Our Mission

The mission of ADAPT is to reduce financial and systemic barriers for adoptees by increasing access to community, cultural connection, education, and supportive resources.

The organization fulfills this mission through activities including but not limited to:

  • providing financial assistance or grants to adoptees to attend adoptee-centered conferences, cultural camps, and community events

  • supporting heritage and birth country travel opportunities for adoptees

  • facilitating educational opportunities related to adoption, identity, and adoptee experiences

  • serving as a bridge between adoptees and community organizations, professionals, and cultural resources

  • developing programs that strengthen adoptee identity exploration, community building, and well-being

Who we Serve

We currently support Korean adoptees, with the intention of expanding services to other intercountry adoptees and adoptee communities more broadly as the organization grows.

Our Team

Nathan Choi,
Founder & Chairperson

I’m Nathan Choi, a Korean adoptee, advocate, community builder, and storyteller dedicated to strengthening connections within the adoptee community. As the Founder and Chairperson of ADAPT, I work to create opportunities for adoptees to find belonging, explore identity, engage with their cultures of origin, and build meaningful relationships with one another.

I’m is also the creator and host of Color Shift, a podcast that amplifies the voices of transracial adoptees through honest conversations about identity, family, race, culture, and the lifelong impact of adoption. Through both ADAPT and Color Shift, I’m committed to fostering understanding, empowering adoptee voices, and creating spaces where adoptees can share their stories on their own terms.

Drawing from my own lived experience as a Korean adoptee, I believe that community, connection, and storytelling are powerful tools for growth, healing, and belonging. My work is guided by a simple principle: every adoptee's story matters, and no adoptee should have to navigate their journey alone.

Gianna Peterson

My name is Gianna Peterson and 김지은 (Kim, Jee Eun). I am a transnational, transracial Korean adoptee born in Busan and adopted at 6 months old to South Jersey.  I have only been a part of the adoptee community for a couple years, but have found a real healing with lending my hand and helping where I can. I volunteer with Asia Families where I assist with their Korean Culture School (a program designed to help adoptees of all ages learn more about their culture and heritage). I also participated in their inaugural Dream Tour back to Korea this past winter. After extending my trip, I had the opportunity to meet my birth mother. This experience has forever changed me. 

I joined the ADAPT board because all adoptees deserve the chance to connect with not only these deeply meaningful experiences, but also with other adoptees. I know first-hand how impactful this community is and how important it is to my personal journey to be a part of the bigger picture. ADAPT helps provide more adoptees the opportunity to experience this connection, belonging and safety.

Kari Gaynor

Hi, my name is Kari and I’m a Korean adoptee from a small city in Gangwondo Province. My identity as an Adoptee and as a Korean were never lenses I even thought about using to describe myself, however during Covid, I became curious to know more about my heritage. In 2022, I applied to Global Overseas Adoptees’ Link’s initial Sotdae. Two weeks later, I was on an airplane to experience Korea, visit the city where I was born, and search for my birth family for the first time since my adoption.

Coming into adoptee consciousness can be a source of great destabilization, but I’ve felt well-resourced in that the community carries its own wisdom and foresight. Because of orgs such as this one and the generosity and care of like-minded adoptees from around the world, I’ve been able to find forms of clarity, self-possession, and camaraderie I never imagined possible. My wish in joining ADAPT is to help other international adoptees in their journeys similarly connect to new tools and community perspectives, inviting them to see and be seen differently and open the door for future possibilities.