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The Rudd Adoption Research Program in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences will this spring present “Adoption Across the Life Course: The Needs and Experiences of Adult Adoptees in the USA and UK,” a multi-date webinar series. The webinars, which will feature five recent research studies from the U.S. and the U.K., will focus on different aspects of life for adopted people as adults as well as policy and practice. 

Each session will include adult adoptees speaking about their lived experiences with neurodiversity, becoming a parent, adoption consciousness, mental health and the use of social media.

Among those for whom the series may be of special interest include those who have lived adoption experience, social workers, counselors, policy makers, researchers, students, and professionals working in the adoption field.

The webinar will feature the following speakers:

• Mark Kennedy, senior lecturer in the psychology and neuroscience of mental health at Kings College London; Tuesday, Feb. 3
• Elsbeth Neil, Rudd Family Foundation Chair in Psychology at UMass Amherst; Thursday, March 5
• Jae-Ran Kim, associate professor of social work at the University of Washington; Tuesday, March 24
• Hollee McGinnis, Rudd Family Foundation visiting professor, UMass Amherst; April 9
• Amanda Baden, Rudd Family Foundation visiting professor and professor in the Counseling/Counselor Education Program at Montclair State University; May 5

All webinars are scheduled to begin at noon.

Those interested in attending the webinars, which are free, may register using the online form found here.

Affiliated with the interdisciplinary Center for Research on Families, the Rudd Adoption Research Program seeks to develop synergy among researchers, practitioners, people with lived experience and policymakers from varied disciplines who share interests relevant to adoption. The ultimate goals of the program are to contribute to evidence-based practice in adoption and to provide research-based information that will influence policy at agency, state, federal, and international levels.

More information about the Rudd Adoption Research Program can be found at www.umass.edu/ruddchair.