Venue

out of state

International Korean Adoptee Associations (IKAA)


Organizer

Spanning Generations: Communities, Families, & Leadership

The IKAA Gathering 2019 will take place in Seoul, Korea from July 30 – August 4, 2019 and will promote the connection of adult Korean adoptees to each other and their Korean heritage, as well as welcome future generations of adoptees into the adoptee community. This is the largest conference of its kind, occurring only once every three years, with attendees from all across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Attendance in 2019 is expected to reach over 500 participants.

The workshops and sessions at the IKAA Gatherings provide a time for participants to explore more specific topics related to adoption, the adoptee experience, or the themes of the Gatherings. Past sessions and topics have included birth family search, birth family reunion experiences, building relationships with birth family members post-reunion, Korea from a historical perspective, developments in domestic Korean adoption, working and living in Korea, Korean adoptees’ relationships with adoptive family, parenthood, exploring identity through art, and much more. The age breakout sessions, one of the most popular, provide the opportunity to meet and talk about personal experiences with others of a similar age, regardless of their adoptive country.

About the International Korean Adoptee Associations

 An international network of volunteers who are committed to serving the global adoption community through the sharing of resources and information between adoptees.

IKAA was first established in Europe in 2004 and then in the United States later the same year. The impetus for the creation of the IKAA Network came from a desire for unity within the adult Korean adoptee community and to provide a space where ideas, information and resources could be shared.

In response to the highly successful IKAA Gathering 2007, which garnered an attendance of over 700 participants, IKAA decided to become a more formally established organization, and is governed on an entirely volunteer basis by an elected Executive Committee and Board of Directors, which is comprised of representatives from each of the Member Associations.