Coffey

Jennifer Simms-Coffey, MA, LMSW (she/her) is a Korean transracial adoptee, and a licensed clinical social worker in private practice based in Michigan. She has an MA in Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and an MSW from the University of Michigan School... Read More →

TK Rojales

TK Rojales is a management consultant with a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. A transracial adoptee from Korea, she resides in Atlanta and is the mother of a 24-year-old biological daughter and a 23-year-old son adopted from Korea... Read More →

Saturday June 21, 2025 9:30am - 10:45am EDT
Buckhead BR 1 (Lower lobby)

General Session (Open To All Attendees)

11:00am EDT

Adopting Our Own Ways of Being*

Saturday June 21, 2025 11:00am - 12:15pm EDT

Buckhead BR 1 (Lower lobby)

Food, art, and identity, oh my! Join Chinese-Canadian adoptee, Annika Walsh for this hands-on session that explores how to transform your identity into a dish that best encapsulates you. Together, through collaging and conversation, we will dive into the fluidity of identity, culture, and food. Annika is an artist and graduate student at the University of British Columbia who presents experience based work that often relate to their experiences as an adoptee. Annika has used food to connect to all of the cultures they are genetically embedded with but also the ones they have absorbed along the way.

This session will also be held on Friday at 1:45 - 3:15 PM.

Speakers

Annika Walsh

Annika Walsh is an emerging transdisciplinary artist and researcher who works with food, cooking, and everything in between to further the notion of connectedness and togetherness. Annika completed a BFA with a specialization in Media at the University of Ottawa in 2022. This grounds... Read More →

Saturday June 21, 2025 11:00am - 12:15pm EDT
Buckhead BR 1 (Lower lobby)

General Session (Open To All Attendees), Repeat Session

2:45pm EDT

Dealing With Aging Parents — Adopted/Birth*

Saturday June 21, 2025 2:45pm - 4:00pm EDT

Buckhead BR 1 (Lower lobby)

This session will deal with those adoptees who are dealing with aging parents -- adopted and/or birth and the limited time we have with either getting to know them or telling them information we need to tell them while they are still able to understand it or acknowledge it.

This session will also be held as a Fishbowl session on Saturday at 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM.

Speakers

Zhen E 젠이 Rammelsberg

Zhen E 젠이 Rammelsberg, a Korean Adoptee, was adopted in the 70s to a White Midwestern family in Iowa. Estranged due to abuse, she was forced back into their lives once aging and health became issues. A published playwright and member of Adoptee Voices Writers, Zhen E has advocated... Read More →

Saturday June 21, 2025 2:45pm - 4:00pm EDT
Buckhead BR 1 (Lower lobby)

General Session (Open To All Attendees), Repeat Session

4:15pm EDT

The Violence of Love: Rethinking Adoption*

Saturday June 21, 2025 4:15pm - 5:30pm EDT

Buckhead BR 1 (Lower lobby)

With the theme of “growth and change,” I would present on my concept of “the violence of love” in transnational adoptions (from my forthcoming book, The Violence of Love: Race, Family, and Adoption in the United States, 2025). Even though love by individuals, agencies, and the nation has fueled transnational adoptions, I will discuss the ways violence has been attached to them in complex ways. I would provide brief examples of how love and violence inform “positive adoption language,” federal adoption legislation, transnational adoption policy, and heritage summer camps for adoptees.

This session will also be held on Sunday at 9:45 - 11:00 AM.

Speakers

Kit Myers

Kit Myers is an assistant professor in the Department of History & Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Merced. He is the author of The Violence of Love: Race, Adoption, and Family in the United States (University of California Press, 2025), which is available... Read More →

Saturday June 21, 2025 4:15pm - 5:30pm EDT
Buckhead BR 1 (Lower lobby)

General Session (Open To All Attendees), Repeat Session