American Adoption Congress

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The American Adoption Congress (AAC) was an international adoption-reform organization created in the late 1970s as an umbrella organization by search and support and adoption reform groups. Initiated by Orphan Voyage founder Jean Paton, people representing many groups gathered in regions around the United States and began planning the incorporation. The first AAC Conference was held in Washington, DC in May 1979.^[1] The second was in Anaheim, CA in 1980, and the third at the TWA Training facility outside Kansas City in 1981, where the AAC was reincorporated and gained 501(c)3 tax exempt status.^[2] AAC conferences were held annually around the United States from 1979 until 2020, when the conference, its last, was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The American Adoption Congress represented the interests of individuals who identified as adopted people, birth parents, and adoptive parents, as well as individuals, families, and organizations committed to adoption reform. While it existed, the AAC promoted honesty, openness, and respect for family connections in adoption, foster care, and assisted reproduction, and it provided education to members and professional communities about the lifelong process of adoption. Until 2024, the AAC advocated for state legislation to grant every individual access to information about their family and heritage.^[3]

In a letter dated July 25, 2024, AAC President Matt Naylor announced the dissolution of the organization effective in August 2024. According to the letter, "... we will be transferring our remaining assets, after all payables are distributed, to the Adoptees’ Liberty Movement Association (ALMA), in existence since 1971.  ALMA has pledged a continuance of legislative advocacy to restore unrestricted access to original birth certificates for all adult adopted persons, a cause the AAC continues to champion."

The AAC formally filed for dissolution with the Missouri Secretary of State on October 1, 2024.^[4]