Together in This
A 3-Part Seminar for
Partners of Adoptees
by Partners of Adoptees
Being in a relationship with an adoptee can be deeply meaningful and, at times, complex. Together in This is a three-part interactive seminar created specifically for partners of adoptees who want to better understand, support, and grow alongside the person they love.
In intentionally small group sessions, we will explore real topics that show up in adoptee relationships, including adoption loss and identity, emotional triggers, holding space during hard moments, communication tools, travel and birth country connections, parenting decisions, and ways to affirm your partner’s story in everyday life. Conversations are grounded in both professional experience and lived perspective, with respect and care for adoptee voices and stories.
Facilitated by Ben Kaanta and Sarah Kurtzahn - both partners of adoptees - this live online series combines professional expertise with personal insight. It offers a supportive space for fellow spouses to find practical tools and engage in thoughtful discussion. You don’t need to have all the answers; you just need a willingness to show up.
Dates: April 2, April 16 & April 30, 2026
7pm CST/8pm EST
3 live, 60-minute interactive sessions
$90.00 USD
Limited registration available
Facilitators
Ben Kaanta
Spouse of Adoptee
Ben is a CPCC and ICF-certified coach with 20 years of experience in executive leadership and the biosciences. While his professional background is in project management and high-level strategy, his most important work has been as the spouse of a Korean adoptee and a father in a transracial family.
Ben brings a grounded, personal perspective to the Together in This seminar. Like many partners, he didn’t initially "get it." It took time, many conversations, and a family commitment to intensive attachment therapy to move past the frustration of not understanding why his wife couldn't just "move on." Through his wife’s doctoral research into the adoption experience and their own journey as a couple, Ben learned to see the deeper layers of adoption - from how the body instinctively reacts to emotional triggers, to the wear-and-tear of hearing the question "No, where are you really from?"
Ben facilitates In-Country "Talk Time" sessions for partners and loved ones on heritage journeys. Having navigated these dialogues across multiple trips, he is familiar with the common questions and complications that arise when supporting a spouse through their birth country. Ben’s goal is to help partners move past the confusion and build a supportive, attuned presence that honors both their own experience and their spouse’s story.
Sarah Kurtzahn
Spouse of Adoptee
It’s with excitement that Sarah steps into community with spouses and partners, facilitating conversations about the complexities of walking alongside our adoptee loved ones. Her journey to today began with meeting (and falling in love with) an adoptee from her hometown in Minnesota on the other side of the globe - while teaching in Korea. Only a few months after that fateful first meeting over ramyun, Sarah joined Ties and has devoted her career to supporting adoptees and their loved ones as they walk through a journey of identity and connection to their homeland.
During the pandemic, she began her counseling career as an offshoot of that work, and is now an LPC-IT in Wisconsin. She works with a diverse client base, drawing from DBT and narrative approaches, and especially loves to work with those who are adopted or are in the adoption constellation.
Over the years, Sarah’s perspective as a partner to an adoptee shaped her role and conversations within and beyond Ties, expanding conversations to include the broader role of loved ones, not only the parent/child dyad often researched and explored in adoption contexts. She and her husband Matt frequently present together at conferences and heritage camps on topics of identity, storytelling, birth family connections, and support.
In this space, Sarah’s goal is to help partners speak openly about the questions, tensions, and learning curves that often accompany loving an adoptee. She brings a blend of clinical perspective, lived experience, and honest curiosity, creating room for nuance, reflection, and growth.