The Adoptee Consciousness Model (ACM), developed in 2022 by JaeRan Kim, Susan Branco, Grace Newton, Paula O’Loughlin, and Stephanie Kripa Cooper Lewter, explains how adoptees build socio political awareness of oppressive structures in adoption that shape identity and mental health, and how that awareness can lead to community action. In this presentation, guests JaeRan Kim, PhD, MSW, an associate professor at the University of Washington Tacoma focused on adoptee wellbeing across the lifespan, and Grace Newton, a PhD student at the University of Chicago and a Chinese transracial adoptee focused on race, identity, and belonging, walk listeners through the model’s spiral framework, its grounding in scholar activists of color and Gloria Anzaldúa’s work, and practical implications for counselors and practitioners supporting adoptee clients.