FOUNDER & CEO of Adoption Mosaic

Astrid Castro, founder/CEO of Adoption Mosaic. For over three decades, Astrid has served the adoption constellation through a variety of innovative programing designed to highlight the adoptee experience. Prior to creating Adoption Mosaic, Astrid worked in both the private and public sectors of various adoption organizations such the Oregon Post Adoption Resource Center (ORPARC), Holt International and Rocky Mountain Adoption Exchange, to name just a few. Astrid is aware of the benefits of post-adoption services for individuals and their families and seeks to bring these services to the adoption community. Her life-long interest in adoption is rooted in her own adoption at the age of four from Colombia (along with her older sister). Astrid has been in reunion since December 2012 with her birth family in Colombia.

KOREAN ADOPTEE

Liz Kwon was born in Seoul, South Korea and was adopted to a family in Wisconsin. During the day she is a project manager and at night, runs KAD Collective, a data-focused website whose goal is to help Korean adoptees find connection through shared experiences, locations or stories via a bi-yearly census and ongoing database. She is also on the board at K.A.M.P., helping to develop an adult adoptee summer camp track for 2024. Liz is excited to help normalize adoptee and adoption family estrangement.

ADOPTIVE PARENT

Maureen’s professional background is in child welfare advocacy, as former executive director of 3 adoption-related nonprofits. She’s presented workshops on adoption (i.e., transracial, international, older children, racism) across the US and in Canada. She is currently a consultant with Adoption Mosaic, as well as a writer and editor. Maureen is co-editor, with two Ethiopian adoptees, of “Lions Roaring, Far From Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees,” published in December 2022. Her four children, all transracially adopted, are now in their 30’s; she also has two granddaughters.