Our Mission
Adoption Network Cleveland connects and empowers individuals, organizations, and communities impacted by adoption and foster care, providing a source of healing for those in need since 1988.
Upcoming Events
When Love Isn’t Justice: A Black Adoptee’s Note to White Families with Danny Burke
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET | Monday, May 5th
Danny Burke is a Black transracial adoptee who grew up in a White family that loved him—but love alone wasn’t enough to protect him. In this episode, Danny explores what it means to be raised inside Whiteness, navigating the disconnect between familial love and the absence of racial awareness, protection, and accountability.
Drawing from his viral article “What Happens When a Black Transracial Adoptee Realizes That Love Isn’t Protection” and his forthcoming memoir Passing, “Notes Through a Glass Wall,” Danny shares personal reflections and structural insights on how race, politics, and silence shape the adoptee experience. This conversation centers the voices of adoptees while inviting adoptive families—especially White ones—to engage in deeper self-reflection, not with guilt, but with accountability. Equal parts invitation and reckoning, this episode is for parents, professionals, and neighbors alike—anyone ready to confront the myth that love alone can shield a child from systems built to erase them.
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On the Blog
Ten years ago, we witnessed history in the making as we celebrated Opening Day – the day 400,000 Ohio-born adoptees finally had the legal right to apply for their original birth certificates.
Ten years ago, Marni Hall requested her original birth certificate, after Ohio opened up the records for 400,000 adoptees. It led her to reconnect with her birth mother, Karen Uphouse. They exchanged letters and calls before meeting for the first time on June 6, 2015, and taking this selfie to celebrate. They've since built a relationship and commemorate their reunion every year by returning to the same Columbus metropark, walking the same mile loop and updating their selfie.
On March 5, 2025, three former foster youth—Jaleshia Brown, Adam Hassan, and Michael Outrich—testified before the Ohio Children and Human Services Committee in support of adding the Foster-to-College Scholarship Program to the pending Ohio Budget Bill.
