Celebrating 5 Years of Truth, Power & Community
Join us for the 5th Annual Yes We Adopt: Black Voices Amplified Summit. The Summit will be held on Saturday, November 8, 2025, from 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM EST virtually.
About The Summit
The Yes We Adopt: Black Voices Amplified Summit is the first and only of its kind, centering the lived experiences of Black and Brown people across the adoption and foster care constellations. As the African Proverb states, “It takes a village to raise a child.” The Summit assembles the “village” to create brave, healing-centered spaces for storytelling, learning, and connection that dismantle stereotypes and stigma.
This isn’t just a conference, it’s a movement. Whether you’re an adopted person, former foster youth, birth parent, kinship family, adoptive family, foster family, professional, or ally, this summit offers the space, connection, and courage to grow, learn, and speak your truth.
2025 Theme: Becoming Whole Together
This year’s theme, Becoming Whole Together, invites our community to move beyond fragmented stories and toward collective healing, restoration, and truth-telling. It acknowledges the complex realities of adoption and foster care while affirming the possibility of wholeness through community care.
Yes We Adopt continues to build a community village that nurtures, challenges, and amplifies the reality of adoption and foster care. You’ll experience brave conversations, dynamic speakers, interactive sessions, and joyful reunions that feed your spirit and fuel your advocacy. Expect raw honesty, healing, knowledge-sharing, and inspiration. This is where the real ones gather.
Why You Don’t Want to Miss It:
- Centering Black and Brown adopted persons, former foster youth, birth parents, and caregivers
- Grounded in cultural truth and radical care
- Intergenerational and inclusive of the full adoption constellation
- Culturally rich panels and keynotes that equip and empower
- Opportunities to build authentic connections and collaborations
This 5th anniversary year will be our boldest yet. So whether you’ve been riding with us since day one or you’re new to the YWA Village—come as you are, leave transformed.
Let’s amplify the voices that matter most. Yours. Ours. Together.
Event Schedule
November 8, 2025
10:00 AM – 3:00 PM EST
10:00 am
Welcome
Speaker: Stacey Gatlin; Founder, Yes We Adopt
Welcome to the 5th Annual Yes We Adopt: Black Voices Amplified Summit! We are becoming whole together by grounding ourselves in truth, power, and community.
10:15 am
Opening Remarks
Emcee: Damon L. Davis; Author, Podcaster, Adopted Person, Adoptive Parent
Returning for his 2nd year, Damon brings energy and authenticity. Reflecting on his lived experience, he reminds us that the YWA Summit is more than an event—it’s a celebration of healing, growth, and the power of the village.
10:30 am
“The Baby Girl” Short Film
Speaker: Sandria Washington; Writer, Filmmaker, Adoptee
A screening of The Baby Girl, written, directed, and produced by Sandria Washington, followed by a candid discussion with the filmmaker. Sandria shares her inspiration, creative process, and the emotional truths behind the story before opening the floor for audience reflections and questions.
11:00 am
Keynote: Adopting Privilege
Speaker: Dr. Abby Hasberry; Therapist, Author, Adoptee, First Parent
Dr. Abby Hasberry shares a moving reading from her book, setting the stage for an honest, heartfelt conversation with Yes We Adopt Founder, Stacey Gatlin. Together, they explore the intersections of privilege, identity, and truth in adoption—and what it means to build communities rooted in justice and care.
11:45 am
ENERGY BREAK
12:00 pm
Village Networking
An interactive networking session to invite attendees to connect in small breakout rooms and share their stories, insights, and takeaways from the morning sessions. It’s a chance to build authentic relationships, share resources, and strengthen the village that keeps us all growing and grounded.
12:30 PM
Daring Fatherhood
Speaker: Christopher Emanuel; Changemaker, Birth Father
Christopher Emanuel shares his powerful journey as a birth father who fought to reclaim custody of his daughter after she was placed for adoption without his consent. Through his story and the work of his foundation, The Sky Is the Limit, he challenges us to expand our understanding of fatherhood, justice, and the courage it takes to protect both family and truth.
1:30 PM
From Fears to Families
Speaker: Deborah Farmer; Media Maven, Advocate, Adoptive Mother
Deborah Farmer guides participants through the journey of moving past fear to create families grounded in love, trust, and understanding. This session offers practical insights and emotional encouragement for those navigating the complexities of adoption and fostering.
2:00 PM
Village Healing Circle
Speaker: Jacqueline Phillips, LCSW; Therapist, Professor
Licensed Clinical Social Worker Jacqueline Phillips leads a restorative healing circle designed to hold space for truth-telling, connection, and renewal. Participants will experience collective care rooted in community, compassion, and cultural understanding.
2:45 Pm
Closing Gratitudes
Appreciation and inspiration to carry the charge for ongoing healing, wholeness, and community care.
What Our Community Says
“It was refreshing to see an entire conference with people who look like me and have a heart to adopt. I'm usually in the minority. Thank you for this space!”
“I was able to meet with my internet friends/adoptee committee!”
"The importance of sharing the truth with my son and providing him with as much information on his birth family as possible."
"Be 100% honest with your adopted child. Do not hide the adoption from them. Offer all information about their birth parent."
"One key takeaway that helped me immediately was how to tell my son his adoption was from a hard place. I loved the advice to not say that his birth parents loved him enough to give him a new life. I never thought that could cause anxiety for him."
"I have pages of notes on each panel. Loved the transparency of the adoptive mothers."
"There is uniqueness in all stories. The Black experience is like none other. All voices of the triad are valuable and need to be heard."
“Birth mothers experience trauma. Made me reconsider my conversations with my birth mother.”
“The importance of sharing the truth with my son and providing him with as much information on his birth family as possible.”
"I am a white female who works for a private adoption agency. We have long felt a need to have my adoptive black families in our program and this summit has confirmed that it is our RESPONSIBILITY to have black families to show our black BMs."
"I loved the intentionality of having individuals from many different aspects of the constellation being a part of the conversation. This is one of the most well-rounded conferences I have been to in this respect."
"I have never attended anything like this before. This has been an awesome summit!"
“It was my honor to share and to meet Our Family, which we are. We are in this together. There is an African saying: Ubuntu, it means, I Am Because We Are”
"Keep doing what you’re doing. This is the blueprint of how things should be when dealing with this subject."
"As a prospective adoptive parent, my job is to acknowledge and hold space for the loss and trauma connected to adoption....and to listen."
"Learning more about black parents that adopt and their motivations and how they have been doing it successfully."
"This was so timely and necessary. Thank you for having every aspect of the triad represented and allowing them the freedom to speak their truth. May God continue to bless you!"
"We do adopt, but there's definitely room for more black voices in the adoption world."