Susan Harness: Heritage Speaker
Indigenous author, keynote speaker, and transracial adoption advocate Susan Harness helps audiences understand identity, belonging, and Native child welfare through powerful storytelling and lived experience.
Quick Facts:
- Author of award-winning memoir Bitterroot
- Member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
- TEDx speaker on transracial adoption and identity
- Expert on Indigenous child welfare and adoption policy
- Formats:
Keynote Speaker, Author, and Indigenous Advocate
- Audiences:
Educational institutions, nonprofits, policymakers, social service organizations, and audiences exploring identity, adoption, diversity, and Indigenous issues.
- Outcomes:
- Understand the historical impact of Indigenous child welfare policies
- Foster empathy and awareness around transracial adoption experiences
- Strengthen conversations around identity, belonging, and cultural preservation
- Travels from: Fort Collins, CO
- **Fee range: On Request
Keynote Topics
Possible Topics
- American Indian Transracial Adoption
- Lifescapes and Landmines of American Indian transracial adoption: A Personal Narrative
- Bourdieu and Child Placement: Why the Indian Adoption Project didn’t pan out.
- Historical Trauma and Child Adoption: What happens when the fabric rips?
Talent Short Bio
Susan Harness is an acclaimed Indigenous author, keynote speaker, and advocate whose work explores identity, transracial adoption, and Native child welfare through the lens of lived experience. A member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Susan is the author of Bitterroot: A Salish Memoir of Transracial Adoption, winner of the High Plains Book Award for Indigenous Writer and Creative Nonfiction.
Her speaking and research focus on the lasting impact of American Indian transracial adoption policies and the historical systems that disrupted Native families and communities. Drawing from both personal experience and decades of research, Susan offers audiences a deeply human perspective on identity, belonging, culture, and resilience.
Susan has spoken on the topic of transracial adoption since 1993 and has presented academically since 2006 as a keynote speaker, lecturer, panelist, and writer. Her work has been featured on TEDxMileHigh and in major media outlets including Colorado Public Radio, Le Monde, HuffPost, and KALW San Francisco.
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