Today we are exploring another mother and daughter relationship. Hea was adopted from Korea but didn’t really start exploring her Korean heritage until her daughter Emma started getting curious. Hea shares about how her relationship with Emma spurred them both to process what being adopted really means.

Show Notes

Topics We Discussed

Hea shares her story about being adopted from Korea
She was flown to Ohio (then moved to Texas) and adopted by a couple with three older biological sons
KAD = Korean Adoptee
Her parents divorced
Free DNA kit for Korean adoptees: www.325kamra.org
The prejudice and racist beliefs her adoptive mother and stepfather had led Hea to go no-contact with them several years ago.
When Emma asked Hea about being Chinese - this spurred Hea on to investigate her roots.
We talk about the common story that Korean adoptees hear from agencies: your files were lost in a flood or a fire
Finding out that things she believed about herself from a young child were not true
Going back to Korea on her own to begin her search
We talk about parenting, and some of Hea and Fred’s decisions of where to send Emma to school and how to teach her about her culture
We discuss names and how Hea decided to change her name back to her first name
“Through my relationship with her [Emma] I’ve allowed myself to grieve for what I’ve lost”
Hea talks us through the Adoptee Citizenship Act, and explains the gap in citizenship for international adoptees

Recommended Resources

The "Unknown" Culture Club: Korean Adoptees, Then and Now by Janine Myung Ja
White Unwed Mother: The Adoption Mandate in Postwar Canada by Valerie Andrews
Hea Ryun recommends these to explore the history of Korean adoption:
- Dazzling Hope by Keon-Su Lee
- To Save the Children of Korea: The Cold War Origins of International Adoption by Arissa H. Oh
- Dreams of My Mothers: A Story of Love Transcendent by Joel L. A. Peterson
- Birth Mothers and Transnational Adoption Practice in South Korea: Virtual Mothering (Critical Studies in Gender, Sexuality, and Culture) by Host Kim
- I Wish for You a Beautiful Life: Letters from the Korean Birth Mothers of Ae Ran Won to Their Children edited by Sara Dorow (written by Korean first mothers)
- PBS Korean Adoption: A History of Adoptions from South Korea