Since I first published Adopting from Korea, I receive a handful of
emails a month from Korean adoptees (or their family members) asking for
information about how to conduct a search for birth family.
Rarely easy,
sometimes impossible, this, too, is a journey of the heart for which
I'm happy to provide some small assistance.
I think it's important, as an adoptive parent, to understand that the search
for birth family isn't a rejection of adoptive family. It IS a personal quest
for identity ("Who do I look like?") and belonging ("Who is like me?") that only
our children, who choose to search, can undertake. My adopted children are still
quite young, but I would support any efforts they wish to make to locate birth
family. Again, this is their need to find a sense of wholeness and integration.
This is their work to do, or not to do, as their own hearts dictate.
Here is an extensive reference list of related Korean and other International
adoptee resources - each listing contains numerous links to
organizations, email lists, articles, and personal sites:
MUST-SEE!
Other useful links:
Birth Family Search Resources
Korean Adoptee
and Related Adoptee Literature
Since Korean adoptees represent the oldest and largest wave of
internationally-born adoptees, it only makes sense that the bulk of
memoirs being written in this area are being written by adult Korean
adoptees.
Here are the books I especially recommend:
Other books by Korean adoptees or that include
adoption as an important part of the story:
Other books about the transracial adoption experience:
My favorite adoptee memoir is actually about a domestic adoption,
but it is so wonderfully written that I wanted to recommend it here,
as well:
Last, but not least, I'd recommend that both adoptive parents of
Korean-born children and Korean adoptees subscribe to
Korean Quarterly.
It is an excellent read that will speak to the heart of every part of
the Korean American/Korean Adoptive Family/Korean Adoptee community.
