A future free from family policing.

Free the Adoptee exists to serve and amplify the lives, voices, and needs of adoptees and those affected by the family policing system in so-called British Columbia and beyond. Through initiatives in wellness, education, and advocacy, we work to transform how our community is recognized, listened to, and supported, while challenging longstanding narratives that have shaped our community. Our work is rooted in the belief that a future without family policing is a goal worth fighting for.

At Free the Adoptee, we are dedicated to creating an accessible and healing space for learning, wellness and change for adoptees and those impacted by family policing. Our work is heavily guided by our values:

Belonging is not something to be earned through assimilation or conformity. It is a fundamental right. Every adoptee and those impacted by the family policing system have the right to exist within community on their own terms, grounded in their identity, lineage, and people. We see belonging as something cultivated over time, both within ourselves and in connection with others and community. It endures despite the systems that seek to sever it.

Dignity: The family policing system has historically affected adoptees and youth-from-care through damaging narratives that silence, diminish, and pathologize us. At Free the Adoptee, upholding dignity means rejecting these harmful narratives. We highlight the full complexity, contradictions, and self-determination of the individuals we support, rather than focusing on their deficits. Although stories can undermine dignity, they can also restore it. Our commitment is to promote the latter.

Integrity involves being responsible for the stories we share and the impact they have. Language and narratives have real consequences. They shape lives, justify displacement, and create consent for harm. We apply the same critical eye to ourselves as we do to the systems we challenge. Practicing integrity means practicing relational ethics: being transparent about our identities, reflecting on our positionality, and being accountable to our communities whose liberation we are committed to.

Innovation isn’t just about creating something new for its own sake. It’s about thinking beyond existing boundaries and considering what's possible when we challenge the limits of traditional methods. We apply a broad, desire-driven imagination to all parts of our work. Even deeply rooted systems can be questioned, challenged, and changed. This belief underpins everything we create and nourish.

Wellness is about comprehensive care, not just crisis response or institutional treatment. It involves caring for the whole person: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects. Our approach to wellness is proactive, aiming to prevent issues rather than pathologize and punish them. It respects individual autonomy and focuses on giving rather than taking. We believe that healing and learning are interconnected efforts, and that creating a better world for adoptees and those affected by the family policing system is itself an act of care.

Humility involves recognizing that we cannot determine what is best for others and resisting the temptation to do so. This stance directly challenges the authority of the family policing system over children, families, and communities. We approach this work not as superior helpers, but as individuals in relationship, open to being influenced by the stories we hear, learning from our mistakes, and committed to allowing our community to define what care means on its own terms.

Liberation means rejecting the idea that the family policing system is inevitable. It involves imagining and working toward a future where adoptees and those impacted by family policing stay connected to their families, cultures, identities, and stories, instead of being separated by systems that claim to act in their best interests. Rather than trying to reform a system that has harmed our community, we aim to build a world beyond it.

Self-Determination emphasizes that those most affected by family policing have the right to share their stories, make their own choices, and define what care, healing, and support mean for them. At Free the Adoptee, we do not assume to know what people need; instead, we create an environment where individuals can identify and express their own needs.