Asian Adult Adoptees of Washington

Mission Statement:

Asian Adult Adoptees of Washington (AAAW) strives to enable adoptees to connect, share their stories, and perspectives with each other, empower adoptees to explore their adoptee identity, serve as a resource for adoptees, and support adoptees wherever they are in their journey.

Description:

Asian Adult Adoptees of Washington was founded in December 1996. At the time, there wasn't an organization that served as a resource for adoptees in the State of Washington. Since then, AAAW continues to provide a welcoming and safe community for all adoptees, plans events and programs that brings adoptees together, offers a Cultural Enrichment Grant for Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander adoptees to further explore their identity or assist them in attending adoptee conferences, distributes a monthly newsletter with the latest updates from AAAW and beyond, and allyship/collaboration with other like-minded adoptee organizations and communities.

Some examples of events and programs AAAW plans include an annual Spring Potluck, Summer BBQ, and Holiday Party, an Adoptee Artist Showcase to give adoptees the opportunity to share their artistic talent, monthly dinners that rotates between North, East, and South of the Seattle area, and our Dialogue Series to bring adoptees together for discussion on a variety of topics related to adoptees. We also organize Community Check-ins, Get-Togethers to explore events happening around the Seattle area, and ad hoc events like Lunar New Year Celebration, movie night, and outdoor activities.

AAAW recently started focusing and offering family-friendly events that could bring youth and adult adoptees, as well as children of adoptees together. Additionally, AAAW has recently collaborated with other adoptee organizations and adoptee authors, more so than in previous years. We hope to continue building these community-based and one-on-one relationships so that future collaborative efforts can be implemented.

Asian Adult Adoptees of Washington is an adoptee-led, all-volunteer federal 501(c)(3) status nonprofit organization. Our volunteers serve on the Board of Directors, Adoptee Mentorship Program, and Event Planning Committee.