Introducing Anica Falcone-Juengert to the Education Committee

Hey everyone,

My name is Anica Falcone-Juengert (she/they). I am a queer, Chinese, international adoptee and I grew up in Northern California. Currently, I live in Los Angeles and I work as a Human Resources Assistant for a vocational school.

I am relatively new to the KAAN community. I found KAAN by following adoptees on social media after I began forming an undergraduate fellowship project that was geared towards observing transracial adoptees and how they present their identities on Instagram. I paused my project in 2020 when I took a break from my higher education journey during COVID. In the next few years, I hope to return to school to earn my bachelor’s degree and revive my project. A long-term goal of mine is to use research to bring awareness to the nuanced experiences of transracial adoptees. My project aims to do this specifically in the context of international, Chinese adoptees under the One Child Policy.

Before I paused my education, I was heavily involved in student leadership at my university and I went through a lot of training revolving around personal, social identities. Through this work, I realized I wanted to get more involved in adoptee organizations. Growing up, I struggled with understanding my adoptee identity and I did not have an adoptee community to lean on. Adoption for me is a vulnerable identity and on-going life experience that holds a lot of trauma and complex emotions I will continue to explore throughout my life. I thought I would dive deeper into my identity exploration by joining the Education Committee with KAAN.

As I join this committee, I am exploring what having an adoptee community means to me to better understand myself and inform how I can then give to others. I am excited and grateful to be joining such a life-giving organization.

Fun facts: I care deeply about social justice and self-defense!