Our tattoos often hold the stories we struggle to voice—especially as adoptees, where identity, loss, and resilience etch themselves into our bodies. In this intimate, adoptee-only workshop, we’ll explore the narratives behind our ink: the cultural symbols, the reclaimed names, the homelands we’ve never seen, or the families we’ve chosen. 

This is a generative workshop. Through guided writing prompts and shared reflection, we’ll translate these visual marks into powerful prose, poetry, or memoir. Whether your tattoo is a tribute, a rebellion, or a quiet prayer, this space honors its significance in your journey. Please have something to write with (pen, paper, word processing software, etc.). 

No writing experience necessary! Activities are geared toward all levels of writers. We will write independently and also might do voluntary, facilitated group sharing activities. If we share, sharing activities will be structured around positive feedback only (Think: “This image stuck out to me. That sentence was powerful! I would love to know more about X, Y, Z.”). 

This workshop is exclusively for adoptees (18+) of all backgrounds and writing levels. We hold an intentional, antiracist, and queer/trans-affirming space—your story is honored here.

*Participants should be aware that this workshop content may challenge mainstream adoption narratives from a reform or abolition perspective. Our anger, confusion, sorrow, grief are welcome in this space. 

**This is an adoptee-only space for adults (18+) who have been directly impacted by the adoption / child welfare industrial complex (e.g. domestic, intercountry, trans/interracial, kinship, and second generation/descendants of adoptees). If you are unsure this is a space for you, please contact the facilitator. 

A portion of the earnings from this workshop will go to support the Abu Dayer family in Gaza, survive genocide, evacuate, and rebuild. Please consider this in your payment.

GOALS

• Foster connection among adoptees through shared storytelling

• Generate new writing around our tattoos

• Explore identity and reclamation through our tattoos as markers of identity, resistance, or reconnection to heritage/lost histories, etc.

• Validate adoptee experiences and honor the complexity of our stories

• Offer optional sharing and witnessing opportunities for community building, learning, and collective reflection

Register here.