One of our guest bloggers introduced us to this wonderful adoptee mentoring organization. They are currently expanding into the Western and Central NY area. For more information on Connect-a-Kid contact them through their website http://www.connectakid.org/who-we-are/our-mission/.
We all know growing up ain’t easy, growing up with something different about you also ain’t always easy. Often adopted kids don’t live near other adopted kids. Or may have a few kids in their life that are adopted but they don’t see on a regular basis. Role models in society for adopted kids can be far and few between.
Connect A Kid was created by a Korean adoptee named Brian Conyer who grew up with two older sisters also adopted from Korea. Having them as role models helped Brian develop into the successful and happy young man he is today. He believes that the connection he had with his older sisters helped him cope with being a little different than most families as well, his family was a transracial family, making their lives often times stand out in public.
Connect A Kid is a mentoring group that pairs for adopted adult mentors with four adopted kids 4-17 in order to give them role models and someone to talk to about what’s going on in their personal lives.
Adult adoptees often say that the things they wish their parents had done as kids for them was to provide several things, 1) Exposure to diverse groups of people, 2) Exposure to people who look like them, & 3) Have someone to talk to who could relate to their personal experiences. Connect A Kid is an opportunity to have a connection for your kid with an adult adoptee who just “gets” their experience.
Currently Connect A Kid is expanding and putting together programs in Rochester, NY and Ithaca, NY. Please visit contact us via our website http://www.connectakid.org/who-we-are/our-mission/ Or contact can be made with Andrea D. Wieland, Director of Family Outreach at andrea.wieland@connectakid.org.
Andrea is an adoptive parent of a 5 year old girl adopted from Korea in 2009 and has been involved in the Connect A Kid organization as a volunteer. Her daughter is in one of the first mentoring groups located in Denver Colorado.
Read More About Adoptees:
- Support Services for Adoptees
- The Right and Fight for Open Records for Adoptees
- Adoption Poem Written by an Adoptee
- My Real Family
- A Young Adoptee Takes a Journey Back to Adoption STAR
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