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.

Donate to KAAN
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!

10:30am EDT

KAAN 2025 Orientation: LGBTQIA+ Only (Adoptees Only)

Friday June 20, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am EDT

Library (Lobby)

Friday June 20, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
Library (Lobby)

Adoptee-Only Session

12:00pm EDT

Soundscapes & Stories: Shaping Stories Through Music

Friday June 20, 2025 12:00pm - 1:15pm EDT

Library (Lobby)

We grow & change through creative processing. As adoptees, we navigate the 7 core issues of adoption and this session is a jump-start to exploring these issues through a creative lens. Led by professional musicians, Jae Carelli & Jonathan Hurley, you will be taken on a journey through soundscapes and stories.

Speakers

Jonathan Hurley

Jonathan Hurley is a Korean Adoptee residing in Nashville, TN. He is an accomplished Professional Session & Touring Guitarist, photographer & entrepreneur. Jonathan does a lot of activism work as well as mentorship in both the art and adoptee spaces.

Jae Carelli

Jae Carelli is a professional musician living in New York City, working as a music director, voice teacher, and performing artist. They have a decade of experience teaching students of all ages piano, voice, songwriting, and music theory, and are currently pursuing a MFA in Voice... Read More →

Friday June 20, 2025 12:00pm - 1:15pm EDT
Library (Lobby)

Fishbowl Session (Adoptee-Centered But Non-Adoptees May Attend To Listen)

1:30pm EDT

Beyond Birth Search: Heritage Travel & Identity*

Friday June 20, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT

Library (Lobby)

Heritage travel goes beyond the birth search; it has transformative effects on an adoptee’s identity. We’ll explore these impacts through a blend of storytelling and discussion. First, we’ll share our own personal journeys. Then, we’ll invite participant engagement, incorporate quotes from past travelers, and review recent findings on the benefits of heritage travel.

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

Speakers

Liz Kwon

Liz Kwon was born in Seoul, South Korea and adopted to a family in Wisconsin. Liz has been involved in the KAD community since she started attending culture camps at age 5.Liz has been on panels with Adoption Mosaic (Adoptees & Parenting, Adoptees & Adoptive Family Estrangement) and... Read More →

Tanya Kaanta

Tanya, is a Korean adoptee and former academic with a PhD in Sociology and an MS in Student Affairs. With 20 years in higher education, she supported students, taught sociology, and conducted research focused on education and adoptee identity. In 1999, Tanya returned to Korea to live... Read More →

Friday June 20, 2025 1:30pm - 2:45pm EDT
Library (Lobby)

Fishbowl Session (Adoptee-Centered But Non-Adoptees May Attend To Listen), Repeat Session

9:30am EDT

Naming and Navigating Adoption Microaggressions*

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

Library (Lobby)

In this interactive session, presenters will share key research on adoption microaggressions and facilitate a dynamic conversation for adoptees to reflect on personal experiences. Through guided dialogue, attendees will explore the impact of these microaggressions and work together to strategize empowered, proactive responses. This session creates a supportive space for adoptees to share stories, gain insight into common experiences, and leave with practical tools for navigating future interactions.

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

Speakers

Aeriel A. Ashlee

Dr. Aeriel A. Ashlee (she/her) is a Korean American transracial transnational adoptee scholar and speaker. Her work focuses on amplifying adoptee voices, facilitating expansive (re)imagining of power, and advancing collective liberation by cultivating inner healing. Dr. Ashlee has... Read More →

DeLa Dos

DeLa Dos is the senior director, Learning + Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Association of Research Libraries—a nonprofit membership organization of research libraries in major public and private universities, federal agencies, and large public institutions in Canada and... Read More →

Saturday June 21, 2025 9:30am - 10:45am EDT
Library (Lobby)

Fishbowl Session (Adoptee-Centered But Non-Adoptees May Attend To Listen), Repeat Session

11:00am EDT

Dealing With Aging Parents — Adopted/Birth*

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

Library (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 an Adoptee Only session on Saturday at 2:45 - 4:00 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 11:00am - 12:15pm EDT
Library (Lobby)

Fishbowl Session (Adoptee-Centered But Non-Adoptees May Attend To Listen), Repeat Session

2:45pm EDT

Ambiguous Loss: Navigating the "I-don't-knows"

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

Library (Lobby)

Ambiguous loss is experienced from the moment adoptees are separated from their first family. Though there are many avenues to search for and locate first families, there is still a high percentage of adoptees whose circumstances do not lend themselves to be able to be in reunion. Being in reunion also does not end the ambiguous loss that adoptees had experienced up until that point. This session explores what ambiguous loss is, how adoptees experience it throughout the course of their life, and ways to navigate through the deep sense of grief and loss that has no end.

Speakers

Katie Bozek

Saturday June 21, 2025 2:45pm - 4:00pm EDT
Library (Lobby)

Fishbowl Session (Adoptee-Centered But Non-Adoptees May Attend To Listen)

4:15pm EDT

Embrace Intersectional Identity: Support Your Needs

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

Library (Lobby)

Over time children available for adoption from China to the United States changed; to include boys and girls who were often older or needed complex medical care.These adoptees joined a growing sub community of adoptees that emerged in the intersection of adoption and disability and or, chronic Illness and medical complexities. We aim to support adoptees that identify with this intersectional identity, and their allies by sharing our experiences as adult Chinese adoptees with disabilities, and the resources that we use in our lives to navigate the unpredictable, isolating, and confusing changes that this intersection brings in adulthood.

Speakers

Ava Busto Schiff

Ava is a 29 year old, Chinese adoptee with cerebral palsy living independently working full time. She is an ambulatory wheelchair user and service dog handler. Ava grew up in NYC surrounded by other Chinese adoptees, exploring her birth culture through language and culture classes... Read More →

Maddy Ullman

Adopted from Hong Kong to America, Maddy is a writer, photographer, and storyteller based in Dallas TX with cerebral palsy and diabetes. Through her career as a showrunner’s assistant at Netflix and Warner Brothers, Maddy is dedicated to raising authentic portrayal of disabilities... Read More →

Saturday June 21, 2025 4:15pm - 5:30pm EDT
Library (Lobby)

Fishbowl Session (Adoptee-Centered But Non-Adoptees May Attend To Listen)

9:45am EDT

Beyond Birth Search: Heritage Travel & Identity*

Sunday June 22, 2025 9:45am - 11:00am EDT

Library (Lobby)

Speakers

Liz Kwon

Tanya Kaanta

Sunday June 22, 2025 9:45am - 11:00am EDT
Library (Lobby)

Fishbowl Session (Adoptee-Centered But Non-Adoptees May Attend To Listen), Repeat Session