It is sadly a common place for many Asian adult adoptees to have been raised in communities without exposure to other adoptees. Asian Adult Adoptees of Washington (AAAW) was founded in response to this need so that their stories surrounding race, identity, and other experiences exclusive to being an Asian adoptee could be shared in community.
Asian Adult Adoptees of Washington was founded December 7, 1996 as a non-profit organization amongst a small group of adoptees who met for dinner one evening and began discussing the potential for an adoptee organization. Since then, we’ve proudly kept the monthly dinner tradition alive where members learn about upcoming events while socializing in a low-key environment.
Through our family like community, Asian Adult Adoptees of Washington helps foster relationships and support its members by providing resources, scholarships, and events throughout the year. Some of our most loved events are the Summer BBQ’s at the beach, adoptee lead spoken word performances, and dialogue series lead by fellow social work members. Four years ago, AAAW founded a nonprofit mentorship program for Asian Adoptee youth and is lead by AAAW members.
Personally, there are many things I love about this community, but my favorite is how we celebrate every adoptee from all walks of life. We recognized the need, even 21 and a half years ago, to be inclusive. AAAW is nearly 700 members strong, and within that group exists varying levels of socioeconomic status, life experiences, and personalities. Some in our group were adopted, like myself, in infancy, while others were adopted much later in life and have memories of their birth country. Our members have birth countries from all over Asia including Korea, China, India, and Vietnam. Asian Adult Adoptees of Washington will continue to be an inclusive resource for all members of the Asian adoptee community.
For more information please visit or contact:
http://aaawashington.org/
aaawash@gmail.com
For current event notifications please join our Facebook group (open to Asian Adult Adoptees only):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/aaawashington
Our public page, open for anyone to “like” please visit:
https://www.facebook.com/aaawash/
