How To Be An Advocate: Transracial Adoptee Edition

I’ve been advocating (you might even call it influencing) on social media for over three years now. I’ve grown a Twitter presence into a YouTube presence into an Instagram presence into my own website. I’ve spoken on panels and have guest-starred on podcasts. How did I get here? I’m going to share a little bit about how I got to where I am and what advice I would give to others who want to start. 

• Be an adoptee. This is key. To be an adoptee advocate means to share experiences about your life as an adopted person and fight for our rights. It includes educating the general public about issues they may not be aware of. To be an adoptee advocate you need to be an adoptee. Otherwise, you can advocate for adoptees as an ally. 
• Figure out what platform to use. I would not recommend jumping into all of them at once. Advocacy takes a lot of time and energy. Don’t overwhelm yourself by figuring out a posting schedule for each platform and optimizing your content for multiple platforms. Start with one or two and once you have a routine, add more. Even though I call this my hobby, it really is like a second job. 
• Think about your actual job. Yes, Cancel Culture is really just holding people accountable, but doxxing is real. Do you want to stay anonymous? What relationships are at risk if you post online? Do you have the resources to keep yourself safe and healthy if people don’t like what you have to say? These are all things to think about. Even without using my last name, my colleagues were able to find my work. They are very supportive and interested in my activism, but that may not be the case for you. When something is on the internet, it’s there forever.

• When sharing personal experiences, make sure you are only sharing YOUR perspective. This is typically a rule I shout to parents about. “Don’t share your child’s story without their consent. It’s their story not yours.” This applies to everyone. I don’t share my parents’ story. I wasn’t even born for most of their story. While I advocate for children being the owners of their own story, I also give that respect to everyone. I will only share my perspective. 
• Don’t expect to make millions from this. Don’t expect to become a famous influencer either. The harsh reality is, not many people care about adoptee activists. It’s a vicious cycle. I advocate for adoptee voices and for people to value us. I do that on social media, where people do not value us. It’s a very slow process to grow outside of the adoption community. The majority of my followers are fellow adoptees or adoptive parents. I am monetized on YouTube but I make less than $1 on each video. Don’t quit your job because you are going to be an adoptee activist online. 
• Be authentically you. It can be tempting to try and model ourselves after those who came before us. The thing is, we all have unique stories and perspectives. I want to see all of them. I don’t want to see Person A and then Person B copying their topics, aesthetics, and personality. People connect the most when you are YOU. They don’t want an actor or online personality. They want a person. 
• Value yourself. Recognize that you have a lot to offer. Don’t focus on the shares, likes, comments, and followers. Remember that this is hard work and you are making a difference. 

Those are my tips for being an adoptee advocate. It’s been over three years and although it can be exhausting, although I sometimes want to quit, although sometimes I wish I did things differently, I am so thankful for what my activism has brought me. I hope to continue connecting with fellow adoptees and creating safe spaces for us to be validated. 

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