Adoptee Remembrance Day was created to remember adoptees who are no longer here, including those we have lost to suicide. But remembrance cannot begin and end on October 30th.
The Adoptee Remembrance Day Substack is a year-round publication centering adoptees who are still here and have lived through some of the darkest places imaginable. Statistics can tell us adoptees are struggling. Your stories tell us what it actually feels like to live it.
We are currently gathering first-person stories from adoptees who have experienced suicidal ideation, survived a suicide attempt, mental health facility stays, homelessness, addiction, incarceration, troubled teen facilities or programs, abuse in adoptive homes, or adoption-related deportation.
Many adoptees have experiences that overlap. You may have survived a troubled teen program and homelessness, mental health hospitalization and addiction, or several of these experiences throughout different periods of your life. You do not have to fit neatly into one category. We want to make space for the full complexity of adoptee experiences.
Your story does not need a happy ending. It can be painful, angry, complicated, hopeful, unfinished, or all of these things at once. We are not asking adoptees to make adoption more comfortable for others. We are making space for adoptees to tell the truth about their own lives.
Contributors must be adopted and 18+. Stories must be original work and may be published under your real identity or anonymously. Joining the waiting list or submitting a story does not guarantee publication.
Adoptees outside the United States are also welcome to share their stories. Because sending honorariums internationally can be difficult, international contributors will have the option to select an USA adoptee-centered organization or project to receive their honorarium as a donation in their honor.
As funding allows, published contributors will receive a financial honorarium, with the option to accept it or donate it back to support Adoptee Remembrance Day. Contributors are also offered one month of complimentary weekly embodiment classes as a self-care gift.
Adoptee Remembrance Day is an independent initiative. Paid subscriptions to the Adoptee Remembrance Day Substack and proceeds from Adoptee Remembrance Day merchandise help sustain this year-round work, including contributor honorariums, research, education, remembrance, resources, advocacy, and the continued growth of the publication.
This form is the first step in joining the Adoptee Remembrance Day story waiting list. It is not a story submission or guarantee of publication. We are gathering information from adoptees who may be interested in sharing their lived experiences through the year-round Adoptee Remembrance Day publication. As opportunities to publish stories become available, we will reach out to individuals on the waiting list with additional information, submission guidelines, and next steps.
If you are ready to share your story, leave your information below to join the waiting list. We will reach out by email with submission details.
October 30th gives us a day to remember. These stories give us a way to keep remembering all year long.
We remember those we lost. We listen to those who survived. We make space for the truths that deserve to be heard.
