Feminist lens on adoption

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Two years ago my husband and I decided, after four years of unsuccessful pregnancy attempts, to consider adopting a child from Korea. In doing so we joined the thousands of couples struggling with infertility who consider this option each year, in addition to fertile couples who choose to adopt, and the hundreds of thousands of couples who have done so since the practice of international adoption began. That number, in fact, includes my parents. I was adopted from Korea at the estimated age of 10 months. Reproductive justiceAs an adult Korean adoptee, I knew first hand how it felt to grow up divorced from the language, culture and people of my birth country. Continue Reading

VOICES | Love and loss

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It is a cold morning, the coldest yet this season, and I throw on my long, warm coat. It’s a coat to snuggle down into: thick black plush, with lavish faux fur lapels and cuffs. “Mama Bear!” said my 8-year-old, delighted at the appearance of the coat for the first time this fall. “Your Mama Bear coat! Continue Reading

HERE project highlights the Korean adoption experience in Minnesota

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For twenty year-old Plymouth resident Emily Mader, being Korean and adopted in Minnesota hasn’t always been easy. Although she now feels at peace with her identity, she says that her adoption process has been an ‘up and down rollercoaster.’ Growing up with Caucasian parents and brother often left her feeling alienated, different and searching for excuses about herself. “I would get picked up from school and had to explain myself as to why my parents didn’t look like me,” says Mader, “I felt ashamed of being Korean.”
Like Mader, many Korean adoptees have struggled with identity issues. Kim Dalros, the art director of the Korean Quarterly, decided a few years ago to tackle the large project of giving a voice to the some 13,000 Korean adoptees in Minnesota. Continue Reading