Link: Part 1

I love hearing reunion stories with happy endings. There have been enough stories of Korean adoptees finding their birth families that I know it is done. It’s for this reason that I would never discourage someone from searching for their birth family. Despite the message of my last post, I am not against seeking out possibilities. I am an advocate of making sure that you don’t set yourself up for disappointment.

Reunions and relationships with birth parents have the potential for problems in all types of adoption and potentials for greatness. Check out the Birth/First Parent Blog, the Open Adoption Blog and the Adoption Search Blog for information about this with a lot more clarity and thought than mine. With Korean adoption, there are some added problems with making it all come out with a happy ending.

• For older adoptees, there were few open adoptions. Many of us have no information in our files prior to the day we were found.
• The language barrier – We seek information in another country. If we find our birth families, communication can be difficult.
• The cultural barrier – It can be very hard for Korean families to admit that there was an adoption, especially in the case of a single mother. Korean society is not kind to single mothers. If we find our birth families, the cultural differences can make easy relationships difficult.
• Distance – Though seeking to find their birth families, many Korean adoptees do not plan on moving back to Korea (though some do) and the distance can make it hard to establish a close relationship. International calling plans and e-mail is helping to break down this problem.

I personally don’t know any Korean adoptees that have searched for their birth parents, much less found them. However, thanks to the information highway, I’m able to ease drop on the lives of people who are kind enough to share their experiences. Through the blogs of other Korean adoptees and the instant access to newspaper articles from around the world, I have been able to read about Korean adoptees who not only searched, but have located their Korean parents. The reality that they’ve found is a good one (perhaps not perfect) and it has made them happy. I like happy endings…

If you’d like to respond, but not on this site, please e-mail me at adoptkoreablog@adoptionmail.com.