Today’s guest blogger is Eenang Kang.
The New York Times Magazine’s online article “Why a Generation of Adoptees is Returning to South Korea” by Maggie Jones (2015) provides readers with narratives to illustrate a multitude of personal detriments that resulted from international adoption. The article offers brief snippets of historical contents that touches on reasons behind the influx of adoptions from South Korea in the 1950s to the 1970s. Personal narratives of South Korean adoptees revealed four of the seven core issues for all triad members (adoptee, birth parent, and adoptive parent). These includes Silverstein and Kaplan’s (1982) core issues of ambiguous loss, rejection, identity issues, and guilt and shame (as cited in Silverstein and Kaplan, 2015). The article hints at controversial topics like transracial adoption and the overall money making business of international adoption. In addition, the article reveals the reality that a massive amount of adoptees from South Korea in America have returned to their birth country and started a political group name Adoptee Solidarity Korea (ASK). ASK is noted as leaders in the movement to question the concept of international adoption from all areas in the world.
A strength of the article is that it provides readers with an appropriate sample size of narratives to depict four of the seven core issues of adoption. This supports the threaded themes and reveals different perspectives. Another strength of the article is that it injects factual data to substantiate its main goal of highlighting the personal stories of adoptees from South Korea. By including pieces of the history of international adoptions and governmental laws, the article strengthen the thoughts and experiences of the adoptees.
In spite of the exemplified narratives and fortifying background information, a prevailing limitation is the article’s bias against international adoption. The article sparely highlights the strengths and positive outcomes that international adoption has and does have. The bias undertone limits readers in forming objective opinions about international adoption.
One debated myth about adoption that the article dispels is the myth of only being able to adopt a child who is the same race and ethnicity as the adoptive parent (Common myths about adoption, 2015). This article confirms that transracial adoption has and does occur frequently. The practice of transracial adoption is a part of the child welfare system in the United States and in society.
A myth that is promoted about adoption in the article is that it’s harder to adopt within the U.S. foster care system compare to international adoption (Common myths about adoption, 2015). The historical content and the narrative from the adopted parent presents international adoption as a fairly easy system that can be access when individuals and/or parents are wanting to adopt internationally. In truth, there are strict guidelines surrounding international adoption in the United States and the cost of international adoption exceeds those in place for domestic adoption.
Reference
Common myths about adoption. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.adoptuskids.org/for-families/how-to-adopt/common-myths-about-adoption
Jones, M. (2015, January 14). Why a generation of adoptees is returning to South Korea. The New York Times. Retrieved February 9, 2015 from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/magazine/why-a-generation-of-adoptees-is-returning-to-south-korea.html?ref=topics&_r=1
Silverstein, D. N. & Kaplan, S. (2015). Lifelong issues in adoption. Retrieved from http://www.adopting.org/silveroze/html/lifelong_issues_in_adoption.html