North / Central Michigan Adoptees Meetup

Explore how being adopted across borders shapes our identities for a lifetime in Bridging Worlds: the Lifelong Impact of Transnational
Bridging Worlds: the Lifelong Impact of Transnational Adoption and Identity

Join host Anna Sarkitova, intercountry adoptee and advocate, for a powerful conversation with Sandi Morgan Caesar, MSW—a Panamanian-born adoptee, social worker, and community leader whose life and work illuminate the intersections of identity, belonging, and justice in adoption.

Sandi shares her journey from Panama to the U.S., her reunion with her birth family, and her decades of experience working in both private adoption and public child welfare. Together, Anna and Sandi will explore themes of cultural continuity, identity formation, and systemic change in transnational and transracial adoption.

Whether you are an adoptee, part of the adoption constellation, or an ally seeking deeper understanding, this dialogue offers insight into the lived realities of adoption and the importance of centering adoptee voices in the movement for reform and healing.

Hosted by: Adoptee Advocates of Michigan (AAOM)
Suggested Donation: $10 (or more if you are able)
LINK FOR TICKETS
Can’t donate? Come anyway—your presence matters.

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AAOM Speaker Series, hosted by Anna Sarkitova Presented by the Adoptee Advocates of Michigan (AAOM)
This interview is the first in our new speaker series hosted by Anna Sarkitova, international adoptee, advocate, and proud Adoptee Advocates of Michigan board member. In each session, Anna will sit down with powerful authors, community leaders, and changemakers who are advancing justice, visibility, and equity for adoptees and their families.

The AAOM Speaker Series is part of our grassroots fundraising campaign in support of our activism, community building, educational and legislative outreach where we work hard to bring adoptee voices directly to the people, families, and policymakers who need to hear them. As a volunteer-run organization, your support helps us compensate our speakers and sustain these vital conversations within the community.

Whether you are an adoptee, a member of the adoption constellation, or a passionate ally, this series is a great opportunity to stay informed, get inspired, and support the voices that too often go unheard in adoption.

Decoding DNA: Finding Biological Family with Search Angel Susan Christin
Susan combines technical expertise and deep compassion in her work, using DNA to uncover origins and reconnect with biological family.
Join host Anna Sarkitova, international adoptee and advocate, for an essential and empowering conversation with AAOM Board Member, Susan Christin, search angel, and DNA expert who has helped reunite more than 200 families.

Susan will guide attendees through the process of understanding and interpreting their DNA test results to locate biological relatives, something especially crucial for adoptees who are denied access to their original birth certificates in states with closed records. DNA is the most accurate tool for finding your family of origin. In this session, Susan will break down how to read your DNA matches, organize your findings, and apply practical search techniques.

A long-time member of the Search Squad, a free locator group for adoptees, birth parents, and biological families, Susan brings both technical expertise and deep compassion to her work. She also leads AAOM’s monthly workshop helping Michigan adoptees navigate requests and petitions for birth records through state and county systems.

Susan’s experience, precision, and empathy make her a vital member of the Adoptee Advocates of Michigan (AAOM) team and a trusted ally to adoptees across the country. The event will include a closing Q&A, so bring your questions about DNA, search strategy, or how to begin your own journey.

Suggested Donation: $10 (or more if you are able)
Can’t donate? Come anyway—your presence matters.
LINK TO TICKETS
Hosted by: Adoptee Advocates of Michigan (AAOM)
_________________________________________

AAOM Speaker Series, hosted by Anna Sarkitova Presented by the Adoptee Advocates of Michigan (AAOM)
This interview is the first in our new speaker series hosted by Anna Sarkitova, international adoptee, advocate, and proud Adoptee Advocates of Michigan board member. In each session, Anna will sit down with powerful authors, community leaders, and changemakers who are advancing justice, visibility, and equity for adoptees and their families.

The AAOM Speaker Series is part of our grassroots fundraising campaign in support of our activism, community building, educational and legislative outreach where we work hard to bring adoptee voices directly to the people, families, and policymakers who need to hear them. As a volunteer-run organization, your support helps us compensate our speakers and sustain these vital conversations within the community.

Whether you are an adoptee, a member of the adoption constellation, or a passionate ally, this series is a great opportunity to stay informed, get inspired, and support the voices that too often go unheard in adoption.

--We can’t wait to see you.

Creative Truth-Telling: An Adoptee Conversation with Sullivan Summer A conversation exploring adoptee experience and the ways creative expression helps reclaim identity and reshape cultural narratives.

In this conversation, Anna Sarkitova will speak with writer and adoptee rights advocate Sullivan Summer, an independent scholar whose work centers the Black and transracial adoptee experience. Sullivan is the President of Adoptees for Family Preservation and co-editor of a forthcoming adoptee anthology on estrangement, which gathers creative nonfiction exploring the emotional and relational complexities of distancing from adoptive, biological, or other family systems. She will discuss why she believes estrangement is so prevalent in adoptee communities, what it reveals about adoption as an institution, and how creative work can become a space for truth-telling, reclamation, and personal agency. Drawing from her poetry, criticism, and organizing work, Sullivan will offer insight into how adoptees are reshaping cultural narratives by telling their own stories on their own terms.

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AAOM Speaker Series, hosted by Anna Sarkitova Presented by the Adoptee Advocates of Michigan (AAOM)
This interview is the first in our new speaker series hosted by Anna Sarkitova, international adoptee, advocate, and proud Adoptee Advocates of Michigan board member. In each session, Anna will sit down with powerful authors, community leaders, and changemakers who are advancing justice, visibility, and equity for adoptees and their families.

The AAOM Speaker Series is part of our grassroots fundraising campaign in support of our activism, community building, educational and legislative outreach where we work hard to bring adoptee voices directly to the people, families, and policymakers who need to hear them. As a volunteer-run organization, your support helps us compensate our speakers and sustain these vital conversations within the community.

Whether you are an adoptee, a member of the adoption constellation, or a passionate ally, this series is a great opportunity to stay informed, get inspired, and support the voices that too often go unheard in adoption.

Suggested donation: $10 (or more if you are able)
Get Tickets Here
Can’t donate? Come anyway- your presence matters.
We can’t wait to see you.
— The AAOM Team

Susan Christin is a founding member of Adoptee Advocates of Michigan and has facilitated more than 200 reunions between biological family members and adopted people through her service as a search angel. She has extensive experience in helping people get their information. Please RSVP if you can commit to attending.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85402508162
Meeting ID: 854 0250 8162

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(All donations go to support the work of Adoptee Advocates of Michigan)