It’s after midnight, which means today is my 57th birthday. Growing up as an adoptee, I always celebrated my birthday without questioning it. But today, I thought… is today really my real birthday? If so, what time was I born? where was I born? who gave birth to me? who is my birth father? do
2019 SWS Welcome Home Program
A 7-day program for adoptees to experience their birth country of Korea Social Welfare Society in South Korea invites adoptees to apply for their annual Welcome Home program. The hope is to help adoptees better understand Korean culture, volunteer in their birthland, and build connections with volunteers in Korea. Details of the Program The program
Photo Album: Recognizing Grief and Loss in Adoption
I remember the day when I first met my son at the adoption agency in Seoul, South Korea. I woke up that morning feeling a range of emotions from complete anticipation, to sheer happiness, to utter anxiety. I waited nearly a year to meet my son and now I was just hours away. As I
Gaining Family and Insight through Post Adoption Reunion
Christina, adopted as an infant, spent her life wondering if her birth mother thought about her. She enjoyed a happy childhood with her adoptive parents, who adopted her in the late 60’s. Yet, throughout her life, she struggled with unanswered questions about her biological parents. Christina found answers to her questions when she began her
Transracial & Transcultural Adoption: Preservation, Policy, and a Personal Perspective
This article, written by Alexis Oberdorfer, MSW, Executive Director of CH/LSS, was originally published by National Council for Adoptable Children (NCFA) In 1948, white parents in Minnesota adopted a black child and were the first recorded transracial adoption in the United States. The following year, novelist and winner of the Pulitzer and Nobel prizes Pearl
Adoptee Starts Company to Inspire Others
Lee Arnold, an adult adoptee, is driven to motivate others to live their lives to their fullest. “I’ve had a lot of opportunities to meet really inspiring individuals who are doing great things. I wanted to create a platform to highlight them and teach through them,” he shares. That’s exactly what he is doing. This
A Very Foster Christmas and an Adoptive New Year
Joyful Noize Productions is putting together a show celebrating the foster/adoption community and YOU are the stars. They have an open call for story tellers who want to share their first-person foster or adoption story—these can be foster/adopted youth, grown up youth, siblings, parents, and kinship folks. As a story teller, you will tell your
2018 SWS Welcome Home Program
A 7-day program for adoptees to experience their birth country of Korea Social Welfare Society in South Korea invites adoptees to apply for their annual Welcome Home program. The hope is to help adoptees better understand Korean culture, volunteer in their birthland, and build connections with volunteers in Korea. Details of the Program The program
2018 Korean Language and Culture Scholarship
“Returning to Korea was an amazing, emotional and an unforgettable journey. Climbing mountains, visiting temples, studying at university and most importantly sharing this experience with other Korean adoptees will be something I will always cherish.” -Ginny, Past Participant Eastern Social Welfare Society (ESWS) is once again accepting applications for its Korean Language and Culture Program.
Letter to My Mother
Dear Mother, Writing “Dear Mother” seems so formal, yet I never met you so I can’t call you “mom.” I don’t even know if you would have wanted me to call you “mom.” Let alone if I would have been comfortable with that either. How strange all of this is—and to think that at my
