From Rhode Island to Capitol Hill: Elevating Adoptee Voices in Washington, D.C.
On Wednesday, September 10th, I had the privilege of joining Ellie Robinson, Co-Founder and COO of Adoptee Identity, in Washington, D.C., to celebrate her recognition as Rhode Island’s nominee for Angels in Adoption, an honor presented by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI).
Adoptee Identity is a digital health and well-being platform designed for adoptees and their “village” - families, providers, and loved ones. Our mission is to center and explore adoptee lived experiences, improve communication in health care, and transform care systems to better support adoptees across their lifetime.
The CCAI is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that raises awareness about adoption and foster care issues on Capitol Hill and across the country. Each year, they bring together honorees from across the United States whose advocacy has made a profound difference in the lives of children and families.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse nominated Ellie in recognition of her tireless work to strengthen systems of care in Rhode Island and elevate adoptee voices in policymaking. Beyond her policy advocacy, Ellie cultivates community on the ground as the convener of Adoptees Connect Providence, a monthly group where adult adoptees come together for connection and support.
For her second day on Capitol Hill, I had the privilege of walking alongside Ellie and our new friend, Melissa Appleton (this year’s nominee from Vermont). Together, we spent the day moving between the House and Senate, engaging with representatives and staffers on some of the most pressing issues impacting adoption today.
We traveled to the offices of Senator Jack Reed, Representative Gabe Amo, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Representative Rebecca Balint, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Senator Peter Welch. In each conversation, we invited staffers, representatives, and senators to lean into the nuances of what it means to be an adoptee. We reminded those we met with that the ripple effect of adoption does not end with a legal document- babies are not blank slates.
While quantitative data on adoptee health outcomes remains lacking, again, our observational and testimonial data is strong: adoptees are everywhere. In fact, in every office we visited, someone had a personal connection to adoption: a little brother, a cousin, a friend. We used this opportunity to advocate for more robust data collection to better understand adoptee behavioral and medical health needs so that adoptees can receive better care and, ultimately, improve health outcomes.
At Adoptee Identity, it is our hope that we can ignite systemic change within health care to better understand and support the well-being of adoptees and our families. We also hope our new political allies will join us in this pursuit, working collaboratively with us to shift the narrative of what it means to be an adoptee in the United States, and to transform care systems to recognize us, and to better serve our unique needs.
Walking the halls of Congress with Ellie and Melissa reminded me that the adoptee story is not just personal, it is political. The conversations we had are planting seeds for the kind of systemic change that can transform health care and adoption for generations ahead.
Ellie Robinson and Ally Chra, Legislative Assistance to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
Ellie’s pinning as an honoraree Angel in Adoption
Still standing and smiling after a long day of advocacy!
