This event takes place in person at the Bullock Texas State History Museum, Texas Spirit Theatre, in Austin, and the full program is also livestreamed. Livestream tickets do not require travel.
Join us on Friday, November 6, at the Bullock Texas State History Museum. A night about the fight for Texas adoptee rights.
Celebrating the release of WONDERLAND: Memoir of a Black-Market Adoption out Nov. 3 from Unsolicited Press. The evening pairs a live stage adaptation from the book with a panel discussion to raise awareness about the fight for Texas adoptees' right to their own original birth certificates.
CHAPTER 18 - ROSES & THORNS COMES TO LIFE
As lights come up on a kitchen in Texas, a scene from WONDERLAND: Memoir of a Black-Market Adoption unfolds live on stage. Featuring local Austinite and Zach Scott veteran Brian Coughlin, alongside other actors from Austin community theatre. What follows is a panel on the fight for open records for Texas adoptees.
PANEL DISCUSSION
The panel covers everything from the black market to birth certificates, and brings together Joellen Peters of Support Texas Adoptee Rights, Marci Purcell of Adoption Knowledge Affiliates, Renee Gelin of Saving Our Sisters, and Patricia of the National Association of Adoptees and Parents. The conversation is led by journalist Emily Ramshaw, co-founder and CEO of The 19th.
We are going to talk honestly about the history of adoption in Texas, the black market and the Baby Scoop Era, where adoptee rights in Texas stand today, and what needs to change. Texas adoptees have been asking for their own birth certificates for more than twenty years, and bills have failed in seven straight sessions. In 2027 we go back. Seventy-seven percent of Texans are already on our side.
A NIGHT BENEFITING KEY ADOPTION ORGS
This is a not-for-profit event, held during National Adoption Awareness Month #NAAM. Net proceeds will be donated to the National Association of Adoptees and Parents, Saving Our Sisters, and Adoption Knowledge Affiliates.
EMILY RAMSHAW, Moderator, The 19th
Emily Ramshaw is the co-founder and CEO of The 19th, the nation's first independent nonprofit newsroom at the intersection of gender, politics and policy. She was previously editor in chief of The Texas Tribune, home to the largest statehouse bureau in the nation, and began her career as an investigative reporter at The Dallas Morning News, where she broke national stories about sexual abuse inside Texas youth lock-ups. She is the youngest person ever named to the board of the Pulitzer Prize, serving a nine year term, and was named to Fortune's 40 Under 40 in 2020.
PATRICIA KNIGHT MEYER, Author, WONDERLAND
Patricia Knight Meyer is an author, speaker, and adoption reform advocate. Trafficked as an infant along a Texas hospital curb in 1970, and never legally adopted. Her road to true identity began at 39, when, with no original records, no known birth name, and no confirmed date or place of birth. She tells this story in her debut memoir, WONDERLAND: Memoir of a Black-Market Adoption (Unsolicited Press, November 3, 2026). The book won the INDIEREADER Discovery Award in True Crime. Patricia also narrates the audiobook, released through her imprint YAYDNA Press.
JOELLEN PETERS, Support Texas Adoptee Rights, Advisory Board Member
A clinical psychologist with more than twenty years of private practice in Austin, who works with every member of the adoption constellation. Past board president of Support Texas Adoptee Rights and Adoption Knowledge Affiliates. She is an adoptee in reunion who has testified before the Texas Legislature on access to original birth certificates.
RENEE GELIN, Saving Our Sisters
Renee Gelin is the Founder and President of Saving Our Sisters (SOS), a national nonprofit dedicated to family preservation and ensuring expectant parents have access to unbiased information, resources, and support before making permanent decisions about adoption. Through SOS, Renee has helped build a network that has supported more than 1,000 families across the country, including parents facing financial hardship, housing instability, adoption pressure, and questions about their rights. Renee is also a longtime advocate for adoption reform, informed consent, adoptee rights, and greater transparency and accountability within private adoption.
MARCI PURCELL, Adoption Knowledge Affiliates
Marci is a passionate advocate for peer support, education, and equal rights for adoptees and foster care alumni. She currently serves as a peer support facilitator at Adoption Knowledge Affiliates (AKA). She is also a past president and board member of AKA. She is a founding member and past president of Support Texas Adoptee Rights (STAR) and currently serves on the advisory board. Marci holds a degree in Psychology, and certificates in Mediation, Peer Support, and Psychological First Aid.
Event Links
Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/3817097-0
