This We the Experts panel centers adoptees who, as children, have experienced the juvenile justice system or any out-of-home placements after adoption. Often missing from mainstream conversations is how these types of placements impact an adoptee’s identity and the impact it can have on other siblings living in the home who are also adoptees. Together, we will examine how community, policy, more holistic adoptee-centered post adoption education, and support systems can better serve adoptees and families impacted by incarceration, criminalization, pathologization and out-of-home placements.

Points to Ponder:

• What changes are needed within adoption practices to better support youth?

• How might early experiences of loss or instability within an adoptive family influence a young person’s relationship with authority, trust, or safety?

• What does healing look like after being labeled a “troubled youth”?

• How do punitive actions on the part of adoptive parents derail the adoptee’s sense of safety, bonding/connection with the adoptive family, and create further opportunities for trauma.

We hope you can join us for this important discussion.

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