Our Mission & Story
Our Mission
Hiraeth Hope & Healing is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization creating intentionally held spaces for adults with lived experience in adoption, donor conception, late discovery adoption, unexpected DNA discoveries, misattributed parentage, family separation, origin loss, and hidden truths.
Through peer support, retreats and gatherings, educational programs and resources, search support, and opportunities for lived-experience connection, we create multiple ways for people to understand, connect, learn, experience, and belong.
Our work centers lived experience and respects individual pace, choice, and consent. Participation is always optional, and people are welcome to engage in ways that feel right for them.
This is not a clinical or therapeutic service. It is community-based work grounded in presence, listening, connection, and accountability.
Our Story
Hiraeth Hope & Healing began with a connection.
Founders Erin Cosentino and Cindy McQuay met in March 2019 through their own lived experiences and quickly recognized the need for something that was difficult to find: a place where people navigating family separation, unexpected discoveries, identity, and origin could simply be together with others who understood.
That connection led to the first retreat in October 2019.
What began as a small gathering grew as more people sought opportunities to connect with others who understood experiences that can be difficult to explain outside these communities. Over time, retreats expanded into additional gatherings, peer support spaces, educational programs and resources, search support, virtual opportunities, and other ways to participate and belong.
Today, people can begin wherever feels right, whether they are looking to understand something they have discovered, connect with others, learn, attend a gathering, explore their origins, or simply find a community they can return to over time.
While our offerings have evolved, our approach has remained consistent. We hold space with care and clarity, with respect for individual experience. We do not ask people to explain themselves, reach particular conclusions, or move through their experiences in any prescribed way.
Our work continues to be shaped by the people who gather with us and by a shared commitment to presence, consent, connection, and community-based support.
Why We Hold Space Across Multiple Communities
People arrive at Hiraeth Hope & Healing through different paths, including adoption, donor conception, late discovery adoption, unexpected DNA discoveries, misattributed parentage, and family separation.
While each experience is distinct, many share questions around identity, truth, belonging, family, and origin loss. Hiraeth Hope & Healing brings these communities together while recognizing that no two experiences, perspectives, or paths are the same.
Connection begins when people are given space to show up as they are.
Continue Exploring
Learn more about the values, practices, and commitments that shape Hiraeth Hope & Healing.
Our Community Approach
Learn how we approach community, participation, lived experience, boundaries, and connection.
Our Commitments
Explore the commitments that guide how we create and sustain HH&H spaces.
Explore what speaks to you, and return whenever you need.