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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KAAN is a Project of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities, fiscal sponsor. This permits KAAN to operate as a nonprofit under TFEC’s 501(c)(3) designation. The official registration and financial information of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free, within Pennsylvania, at 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement. The Foundation for Enhancing Communities is registered in each state requiring such registration for charitable solicitation. Your donation is tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law. Thank you!

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9:30am EDT

Taking Action: AAPI Heritage Month Organizing*

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

Cascade (Lower lobby)

Inspired by the “More Than Enough: Adoptees Leading Asian American Spaces” mainstage and thinking about how you start organizing in your own local community? Join this hands-on workshop to get inspired and take action! Learn from three transracial adoptees who organized AAPI Heritage Month events in Memphis, Cincinnati, and Albany. They’ll share valuable insights, practical tools, and strategies to help you plan an impactful initiative—no matter where you are or how you define community. Bring your idea and leave with a solid plan to bring your vision to life.

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

Speakers

Rachel Hye Youn Rupright

Rachel is a Korean adoptee and adoptive parent. She lives in Albany, NY with her family, where she administers a small healthcare foundation.

Caitlin Jee Hae Behle

Caitlin is a multidisciplinary storyteller based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Caitlin was born in Korea and grew up in Kentucky as a transnational adoptee, an upbringing that instilled a lifelong curiosity about the connections between people, places, and the systems that shape their lives... Read More →

SunAh Laybourn

SunAh Laybourn, PhD is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Memphis, author of "Out of Place: The Lives of Korean Adoptee Immigrants" (NYU Press 2024), and TedX speaker. Frustrated by her hometown's lack of acknowledgment of their API community and inspired by... Read More →

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

Adoptee-Only Session, Repeat Session

11:00am EDT

Workplace Resilience: Adoptee Identity & Navigating Growth

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

Cascade (Lower lobby)

We spend a third of our life working. Our ability to hold a job and earn income directly impacts our ability to maintain wellbeing (i.e. access to healthcare, housing, etc). There is an adoptee community concern with job instability, burnout, and unsafe working environments whether it be mental, physical or emotional. We know childhood trauma impacts adult functioning including job stability and mental health.

This session would:
-explore how these traumas inform adult identities and workplace behaviors
-discuss the impact of these identities on mental health
-provide tools to identify unsafe working environments, establish healthier workplace boundaries and self-advocacy

Speakers

Jordan Bayer

Jordan Bayer (She/Her) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Oklahoma. Her professional roles have included serving as an embedded therapist in a Public-School setting, acting as the Foster Care Program Director for the state's largest private foster care agency, and fulfilling... Read More →

Stephanie Fieldman

Stephanie Fieldman is a transracial Korean adoptee currently living in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is a conference management professional with experience working with both privately held and publicly traded media companies and industry brands across multiple vertical markets. Stephanie... Read More →

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

Adoptee-Only Session

2:45pm EDT

Relationship and Movement

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

Cascade (Lower lobby)

People with a history of adoption often experience ongoing grief and loss of connection to their biological family. It is not uncommon to experience the impact of relationship disruptions throughout their life. How can one change their relationship to the experience of relationship disruptions? Our lived experiences are stored in our body according to The Body Keeps The Score by van der Kolk. Identifying relationship patterns when engaging others and repatterning the dysfunctional reactions are one of the ways we can make changes in relationships. Embodiment of change via experiential exercise is the essence of Somatic Movement Therapy.

Speakers

Mihyun Lee

Mihyun Lee studied Korean Dance, Counseling Psychology, and Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis. For about 30 years of practicing dance professionally shaped her understanding of the primal nature of the body and its expression. Under the theme of Polarity and Integration, she supports... Read More →

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

Adoptee-Only Session

4:15pm EDT

Digging Deeper: Identity and Community Building*

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

Cascade (Lower lobby)

Childhood, dating, marriage, parenthood, and the death of adoptive parents are lifecycle milestones. Participants will explore their evolving relationship to adoption as they moved through each of these stages in life. A.D and Phil will share their personal experiences and utilize creative media prompts for each discussion. We all have voices and experiences worth sharing. This session is for adoptees looking to connect with others on a deeper level around their experiences with the goal of learning from one another. This is a community knowledge building exercise.

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

Speakers

A.D. Herzel

A.D. Herzel is a Korean adoptee, artist and educator for over 20 years. She is a mother of bi-racial teenagers, married for 27 years and both her adoptive parents have passed. She served on the Board of Adoptee Hub and shared her community art project Seeds From The East, at IKAA... Read More →

Phil Pellouchoud

My name is Phil Pellouchoud, and I embraced my Korean adoption identity pretty late in life. Living in San Diego with my wife, two kids, and our dog Casper, I’ve been navigating a birth family search with my family’s support. Along the way, I’ve discovered the profound depth... Read More →

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

Adoptee-Only Session, Repeat Session