Link: Minnesota Daily

I was reading this article the other day and I was thinking that it was pretty great that there were now large enough concentrations of Korean adoptees that they could form groups. Where I was growing up, we were pretty rare and here is a whole group. Isn’t that fantastic?

Twin sisters, Lea and Rae Green, moved from South Korea to St. Paul in 1988.

This past summer, the first-year University students started meeting other Korean adoptees at the University via the online social networking Web site Facebook.

Soon after meeting, eight of the new friends formed the Korean Adoptee Student Organization, creating a place for adoptees to share their experiences.

It took me another day or so to realize that Lea and Rae Green were the same Korean adoptee twins in the new Korean Adoptee Forum that I joined. I know. How many twin Korean adoptees named Lea and Rae did I think were out there? I’ve been enjoying this group, though they often make me feel a little old. Most of the participants are my sister’s generation or younger (early twenties or younger) and I hear it in their writing voices. What I’ve enjoyed the most about this group is that there are all different perspectives here.

In the past, I’ve found that Korean adoptee groups are one-sided. I joined one group and all anyone could do was complain about adoption and how it ruined their lives. I don’t feel that way and, while I respect that some do, I wanted to hear some other opinions too. This group, at least so far, seems to be a nice mix.

One of the other things that I realized from this group is that they are making use of what they have. They have a large enough group, to get together and talk over the issues – online and offline. It made me think that adoptive parents also need to make use of what they have. I wrote about it on my other blog.

Link: Making Use Of What You Have

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