Romanian Ties - Culture, Travel, Adoption & Identity

Romania's first medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics!🇹🇩

DAVID POPOVICI HAS DONE IT 🇷🇴🤯 The Romanian star claims his nation’s first Olympics gold with the final stroke!

Matt Richards claims 2nd with a 0.02 gap in it!

📸 World Aquatics |

Thank you to everyone who joined our webinar last night! We've had an incredible time with our webinar series this year and have learned so much together. We hope you've enjoyed it too!

In exciting news and as a great way to wrap up our winter/spring webinar series, join our Owner and Director, Dr. Tanya Kaanta, as she explores trauma, chronic illness, and healing in relation to adoption. 🌟 Don't miss out on this insightful session!

Register: https://bit.ly/maytanyawebinar

🕖 Reminder: Join us tonight at 7 PM CST for our "Pre- to Post-Trip: Gathering Your Support Team" webinar!

But wait, we have more! 🎉 We're thrilled to announce our upcoming May webinar featuring the fantastic duo that is Kimiko Kawabori and Kari Grady Grossman!

📅 Save the date for this awesome FREE webinar.
Date: Wednesday, May 1st
Time: 7:00PM CST
Register here: https://bit.ly/AncestralWebinarSignUp

Happy International Women's Day to all the incredible souls out there! Today and every day, we celebrate the strength, resilience, and diverse stories of EVERY woman. Here's to honoring every unique journey and embracing the power of inclusivity and equity for all!

Adoptive Family Travel - The Ties Program has always been a woman-owned and operated organization. We are proud to be guided, supported and led by visionary women who bring empathy, support, and inclusivity to heritage travel. Cheers to ALL the incredible women who have been part of our trips, supporting adoptees' journeys along the way! 💖🌍

Embracing the spirit of Dragobete this weekend, a reminder to never stop celebrating love! ❤️✨

Dragobete | Celebrate love as it’s meant to be Dragobete is celebrated on February 24, and in traditional mythology, he is a half-human half-angel immortal entity that reminds people to always celebrate love. So instead of celebrating Valentine's Day with flowers and chocolate, offer something more personal - your appreciation and your time.

🌍✨ Calling all Romanian adoptees! 🇷🇴✈️ Are you a Romanian adoptee with a curiosity about your heritage and a desire to explore the beautiful roots of your homeland? 🌳✨

We want to hear from you!

Please take a moment to fill out our Interest Survey.
Survey Link: https://bit.ly/NGRomaniaSurvey

Sometimes representation comes from the most unexpected places! Let's celebrate the incredible achievement of Romanian-born audio engineer and mixer, Șerban Ghenea, who took home a Grammy last night for his work on Taylor Swift's album. He has now won 19 Grammy Awards and 3 Latin Grammy Awards in his career.

His winnings not only highlight his outstanding talent but also serves as a reminder that diverse voices are making waves in the music industry.

🏆 Congratulations to Şerban Ghenea who won a Grammy Award as sound engineer for Taylor Swift album! This is Șerban Ghenea's fifth Grammy Award, making him the first non-artist to win “Album of the Year” five times, according to Billboard. He previously won the same award for Swift’s albums “1989” and “Folklore”, Adele's “25”, and Bruno Mars' “24K Magic”.

💥 Throughout his career so far, Şerban Ghenea won 19 Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards. He has mixed tracks for artists such as Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Bjork, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Jewel, Santana, Ozomatli, Shakira, and many more. As of January 2024, Ghenea has mixed over 225 No. 1 singles and albums.

🎶 This year, Șerban Ghenea was nominated for seven Grammys.

📷: Entertainment Tonight

Hello Romanian Ties!

Check out our latest updates and let us know if you are interested: https://conta.cc/3SthR3N

Stay tuned for more information, and in the meantime, feel free to reach out with any questions! Email us: [email protected]

For adoptees, our lives don’t begin at placement- our lives begin in utero/at birth. However too often I work with adoptees who were raised in spaces that only fully honor the parts that include adoptive family, seemingly forgetting whole chapters that influenced & impacted our worldviews and challenged our senses of safety.
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“She never had a family until us.”
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“He couldn’t miss birth family, he’s never met them.”
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“You’re being too sensitive, not everything is about adoption.”
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These are examples of phrases- that I have repeatedly heard over the years, that are forgetting the chapters before adoption. These are the phrases that ignore implicit memory, that are rigid rather than curious. These are the phrases that forget we must be looking at adopted children and their experiences through the lens of grief & loss.
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How might our perspective shift about big, challenging behavior , big complicated feelings, struggling to find identity,
High risk behaviors, search & reunion, and other big topics if we were to slow things down and get curious about grief and how it bubbles under the surface - a key factor in all of these.
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For many adoptees, this grief is some of the biggest to hit the system. Often occurring in the most vulnerable developmental stages, which also means it’s occurring in preverbal, pre- explicit memory making phases. How (understandably so) disorienting. We cannot underestimate the impact this has.
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Of course things feel hard when you have lost so much. Of course things feel isolating when there are no solid answers. Of course things feel disorienting when loved ones raise you and will not acknowledge what came before as if it’s a secret, or something to be ashamed about.
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When children are adopted the wholeness of them is adopted, the wholeness of them deserves love & the wholeness of them needs attunement.

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BIG things are happening at The Ties Program / Adoptive Family Travel Exciting things are happening at The Ties Program. For 30 years, we have strived to take international adoptees and their families on extraordinary birth country experiences. We have loved every minut

An important read.

Jaclyn Skalnik, aka on Instagram, speaks from a place of experience. In her early 20's, she participated in a Ties trip with her family. She then went on to earn her MSW, led an international adoption program, traveled as Ties travel staff, became a parent, and ultimately opened Adoption Wellness.

Most international adoption programs require parents to travel to the country. Parents, what did you experience when you were in your child's country of origin? Did you experience cultural differences? Were you out of your comfort zone? Did you explore new foods? Did your brain fatigue after hearing a different language? I ask you to pay attention to what you felt while in your child's country, but also, what you did to learn. This minute window offers you a glimpse of the adjustment your kids go through when transplanted to their new country. I oftentimes hear adoptive parents complain about their trip; it was smelly, dirty, poor, etc. Please use judgement when speaking about your child's country. What you say may be interpreted as a reflection of them. Children growing up outside of their culture will feel disconnected and can only rely on what they hear about it from others. Listen, we have smelly, dirty, poor areas here too - so let's be culturally sensitive while also acknowledging the beauty of their country.

Speak early and often about a visit, save $ for it and make it a priority. Your children depend on you to provide them with resources to make connections to their birth culture/country. If your child is reluctant, it may be because it was introduced to them too late. "We're going to take you back to China next summer" vs. "We're going to visit China next summer" are two very different phrases. As parents, the language we use is critical. Talk with your children about what they want to do and see during a visit. Will the whole family travel? Do they want to travel with other adoptees? Do they want to visit tourist places or spaces connected to their life before adoption (orphanage, etc.)? Talk about their expectations of the trip, not yours.

Adoptees need time to prepare for and unpack from a homeland trip. Please make sure they are supported to share their feelings. They deserve an opportunity to visit where they are from as it can really fill in the blanks. Eating takeout from the local Chinese restaurant once a year does not cut it for "exposing them to their birth culture."

When children learn the world is random and unpredictable, they move into a state of protection. We all do it. It’s natural.
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When children have experienced attachment trauma, they have been taught that caregivers can be random and unpredictable and their response of self protection often plays out in behavior and relationships. However, regardless of how they respond- caregivers must be intentional and devoted to how attuned and sensitive they are in creating moments of connection for children.
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It’s these moments of connection that fuel attachment and feelings of felt-safety. It is within these healing spaces that children can find a sense of worth and belonging.
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Children who are living from the lens of protection need the presence of connection.
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I see you showing up for the hard and uneasy. I see you creating spaces that enhance peace and validate pain. No one said it was easy. You are not alone 💛

We are thrilled to let you know that that Amy (Silverbrandt) Wilkerson will be facilitating a wonderful transracial adoptee panel on September 14. One of the fabulous presenters is Jaclyn Skalnik. Both Amy and Jaclyn have staffed with The Ties Program and are remarkable women.

You can learn more about Amy at https://growhealblossom.com/.

TRANSRACIAL ADOPTEE PANEL
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WHEN : September 14th
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TIME : 7:00-8:30PM CST
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WHERE : Zoom
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FEE: $50 per login
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Thank you to everyone who has been so patient with me as I have had to reschedule this training, but a new date is finally here! Come join these amazing panelist share their wisdom, honesty, and insights on the transracial adoptee experience.
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DM to reserve your spot!
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See you there!

Bran Castle, Romania 🇷🇴
Photo by .holerga
🇹🇩 🇷🇴

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/romanias-monument-ambulance-races-to-save-countrys-past/2021/07/06/077f3042-de27-11eb-a27f-8b294930e95b_story.html

Romania's monument 'ambulance' races to save country's past On a scorching summer day in the remote Transylvanian village of Micasasa, 39-year-old Romanian architect Eugen Vaida is busy coordinating a team of volunteers helping to breathe new life into a centuries-old Romanian castle on the brink of ruin

It's not too late to register for Russia/Eastern Europe/Central Asia camp, brought to you virtually from Colorado.
https://www.heritagecamps.org

Heritage Camps For Adoptive Families | Colorado Family Camp Heritage Camps for Adoptive Families serves as an adoption resource and advocate for children, adults, and families with diverse heritages.