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Our 2025 Application Season Launches on MARCH 1, 2025 Apply Today About the Program Project Mission In 2022, we launched our Therapeutic and Wellness Subsidy for Intercountry Adoptees program, offering financial assistance to aid and supplement their journey toward wellness and healing.    Project Goal This subsidy program allows adoptees to access therapy, counseling, and […]

IAMAdoptee is offering wellness subsidies to support adoptees in accessing mental health and well-being resources. If you are an adoptee seeking financial assistance for therapy, wellness programs, or other support services, apply now through our 2025 Wellness Subsidy Application.

IAMAdoptee presents the 2024 Wellness Subsidy Report, a comprehensive analysis of wellness support for adoptees. This report builds on previous findings to explore how financial subsidies and wellness initiatives are evolving to meet the needs of the adoptee community.

IAMAdoptee presents the 2023 Wellness Subsidy Report, a comprehensive analysis of wellness support for adoptees. This report builds on previous findings to explore how financial subsidies and wellness initiatives are evolving to meet the needs of the adoptee community.

IAMAdoptee Presents: The Wholistic Healer Spotlight Series WHOLISTIC HEALER [hōˈlistik hēlər] noun A “wholistic” intercountry adoptee health practitioner that employs an alternative variety of intercountry adoptee-centered wellness techniques to help adoptees navigate their health and wellness journey, specifically honing in on the mind-body connection. – This series, featuring intercountry adoptee wellness practitioners, aims to provide […]

Wholistic Healer Spotlight: Anna Grundström Anna Grundström is an Indonesian adoptee and BodyMind Movement Facilitator, dancer and artist who works to help people with the emotional tools to navigate transitions and changes in life. Anna’s personal experience as an artist has amplified the fact that creative self-expression such as movement, art, and writing serve as […]

Wholistic Healer Spotlight: Laura Cerrano Laura Cerrano is an adoptee from Bogotá, Colombia. She is second generation of Certified Feng Shui Masters and first generation Certified Usui Reiki Master within her family. Laura advises and helps thousands on issues of personal, professional, and spiritual transformation. Her unique approach to Feng Shui has been credited with reducing […]

Wholistic Healer Spotlight: Amelia Sun Langkusch Amelia Sun Langkusch is an intercountry adoptee born in Iksan, South Korea, and raised as an only child in Laguna Beach, California. In 2018, she reunited with my birth mother and half brother during her first trip back home to South Korea. Following her birth family reunion, she began […]

  Adoptee Reactions: Immigration and Citizenship January 2025 has brought renewed anxiety and uncertainty for many intercountry adoptees in the US.  While the citizenship act of 2000 ensured that adoptees who entered the United States were automatic citizens, this has been little comfort and confidence for adoptees who were naturalized before 2000, for adoptees who never […]

  Adoptee Reactions: China & Korea 2024 In light of the Frontline (PBS) documentary, South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning, and The Associated Press articles about Korean adoption and China’s decision to end its intercountry adoption program—countries which represent two of the largest numbers of intercountry adoptees in the United States—IAMAdoptee convened a group of thought leaders […]

What Does AAPI Month Mean to Me? Personal perspectives and reflections—edited from a conversation with Joy Lieberthal Rho, co-founder of IAMAdoptee, social worker and therapist, and Glenn Morey, filmmaker and co-creator of the Side by Side project Recorded on 5-6-2024 Learn More About the Side by Side Project Glenn Morey: It’s AAPI heritage month. I remember this […]

  “Do you know BTS?” – Min YoonGi, SUGA     Finding Healing One Song at a Time by IAA Co-Founder, Joy Lieberthal Rho   My first favorite song of BTS was “Idol”, the sound of Korean traditional instruments in a pop song caught my ears.  Yet, when a dear big sister/friend of mine asked […]

Considering seeking counseling or therapy and wondering how to go about it? IAMAdoptee reached out to three therapists to help you navigate the process of finding someone for you.  This article was originally published as a February 2020 blog post by Katie Bozek, Ph.D., LMFT for the Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network (KAAN). It […]

. There are many different approaches therapists use as forms of intervention and modalities of work.  Oftentimes, therapists are eclectic and use a variety of different techniques and approaches to getting to healing and understanding.     . IAMAdoptee asked JaeHee Chung Sherman, LCSW to explain the various common modalities many clinicians use in their work.  […]

  During my first year of postgraduate training in Family and Couples Therapy, my supervisor said something so simple and yet so surprising that it permanently shifted my sense of self.  I was working with a couple that had been struggling with trust, closeness and commitment.  My supervisor advised “Kacy, think about romantic love in […]

Nearly 11 years ago, I presented a workshop at the KAAN conference about navigating attachment, intimate partner(s) relationships and love.  It was an extremely memorable experience, predominantly because I went into labor (5 weeks early) on the car ride home.  Everything ended up being fine but I will forever associate these themes of attachment with […]

    IAMAdoptee sat down with Chaitra Witra-Leiker and had the opportunity to more deeply understand the Adoption and Adverse Childhood Experiences Score.       Darci Siegel: My name is Darci Siegel, I use she/her pronouns, and I am a content developer with IAMAdoptee. I’m excited to sit with Dr. Chaitra Wirta-Leiker, licensed psychologist […]

Wellness and being adopted IAMAdoptee reached out to a group of mental health professionals to help us think about ways being adopted might particularly impact our well-being during this COVID19 pandemic.  Even as restrictions are starting to lift in various regions of the world, the emotional impact lingers in ways we have yet to anticipate.  […]

Q&A with Dr. Chaitra Wirta-Leiker and IAMAdoptee contributing editor, Emma    Q: COVID-19 might trigger some latent issues for adoptees in particular, for example with challenges surrounding food and food scarcity. People are posting all over social media about grocery shopping, being stocked, or having anxiety of not having enough. Some are making grand elaborate meals. Others […]

Part 2 with Dr. Chaitra Wirta-Leiker and IAMAdoptee contributing editor, Emma Click here to read Part I Q: How does this current health pandemic have the potential to exacerbate a lack of or strengthen our sense of community and belonging? Chaitra: I feel like this is kind of the same as all of the other […]

Part 3 with Dr. Chaitra Wirta-Leiker and IAMAdoptee contributing editor, Emma Click to read Parts I & II Q: Can you lend your expertise on a few scenarios that might be particular to the international adoptee community as it pertains to attachment and family? Scenario 1: There are a lot of college students, young adult adoptees, […]

  Holidays As Adoptees This article presents a video conversation with international adoptees Katie Naftzger, LICSW and Kathy Sacco, LCSW and their wisdom on the challenges, the opportunities, the tough parts and the ways we can authentically navigate the holiday season. IAMAdoptee is grateful to all of you who shared your thoughts on how being adopted has impacted the way […]