The landscape of private adoption has changed dramatically with the rise of the Internet. With fifty different sets of state statutes governing private adoption across the country, and approximately half of all adoptions now being interstate, there is cause for confusion. Not only does the digital world complicate adoption, but the rising presence of unlicensed adoption entities in this field throws an additional wrench in the process.

When unregulated, unqualified, and unlicensed adoption entities broker the placements of children with no structure of oversight or discipline, our children, birth families, and adoptive families have already been failed. In this session, Kelsey speaks to the legal research that Ethical Family Building has been doing for several years and the movement they are now building to prohibit unlicensed adoption brokers from operating and advertising. Additionally, Kelsey talks about the risks posed to all parties when working with an adoption broker, and how to protect yourself and others from these predatory practices.

About Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard
Kelsey is a birth mother who has spent several years working in the adoption field—both as a paralegal on the West Coast and in adoption agencies in the Midwest and East Coast. Kelsey is the fourth generation in her family to relinquish a child for adoption and her whole life has been uniquely impacted by adoption as a result. She earned her undergraduate degree from South Dakota State University and is currently pursuing a Master of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Kelsey is the Director of Policy and Advocacy at Ethical Family Building (https://www.ethicalfamilybuilding.org/) in California, where she works on important public policy issues impacting the adoption triad and adoption professionals across the country. She is the co-producer of an upcoming documentary, Love, Your Birth Mom (https://www.loveyourbirthmom.com/), and the co-host of Twisted Sisterhood Podcast (https://www.twistedsisterhoodpodcast.com/), a podcast for birth moms. Kelsey is also the co-author of Adoption Unfiltered: Revelations from Adoptees, Birth Parents, Adoptive Parents, and Allies, which publishes in December 2023. Kelsey resides in Northern California with her husband and daughter.