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Farewell to Russia: A Conversation on Adoption, Memory, & Healing

  • Wednesday, November 18, 2026
  • 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
  •  November 18, 2026
     6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

In honor of National Adoption Awareness Month, we’re hosting a powerful conversation with the author and translators of Farewell to Russia: Memories of When I Was Kola.

This memoir follows the author, Nikolai Prestia, as he navigates growing up in 1990s Russia. He examines his early relationships with birth family, the child welfare system, and eventually, finding permanency through adoption. The book centers themes of loss, memory, resilience, and healing, and gives us a unique perspective to deepen our understanding of the diversity of experiences in the adoption constellation.

In this panel discussion, we will hear from the Nikolai as well as the mother-daughter duo who translated the book: adoptive parent, Teresa Fiore and her daughter Daniela Chaudhary Fiore, who is from Colombia and joined her family through adoption. We look forward to welcoming them back to speak to the book’s impact on their lives, as well as their personal experiences with adoption.

Please register below to claim your free ticket to this event. We look forward to having you join us!

Venue:  

Address:
120 East 16th Street, Floor 11, New York, New York, 10003, United States

Details Price Qty
Free Ticketshow details + $0.00 USD  

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Elizabeth L. Smith

Mentorship Facilitator

Elizabeth L. Smith, LMSW (she/her) is a compassionate, trauma-informed, and adoption-competent therapist. In her Adoptee Support Sessions, she provides non-clinical support services to adopted people. Her clinical training, narrative work, and living experience as an adopted person inform her perspective and practice. Elizabeth possesses deep awareness, empathy, and understanding of the shifting complexities of adoption, reunion, search, and the importance of being together in community.

Waiting Children Profiles

Thank you for your interest in adopting through Spence-Chapin! We are able to share the profiles of children who are considered to be the most in need and are waiting internationally to be matched with an adoptive family. The children featured on this page have been waiting for the longest to find families and consist of children who are older, part of a sibling group, or children with a diagnosed medical condition. In order to respect the privacy of these children, this page has been password protected.

Spence-Chapin takes the privacy rights of the children that we are seeking to place very seriously, and share the profile with you under the following conditions:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF PASSWORD ACCESS
That you acknowledge and understand that

1. Misuse of the content, and/or linking to any sites that reflect practices that involve the sale, abduction, exploitation, or trafficking of children is strictly prohibited.

2. You have been given limited access to confidential information in the form of images that you will not disclose to any person or in any manner that is inconsistent with applicable policies and procedures of Spence-Chapin Services to Families and Children.

3. The confidentiality obligation shall continue indefinitely, including at all times after my association with Spence-Chapin Services to Families and Children.

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5. Impermissible disclosure of the images may result in legal actions being taken against you, by or on behalf of that person.

6. You are doing this freely, voluntarily and with a full understanding of what you are agreeing to by entering/accessing this blog.

7. Thank you for your interest in providing a loving home for a waiting child! We look forward to connecting with you soon to continue discussing adoption paths at Spence-Chapin. We hope that you like us on Facebook, follow us on twitter, and keep up with our families through our adoption blog!

Warm regards,
The Adoption Team at Spence-Chapin

Phone: 212-400-8150
Email: [email protected]

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