Amanda L. Baden, Ph.D. (she/her)

Amanda is a transracial adoptee, adopted internationally from Hong Kong. She believes in examining issues of race, privilege, oppression, and power in adoption to promote ethical and sensitive practice with transracial adoptees and their families. 

Amanda is a licensed psychologist with a practice in New York City and is a Professor in the graduate Counseling Program at Montclair State University (NJ). She focuses her research and clinical practice on the adoption kinship network, transracial/international adoption issues, racial and cultural identity, and multicultural counseling competence. Amanda was an editor of The Handbook of Adoption: Implications for Researchers, Practitioners, and Families. Amanda serves on the Board on the New York State Board of Psychology, the Advisory Board for the Rudd Adoption Research Program (UMass-Amherst), the Board of Creating a Family, as a Senior Fellow for the National Center on Adoption and Permanency, as chair of the Adoption Initiative Biennial Conferences held in NYC, and as a Senior Fellow for the former Donaldson Adoption Institute. 

Amanda was awarded the John D. Black Award in 2014 from the American Psychological Association and Division 17 for Outstanding Practice of Counseling Psychology, Outstanding Graduate Advisor for Montclair State University in 2017, and Angel in Adoption in 2005. 

Amanda lives in Manhattan in New York City. Visit her website for more information.

Susan Branco, PhD, LPC (she/her)

Susan is a transracial and international adoptee from Colombia, South America. She is an advocate for increased adoption related research and training within counselor education and is passionate about improving mental health outcomes for transracially adopted persons. 

Susan is a Licensed Professional Counselor and clinical assistant professor in the clinical mental health master’s program at the Family Institute at Northwestern University. She earned a PhD in counselor education and supervision, a post master’s degree in marriage and family therapy, and a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling. For over 14 years she maintained an independent practice working with members of the adoption constellation. Her research interests include transracial adoption and mental health, Colombian adoption policy, and clinical training and supervision practices for counselors of Color.

Susan is the recipient of the 2021 International Association for Marriage and Family Counselors’ Outstanding Leadership Award, the 2019 National Board for Certified Counselors Foundation’s Bridging the Gap Award for Excellence in Counselor Education and Supervision, the 2018 Chicago School of Professional Psychology’s Excellence in Multicultural Teaching Award, and is a 2014 Minority Fellowship Program awardee. 

Visit Susan’s website for more information, including speaking engagements and peer reviewed publications.

Quade Yoo Song French, Ph.D. (he/him)

Quade is a transracial adoptee originally from South Korea. He believes in collectively interrogating and changing systems and structures that create differentially equitable lived experiences, so that individuals and groups may live equitably and authentically. He has explored these themes within the transracial adoptee experience of identity and family connection, as well as broadly in large higher educational systems and groups.  

Quade is a licensed clinical psychologist, and a consultant with the University of Southern California Office of Campus Wellbeing and Education where he works to address group dynamics, communication, and inclusion across diverse identities. He is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the USC Rossier School of Education where he teaches courses on social justice and the counseling profession, psychological theories in counseling, and ethics and legal issues in counseling.

Visit Quade’s bio for more information on his professional work.

Holly Grant-Marsney, Ph.D. (she/her)

Holly is a transracial adoptee, adopted internationally from South Korea. She believes in centering and elevating adoptee voices and perspectives in the research, training, and policies of adoption. Holly is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts. Her area of research focuses on adoption, the adopted person, and their close relationships. She studies how adoption is associated with attachment development and the impact of various adoption contact arrangements on family dynamics. She is also interested in emotion and identity development during adolescence and emerging adulthood. Holly is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, and additionally teaches in the Master of Arts program in Clinical Psychology at Bridgewater State University, preparing students to become skilled mental health professionals.  

Holly lives in the South Shore of Massachusetts. Visit this site for more information about Holly.  

Tony Hynes, MA, Ph.D. Candidate (he/him)

Tony is a Black interracial adoptee from Washington, D.C. He believes in amplifying the intersectional experiences of adoptees through recognition of a more holistic picture of adoption practice.

Tony is a Training Specialist at the Center for Adoption Support and Education, an organization devoted to improving the lives of children who have been adopted and their families through counseling, lifelong education, and a growing national network of trained professionals. Tony completed his Masters thesis in Sociology on the psychological wellbeing of the child within the same-sex headed household in 2013, and is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he is studying the importance of social connections among African American interracial adoptees. 

He is also the author of the Son With Two Moms, a memoir about his life growing up as a Black man with two LGBTQIA+ identifying, white parents. He is the recipient of the Hope Berry Manley Leadership award for leaders whose contributions showcase commitment to uplifting and supporting initiatives that are by and for youth & adult children in LGBTQIA+ families, and worked on the campaign to pass the legalization of same sex marriage in Maryland in 2012. Tony currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area.

Hope Kassen, LMSW Candidate (she/her)

Hope is a transracial adoptee adopted as an infant from Changsha, China and raised in Maine. Hope believes in the necessity and right of adoptees of color to join the global conversations around intersectionality, racism, power, and oppression and to lead the movement towards more equitable and just adoption practices.

Hope is currently working as a psychotherapist at Bleuler Psychotherapy Center and as a community habilitation program coordinator at the Chinese American Planning Council. She is in her final year as a MSW student at Columbia School of Social Work. Her clinical focus is supporting individuals, families, and couples in the areas of mental health, racial and cultural identity, adoption, and interpersonal relational issues. She is interested in research examining the impact of attachment, race, and culture on the formation of identity and sense of self in both adopted and non-adopted persons. 

Hope graduated from Oberlin College in 2015 with a BA in political science and legal studies. In 2016 she was awarded a Fulbright Student Teaching Grant to Sarawak, Malaysia. Hope currently lives in New York City.

Adam Y. Kim, Ph.D. (he/him)

Adam is an adopted Korean American. Adam believes in using research, teaching, and community work to advance nuanced conversations and critical perspectives on adoption that can improve the lived experiences of adopted individuals. Adam is a visiting assistant professor at Wesleyan University. His teaching and research focus on identity, politicization, and solidarity in the contexts of adoption and racial marginalization. He received his Ph.D. from University of Minnesota in personality psychology in 2020. Recently, he has published work related to adoption in Journal of Family Psychology and The Routledge Handbook of Adoption.

JaeRan Kim, Ph.D., MSW (she/her)

JaeRan is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work and Criminal Justice at the University of Washington at Tacoma.

JaeRan was adopted from South Korea and grew up in Minnesota. Prior to completing her doctoral degree, she worked with foster and adopted children and families and with adults with disabilities in residential care. JaeRan’s research is focused on the intersection of adoption and disabilities, in particular exploring disability, race, and transnational experiences for adoptees. As a public scholar, she is passionate about engaging in community-based projects; her blog Harlow’s Monkey, which focuses on the transracial/transnational adoptee experience, is one of the longest-running transracial adoption blogs in the United States.

Visit JaeRan’s website for more information about her work.

Hollee A. McGinnis, MSSW, PhD (she/her)

Holleee is a transracial adoptee from South Korea. Hollee believes adoption means more — more family, more complexity, more loss, and more love. Hollee is an Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work. She has more than 20 years of community organizing, practice, policy, and research experience relating to the life course of orphaned and separated children in alternative care (adoption, foster, institutions). Her current research is focused on adult outcomes of adopted persons and foster care alumni.

Prior to obtaining her doctorate at Washington University in St. Louis, Hollee was Policy Director at the Donaldson Adoption Institute, a national organization that focuses on adoption policy and practice in the U.S., where she headed a national study on adoption and racial identity among adopted adults. She received her Master of Science from Columbia University School of Social Work (New York City), and completed a post-Master’s Clinical Social Work Fellowship at the Yale University Child Study Center. In 1996, she founded Also-Known-As, Inc., a non-profit adult intercountry adoptee organization that provides post-adoption services to international adoptees and adoptive families. She currently serves on the advisory board of UMASS Amherst Rudd Adoption Research Program and the board of the community website I Am Adoptee. She was also the inaugural program chair of the Rudd Adoption Research Program’s Virtual Conference 2020-2021. In 2008, she was recognized by the U.S. Government with a Congressional Angel in Adoption award for her work on adoption. Hollee currently lives in Richmond, VA.

Contact Hollee here or on Twitter for more information about her work.

Katie Wynen, MSW (she/her)

Katie is a transracial, international Colombian adoptee who has worked with members of the adoption constellation since 2006. Adoption is complicated, and Katie advocates for the voices and experiences of adoptees and birth parents to be at the forefront of the adoption conversation.

Katie studied under Dr. Joyce Maguire Pavao in Boston, MA before moving to Oakland, CA and joining the staff at Pact, an Adoption Alliance as their adoption social worker and LGBTQ advocate. At Pact, Katie works within adoption placement where she works exclusively with BIPOC prospective adoptive parents. In addition to placement work, Katie leads monthly support groups for Adult Adoptees of Color, works with youth during Pact Camp, leads a consultation group for BIPOC professionals working within placement, and provides adoption education nationwide.

Katie has been interviewed about her personal and professional experience and featured on the following podcasts: Yes, we do adopt!, The Fertile Nest, and IVFML by HuffPost. Katie is an Angels in Adoption 2019 Recipient from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.

Angela Tucker (she/her)

Angela is a transracial adoptee, adopted from foster care as an infant. Angela believes that the experiences and insights of transracial adoptees offer crucial perspectives around racism, religion, immigration, trauma, and the many layers of unconventional families.  

Angela works as the Director of Post-Adoption Services at Amara and as a consultant for The Adopted Life. She is a mentor and advisor to adoptees nationwide, and serves as a media consultant to Hollywood writers and Broadway producers. Her search for her biological family was chronicled in the 2013 documentary CLOSURE. Angela’s work has appeared in The Root, The Journal of Child & Family Social Work, Anderson Cooper, The Red Table Talk and other outlets. Angela hosts The Adoptee Next Door podcast to offer nuanced, ethical and accessible content in order to create a world where all adoptee experiences are valid and valued.

Contact Angela on her website for more information about her work.

Chaitra Wirta-Leiker, PsyD (she/her)

Chaitra is a transracial adoptee, adopted internationally from India. Chaitra believes that competent post-adoption support with a focus on intersectionality and social justice is the right of every adoptee, and comprehensive reform in adoption policies and practices is crucial to the psychological wellbeing of future adoptees.

Chaitra is a Licensed Psychologist and the owner of Beyond Words Psychological Services. She has worked with members of the adoption constellation in residential treatment centers, inpatient hospital units, juvenile probation programs, schools, community mental health centers, and university counseling centers, and has specialized in mental health support focused on adoption, trauma, and racial identity development through her private practice since 2012. She is a frequent speaker and trainer at adoption agencies, camps, and conferences throughout the U.S. and sits on the advisory board for Heritage Camps for Adoptive Families. She is the creator of the National Adoptee-Therapist Directory, author of The Adoptee Self-Reflection Journal and The Adoptive Parent Self-Reflection Journal, and the facilitator of numerous educational videos for adoptive caregivers and professionals.

Chaitra lives in Denver, Colorado. Visit her website for more information about the services and resources she offers.