Centering Adoptee Voices Through Mentorship and Community

In April, Dr. JaeRan Kim, associate professor and chair of the BASW Program and Social Work Division at UW Tacoma, shared insights on the Supporting Adoptees Through Mentorship and Mutual Aid initiative.

The conversation highlighted how adoptee-led research, mentorship and community partnerships are strengthening support systems while also creating hands-on opportunities for students to engage in community-centered research.

This initiative grew from a collaboration among UW Tacoma faculty, students and community organizations, including the Adoptee Mentoring Society and AIRE Roots. The Adoptee Mentoring Society offers research-informed mentorship grounded in lived adoptee experience. AIRE Roots provides spaces for BIPOC adoptees to connect through social events, workshops, retreats and leadership development.

Together, these partners set out to better understand how mentorship and mutual aid can support adoptees and strengthen programs designed by and for adoptees. The work is closely tied to Kim’s own experiences and developed through ongoing conversations with community leaders who are also adoptees, mentors and advocates.

“Lots of younger adoptees were saying they didn't really know anybody else who had been adopted,” Kim said. “The mentoring really was aimed to help them see that they weren't alone.”

Although mentoring programs for adoptees already exist, many are run by adoption agencies or organizations that are not led by adoptees. This effort instead examines what mentorship looks like when it is shaped by adoptees themselves.

“There’s something really unique and special about being part of a program where it's all adoptee-led,” Kim said.

For Angela Tucker, founder and CEO of the Adoptee Mentoring Society, the work also represents a shift in who shapes adoption research.

“Adopted people are frequently the subjects of research rather than the leaders of it,” Tucker said. “Their own accounts of what helps them heal and thrive are rarely centered.”

A central aim of the initiative is to prioritize adoptee perspectives in both research and practice. Participants contributed not only by sharing their experiences, but also by helping analyze findings and guide the direction of the work.

Early findings point to the wide range of adoptee experiences, which makes it difficult for any single mentoring model to meet every need. The research also underscores the importance of supporting mentors through training, community building and shared learning opportunities.

For Tucker, the results affirmed what many adoptees already knew through personal experience.

“For mentees, the research validated their experiences of feeling seen, understood and less alone,” she said. “This is exciting because it affirms the programmatic choices which ensure that these results are not incidental, but that they are born from our intentional, adoptee-centered design.”

Students also played a key role, gaining direct experience in research and community engagement. For student team member Aleeya Callahan, the work was especially meaningful.

Growing up, Callahan had met only one other adoptee. Being part of a team made up entirely of adoptees introduced her to a broader community and shared experiences she had not previously encountered.

“It was incredibly touching to hear about the experiences of other adult adoptees in the community,” she said.

Like many community-based efforts, the work came with challenges, especially the time required to build strong, trusting relationships.

“Relationships take time,” Kim said. “This is all about relationship building.”

The initiative also emphasized the importance of participant care, particularly given the potential for trauma-related experiences.

Kim is scheduled to present this work at the International Conference on Adoption Research in Porto, Portugal later this summer.

Ultimately, the initiative shows how research conducted with communities, not just about them, can strengthen support systems, expand knowledge and build lasting connections among adoptees.