Adoptee Leadership Exchange
Date: June 7 to 9, 2024
Location: New York City, US
The inaugural Adoptee Leadership Exchange was held in New York City from June 7th to June 9th, 2024. AlsoknownAs, Inc. and IKAA welcomed 17 organizations and 42 adoptee leaders from around the globe, representing a truly diverse group of adoptees. While the majority of groups were Korean adoptee focused, the Leadership Exchange brought together adoptee organizations representing China and South America as well. The event provided a unique opportunity for adoptee leaders to connect, learn, and grow together.
Adoptee-led organizations attending include:
- IKAA
- Also-Known-As, Inc.
- Asian Adoptees of Canada
- China’s Children International
- IAMAdoptee
- Asian Adult Adoptees of Washington
- Chinese Adoptee Alliance
- KAAN – Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network
- Adoptees For Justice
- KAtCH – Korean Adoptees of Chicago
- Adoptees of South America + Extended Latin America
- KAIAN – Korean Adoptees In Australia Network
- Korea Klubben Denmark
- KAD e.V. Deutschland
- Racines Coréennes
- Soft Gong
- Korean Adoptees in Belgium
The leadership exchange was intentionally designed to bring together a diverse group of adoptee leaders representing communities from not only Korea, but also from China and South America. Not all IKAA organizations were created as solely Korean adoptee organizations. We are also seeing more Chinese Adoptees step into leadership roles and drive community building efforts in the international adoptee community. This was an exciting opportunity to not only drive IKAA’s leadership development but to also collaborate with and share our learnings with the next generation of international adoptee organizations and leaders.
