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We're not likely to wind up adopting (though it could happen), but this was a very interesting read about issues that I hadn't considered before. Thank you for sharing!

Articles on international adoption often seem so negative to me! I realize there are pros and cons and needs for ethical concerns, but I rarely hear positive things about it. That doesn't jibe with my anecdotal sense of things...

It was a very interesting read and I don't really know what I think. I am not sure that you can or should end adoption without meaningfully addressing the reasons why women place their children. And in this case, if Korean women want to place their children, and there are not Korean families who want to adopt, I'm not sure that I agree that international adoption is somehow worse than essentially forcing women to parent.

I haven't read the article, but I'm researched a lot about international adoption - especially from Korea. My husband and I have Korean work ties and I was living in Korea when I realized I wanted children after all. We fell in love while I was there.

It's definitely a country I'm interested in, but we're not Korean and there has been new laws that limit international adoption, some of which were attributed to Koreans that were adopted internationally.

As soon as my exam is over (which I should be studying for now) I'll comment more. Thanks for sharing!

Very interesting. I've been reading a lot of adoption news lately. It's good to hear what adoptees feel about their experiences, even if a lot of it is negative, so that it could help the younger generation of adoptees and their parents. One thing I always read about is how the adoptees felt isolated and alone, were the only one of their kind, and that it was hard to talk to their parents about it.

I just read this blog yesterday: http://www.nickysaeun.com/the-asian-in-caucasian/

I'm half Korean and half white. While I am not adopted, my parents divorced when I was very young and my white father raised me. The "in-between" sentiment in the article is definitely something I understand and felt occasionally growing up in an all-white community. You almost don't fit in anywhere. Around white people, you stick out as Asian. Around Korean people, you stick out as white.

I was just directed to an interesting "rebuttal" to this article, which mentions my feelings about how my son would have likely lived an institutionalized childhood.
Dear Maggie
I read your article with great interest. I am a Korean adoptee and now an adoption professional. I've lost count at the number of times I've been back to Korea, probably around 15 times at this point. My first trip to Korea was so life changing for me that I broke up with my caucasion boyfriend, came home to the midwest, packed my car and moved to a Korean community on the west coast in order to immerse myself in the young Korean American community there, dated Korean men and traveled back and forth to Korea. Eventually in a bid to complete my "korean-ness" I married (and later divorced) a Korean American man. My korean language is enough to get around but I compare it to the level of a smart 2 yo. I have worked with families, agencies, other adoptees, other adopted-adoption professionals, multiple governmental bodies and walked the rows of beds in orphanages. I've seen the good and the bad and while I probably fit much more into the Pollyanna category, I am well aware of the abuses and the darker side of adoptions. Mass international adoption exodus and adoption for profit should never exist. I have heard staunch pro-adoption advocates speak at international conferences and just cringed at their lack of insight.
I give you this background so that you have context when I have to say that I'm sincerely disappointed at the skew of the article which painted adoption in such a negative light. While there were some neutral perspectives, the majority of the article focused on ASK, TRACK and KoRoot which are notoriously anti adoption, something that they did admit to. I applaud their efforts to better the lives of adopted people. I absolutely support their valiant attempts to change an entire culture's attitude toward single mothers, secrecy and the shame and circumstances that lead some families to adoption. In this, we are fully in agreement.
However the article said nothing of the millions of children with special needs (physical, mental, emotional, older age) who will not find homes nor sufficient medical, educational or social care in their "home" countries. The article did not touch on the 1000's of children every year, specifically in Korea, that will end up in life long institutional care because there are not enough families willing to adopt in Korea. The article said nothing of the multitude of evidence based medicine/literature that shows disastrous decline in the emotional, physical, mental and psychological well being of children who grow up without permanency. And the article did not touch on the implications of aging out of a system and a culture that considers orphans and adoptees in Korea to be 2nd class at best. Worldwide, (USA included) many orphans have ended up as part of the sex trade and other industries because they have no other educational options or family support to help them on a better path.
I agree with Laura Klunder's statement that someday I hope to work myself out of a job. I have many interests and I am also a fine emergency room and urgent care physician so I have no personal conflict of interest if adoption ceases someday. However the reality is that no matter how accepting a culture may be of adoption, no matter how supportive we can be for single mothers or poverty, there are some families that are not able or meant to parent the children they give birth to. For those children we should find permanent, loving homes in their country of origin. If that is not possible (and for many countries like Korea it currently is not) then children should be allowed to be adopted into a family, wherever that might be.
Every time I go to Korea I end up walking past a cosmetic store where a pretty girl is clapping and inviting people to buy makeup and 2$ fake eyelashes. Given my interest in girly things, and my successful run as a Denny's nightshift waitress in college, if not adopted I'd probably be waitressing and/or clapping in front of some store as a best case scenario. While there is nothing wrong with those choices, I had a multitude of educational and other opportunities as an adoptee and I think I was meant to be a physician, researcher, wife, aunt and contributing member of society and I advocate for all children to have opportunities as well.
Thank you for your time. If you decide to do another followup article at some time, I'd be happy to contribute.
All the best- Judy

I think its a very interesting article. I have always wanted to adopt, from China where my own culture and family roots started, but I dont think it will ever happen now partially due to finances partially due to other things in life.

I have several friends who are Korean adoptees and they range in feelings I feel like this authro with resentment and dislike of what happened to them (adoption) to feeling happy for the family they have through adoption. Many of them were adopted through Holt and the one thing they all seem to agree on and like was the culture camps where they got the reunite with other Korean adoptees.

I am not adopted myself but reading the part about not fitting in being a ethnic race in a sea of Caucasians is not an adoptee phenomena. While my parents obviously weren't Caucasian I grew up in a 90% ethnically Caucasian town and even though my parents tried to raise me with regards to my culture (Chinese school, traditional foods, Chinese New Year traditions etc) I hated it all. It wasn't me. I wanted to be white. I still remember in kindergarten when I had to draw a picture of my grandparents; I drew blue eyed blond haired people never understanding that my own grandparents would look like me and my parents. I spent hours as a child wondering why my eyes were a different shape than my friends or why my middle name was so odd. As an adult I have come to embrace the Chinese part of myself and now as a parent I am trying to pass on what little I can about the culture and history of my family to my children (who are already only half Chinese) but I didnt come to terms to these things, much like the adoptees in the story, until i was older, in college even. When you grow up in a culture thats so different from your own and everywhere you look people look different from you you will always feel off or want to be a aprt of the main group regardless what your parents look like too. It might be more pronounced if you are the only one (like adoptees) but you can certainly feel like it too even if your parents are the same race as you.