Monday Evening Speaker Series
Adoption Network Cleveland is pleased to offer a VIRTUAL Monday Evening Speaker Series full of topics that are of interest to a broad audience impacted by adoption, kinship, and foster care. These programs are made possible by donors and presenters volunteering their time and they thrive thanks to the active participation of attendees.
Check out past speakers on YouTube.
Upcoming Presentations
Monday, October 19, 2026
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET
Torn from the Root: a Memoir of a Black Transracial Adoptee with Rhonda Roorda
As a Black child adopted out of the New York foster care system as a toddler and raised by white evangelical parents, Rhonda Roorda had to learn how to walk in two different worlds. She often questioned “whether my skin was too dark” and if she “acted too white.” She recalls being haunted by feelings of shame and not being enough. Torn from the Root is her illuminating story of identity, belonging, and purpose and lays bare the deep pain she felt navigating life as a vulnerable Black girl and how she healed herself.
ABOUT RHONDA:
Rhonda M. Roorda, M.A., is a nationally recognized speaker, author, and consultant on transracial adoption whose insights have been featured on Good Morning America and ABC News, in People magazine, and in the Emmy Award–winning television series This Is Us. A transracial adoptee, she is the author of the acclaimed In Their Voices: Black Americans on Transracial Adoption, recognized as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title, and the coauthor of a groundbreaking trilogy on transracial adoption. Through her writing, research, and speaking, Roorda has become a leading voice exploring identity, belonging, and the lifelong impact of adoption across racial and cultural boundaries. She lives in Michigan with her family.
Monday, November 9, 2026
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM (ET)
Navigating Reunion with G.R.A.C.E.: Building Healthy Long-Term Relationships in the Adoption Constellation with Elizabeth Barbour
Reunion isn't a single moment. It's a relationship that keeps unfolding over months, years, and sometimes a lifetime. Whether you're an adoptee, a birth parent, an adoptive parent, or someone who loves a person in reunion, you've probably felt both the hope and the complexity that come with reconnecting. In this session, we'll explore the G.R.A.C.E. Method, a five-part framework (developed by Elizabeth while researching her next book) for navigating relationships post-reunion. Together we'll talk about how to communicate honestly, set boundaries that protect connection rather than end it, and lead with compassion for others and for ourselves, especially when things get messy.
All members of the adoption constellation are welcome, whether you're just thinking about searching, newly reunited, in a stalled reunion or many years into the journey.
ABOUT ELIZABETH:
Elizabeth Barbour, M.Ed., is an adoption reunion coach, speaker and author. A reunited adoptee and an adoptive mother, she brings a rare dual lived-experience perspective to her work with adoptees, birth parents, adoptive parents, and the professionals who support them. Elizabeth is the author of the award-winning Sacred Celebrations: Designing Rituals to Navigate Life's Milestone Transitions and is currently writing a book about adoption reunion. She speaks and trains widely, helping audiences build practical tools for navigating reunion and the complex family relationships it creates. She’s a frequent podcast guest and has spoken at Adoption Knowledge Affiliates, National Association of Parents and Adoptees, Untangling Our Roots, the American Adoption Congress and more. Learn more at www.elizabethbarbour.com.
Monday, December 7, 2026
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET
What Does it Mean to Belong with Meaghan Carriere
What does it mean to belong?
“You belong here.” These were the words that I had longed not only to hear, but to feel for as long as I could remember. Perhaps you can relate? These three words reflect the most basic of human desires, that of belonging. As a person of misattributed parentage, this longing never left me. However, just over a decade ago, I learned the context of why this longing ran so deep.
Meaghan Carriere began writing her first book, You Belong Here - An Expressive and Mindful Journey Through Misattributed Parentage, in 2021; and published in September of 2026. In it she shares how the deception and intergenerational trauma of familial separation and misattributed parentage affected her and others in the community. Offering a sense of hope, a path to recovery, new skills, and invitation to community. With an emphasis on embodiment, Meaghan invites people to use art, play, nature, and human connection to express and heal.
In this talk, Meaghan will share a bit about her personal story, the mistakes she made, and what she learned about beginning again after discovery. She explores the meaning of belonging, and the power of establishing a creative practice.
Sadly, the practice of hiding one’s parentage still persists today, with an estimated 1/20 people experiencing this devastating, disorienting discovery. Meaghan hopes that by raising awareness of the harms, people will begin to realize the benefits of openness.
This talk is for anyone who desires to understand the MPE experience more deeply.
ABOUT MEAGHAN:
Meaghan Carriere was born in Saskatchewan, Canada in the 80’s, despite her mom living in BC. She travelled out of province in an effort to hide Meaghan from her birth father. Once born, she filed for her birth certificate using her stepfather’s name in place of his. This secret was kept until Meaghan’s 33rd birthday, when on the cusp of becoming adoptive parents, she and her partner were told the truth. This caused great disorientation and set in motion a decade long journey of recovery.
Since that time Meaghan has become a mental health professional who works with youth, families, and the MPE and adoption community. She is a multi-disciplinary creative who believes deeply in the healing power of art, play, nature, and connection.
In September 2026, Meaghan published her first book titled: You Belong Here - An Expressive and Mindful Journey Through Misattributed Parentage. In it, she details much of her personal and professional experiences related to being an NPE. She aims to lay the foundation for hope, empowerment, and belief in possibility.
You can learn more about her work here: www.linktr.ee/irrota.studio
