Adapted™ Podcast

I sit down with Alicia Soon Hershey, 41, a Korean transnational adoptee now living in Barcelona. Soon Hershey was the very first adoptee interviewed on the podcast back in 2016 and our conversation book-ends the podcast in the 165th episode (!). We get a chance to hear how she has evolved in the past eight … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 26: Alicia Soon Hershey – I am Not My Trauma →

Korean-American cultural anthropologist and scholar Eleana Kim (UC Irvine) talks about her research and observations in writing her seminal book, “Adopted Territory: Transnational Korean Adoptees and the Politics of Belonging” (Duke University Press, 2010). Audio available on August 16, 2024 at 9:00 am CST.

Geoffrey Winder (Jeong Kae-bin) (he/him), 42, of Oakland, CA, shares some of his story as a queer Black Korean transnational and transracial adopted man and about his activism in queer advocacy, adoptee community, education justice and leadership spaces. Audio available Friday, August 2, 2024.

Mirae Kate-hers Rhee, 48, is a transnational, transcultural artist and adopted Korean who uses her socio-political artwork and performance to investigate concepts like identity and belonging. Audio available July 20, 2024 at 6 pm CST. Photo: Michael Hurt

Korean mixed-race adoptee Sarah Harris, 54, of Los Angeles, shares her story of visiting Korea and finding the place where she felt truly rooted. Audio available July 5, 2024.

Korean adoptee Delight Roberts, 52, talks about marrying into a Korean-American family and the challenges and benefits that provided her. Some were surprising – like table eating etiquette – but all of Roberts’ experiences from childhood bullying to having future in-laws who didn’t approve of her because she is adopted, have strengthened Roberts’ resolve to … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 21: Delight Roberts – Marrying into a Korean-American Family →

Wyatt Tuell, 45, is an adopted Korean who has learned that family does not have to be biological to be special. The Omaha, NE resident was adopted as a newborn to a Korean adoptive mother and white American military father. However, he was adopted a second time by another man whom he considers his father. … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 20: Wyatt Tuell – An Unconventional Family →

Kit Myers, 42, is a transracial Hong Kong adoptee and assistant professor in the Department of History & Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at UC Merced. In this interview, we talk about Myers’ search for his birth mother and feelings he’s had of having a ‘ghostly’ or ambiguous kinship with someone he doesn’t know. We … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 19: Kit Myers – Ghostly Kinship →

I continue my conversation with Nik Nadeau, a Korean adoptee who reunited with his Korean birth mother years ago, and who is still learning more about her and himself in the process. Audio available May 10, 2024.

Writer, poet, husband and Korean adoptee Nik Nadeau, also known as Im Chang Hoon, 36, talks about how writing has helped him find inner layers of himself and uncover memories. He also shares how he’s unlocking feelings towards his birth mother with the passage of time. Special thanks to Jacquelyn Wells for original music.

Yukyeong Kim and her group of neighbors and friends in Korea self-describe themselves as “ordinary, Korean women.” But they’ve been quietly and determinedly helping adoptees search for their biological family since 2018. I sit down with Kim to find out more about how the group got started and how their bravery and willingness to make … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 16: Yukyeong Kim and Banet →

Dr. JaeHee Chung-Sherman, DSW, LCSW, has centered her practice and research on decolonizing adoption and mental health for transracial and international adoptees. A transracial, transnational adoptee herself, Chung-Sherman, 47, has been among the first co-hort of TRIA therapists to do this work. She talks about narcissistic colonial adopt systems, and why she ultimately has decided … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 15: Dr. JaeHee Chung-Sherman – You Don’t Have to Be Resilient →

Mia Quade Kristensen, 46, and Jannie Jung Westermann, 45, are on the board of the 34-year old Danish Korean adoptee organization, Korea Klubben. They will share about their own search and reunion stories, including one of them being in reunion with her Korean family for more than two decades. The women will also share about their community … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 14: Leading an Adoptee Organization →

Join me as I learn more about the Adoptee Consciousness Model developed by Dr. Susan Branco (not shown), Dr. Jaeran Kim, 55, and Grace Newton, 29, MSW. We also talk about the beginnings of their notable blogs where Kim and Newton both began writing about the impact of adoption, ‘righteous anger’ and adoptee identity. Audio … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 13: Adoptee Consciousness Model →

Thomas Haessly, 40, has felt like an outsider ever since he can remember. Adopted from Korea by a Danish mother and American father to Racine, Wisconsin, Haessly recalls feeling like an imposter within his family, of not quite fitting in, and again as an adult at Korean grocery stores and parenting his own children. Haessly’s … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 12: Thomas Haessly and the Imposter Within →

This week, I talk with Rachel Forbes, LCSW, an Korean-American adoptee therapist and educator. We discuss trauma that occurs in the womb and from early parent separation, and emotional disregulation. Forbes, 34, talks about healing techniques and provides a lot of great resources too.  CW: child molestation/incest/sexual abuse  Audio available Feb. 2, 2024.

Marissa Lichwick, 46, is a Korean adoptee and filmmaker, playwright and actor. She is using her past pain and trauma surrounding her family separation, abuse in the orphanage and in her father and stepmother’s home and the haunting loss of a half-sister she’s never met in her art, to process the events of her life … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 10: Marissa Lichwick and Her Ghosts →

Sara Docan-Morgan, PhD, is a Korean adoptee and communications professor in Wisconsin. Docan-Morgan, 47, is also the youngest child in her Korean biological family, with whom she reunited with many years ago. Her research has focussed on experiences of Korean adoptees and their families, and this month she is out with a new book, “In … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 9: Sara Docan-Morgan and Being In-Reunion →

Mia Haessly, 44, is a mother and adopted Korean-American who has reunited with her Korean biological father. And while introducing her family to him and seeing her children connect with Korea in a way she never had has been meaningful, the reunion has presented new challenges. Besides the language and cultural barriers, there is the … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 8: Mia Haessly is Coexisting with Biological and Adoptive Family →

Helen Noh, PhD., is retiring next year after four decades working in child welfare in Korea, first as an adoption social worker to now a professor of social work, training generations of students to make an imprint on improving the lives of children and families. Noh, 64, has become a leading academic voice in Korea … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 7: Helen Noh, From Adoption Worker to Critic in South Korea →

Robert Holloway, 34, and Menzeba Hasati, 40, are siblings who are adult children of a Black Korean adoptee. Their mother is a first-wave adoptee, whose mother was Korean and father an American G.I. She was adopted to Alaska in the 1960s by a Black couple. Her children forged their own identities; one in spite of their … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 6: Robert Holloway and Menzeba Hasati are Children of a Korean Adoptee →

Korean adoptee Matthew Rodriguez, 43, is trying to make sense of his adoption story. For years, it’s been clouded by stories that were told to him and those he told himself, even if they weren’t always accurate. It was a means to survive. But Rodriguez, whose adoptive parents are white and Mexican American, and who … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 5: Matthew Rodriguez and Fact Versus Fiction →

Korean adoptee Jenna Antoniewicz, 40, has been on a whirlwind over the past 24 months since beginning to reckon her adoption history and adoptee identity. While mayor of a town in Pennsylvania, she found herself speaking for Asian America during the coronavirus pandemic about anti-Asian hate. But that triggered an imposter syndrome deep within Antoniewicz, … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 4: Jenna Antoniewicz is Ready →

Hollee McGinnis, 51, is a Korean adoptee and founder of Also Known As, one of the longest continuously running international adoptee community organization and based in the New York Tri-State area. In this episode, she discusses her new project, Mapping the Life Course of Adoption, and provides some insights from some of the preliminary findings.  … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 3: Hollee McGinnis and Her Soul Work →

Lee Herrick, 52, is a poet, author, educator and adoptee. He was adopted from South Korea to the San Francisco Bay area in 1971. Herrick discusses how he uses his lens as an adoptee to observe and write verse about life. He also reads from his 2019 acclaimed collection of poems, “Scar and Flower.” Photo … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 2: Lee Herrick — Scar and Flower →

Dr. Kimberly McKee, 39, currently a visiting Fulbright scholar at Sogang University in Seoul, Korea, is a critical adoption studies researcher. This November, her latest book, “Adoption Fantasies: Fetishization of Asian Adoptees from Girlhood to Womanhood” (The Ohio State University Press) will come out. We’ll talk about her latest monograph as well as her 2019 … Continue reading Season 7, Episode 1: Kimberly McKee and Asian Adoptee Fetishization →

Imagine a story told to you from childhood, that your biological mother died and your biological father decided to relinquish you? And the people who adopted you rehomed you to another couple, where you found abuse and neglect? Randy Walker, 48, has lived such a life and re-examines his trauma and discusses how negative family … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 21: Randy Walker and Finding Self-Worth →

Sara Jones isn’t sure whether she’s 48 or 49. That’s because the circumstances surrounding her relinquishment are still a bit unclear. What she does know for certain, is that her father never wanted her to be separated from her family or be adopted overseas. But his worst fears happened anyway, and against most all odds she … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 20: Sara Jones Was Marked By Love →

Eric Poole, 55, continues his conversation in this second of a two-part interview. In this episode, we follow his adoption to the U.S. and adjustment in New Hope, Minnesota, where as a Black Korean boy, he felt like he traded one outsider life for another.  CW: N word Audio available May 08, 2023. Patreon subscribers … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 19: Eric Poole and His New Hope →

Eric Poole, 55, is a transracially adopted Black Korean who has come a long way from his early days as a mixed-race Korean child in a US military camptown in Korea. He’s now a father to three kids, husband, and one of the few Black pilots in the commercial flight industry. But his success story … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 18: Eric Poole is the Boy From Uijeongbu →

Karen Lechelt, 50, is a mother, wife and a returned East coaster after two decades in the San Francisco bay area and a few years in Amsterdam in between. Their childhood in New Jersey was marked with feeling not quite fitting wherever she was, and having to always adapt themself. Because of the loss of … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 17: Karen Lechelt and Shapeshifting →

Megan Nyberg, 37, was adopted as an infant from South Korea to Minnesota. But ever since her premature birth, she has struggled with medical conditions that have been constant reminders of the mystery surrounding her origins. Now a therapist, Nyberg gives other grace and more recently, has started to give it to herself too.  “Running” … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 16: Megan Nyberg – Superheroes Have Feelings Too →

Queer Korean adoptee Midnite Townsend, 38, is many things. A large part of her/their past has been as a performer; first training to enter the world of musical theater to realizing her/their real desires were better applied to the art of burlesque and drag king performance. Midnite’s throughline has been a quest for authenticity – … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 15: After Midnite — Santa Claus, Birth Parents and Other Myths →

Korean-born French adoptee Laure Badufle’s story and search for idenity is now the subject of a new Sony Pictures film, “Return to Seoul.” In December of 2021, Badufle, then 37, shared some of that story, including meeting her birth parents in her 20s. The film is now opening to more international audiences this month and … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 14: Laure Badufle Returns to Seoul →

Michael Jessup of Mountain View, California is a father, coach and adopted Korean. But it’s only been in the last six years that the 46-year old has explored his feelings about his adoption and  faced his pain about being abandoned and given up by presumably his first family at 13 months of age. He opens … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 13: Michael Jessup and His Inner Game →

Reunion with biological parents can be complicated for adoptees. Especially because relinquishment or losing a child or parent, language, culture can be traumatic and represent lifelong grief. But whose story is it? Aneyah Elmore, 56, is a Black and Korean adoptee who is balancing the need to tell her own story and the desire of … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 12: Aneyah Elmore Has a Story →

Lisa Woolrim Sjöblom, 45, is an illustrator, comic book artist and activist who advocates for the rights and justice for adoptees and first families. In a departure from other published conversations, Sjöblom gets more personal and talks about struggles with attachment, becoming a mother and the grief and trauma that these life events have brought … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 11: “Our Bodies Have Been in Survival Mode” – Lisa Woolrim Sjöblom 정 울림 →

Samantha Kim Lyons, 41, grew up with racial mirrors unlike many other transrcial adoptees. Her late father was white; her mom is a third-generation Japanese-American. Her childhood was spent in Hawai’i and later southern California. But like other Korean adoptees, Lyons finds herself searching for deeper connection to Korea and to her adopted self later … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 10: Samantha Lyons on Exploring Her Adoptee Identity Later in Life →

Edward Pokropski, 39, of New York, NY is an adopted Korean-American who has a new one-man show out unpacking that experience. He talks about why not all audiences are comfortable laughing at jokes about adoption and how he approaches the topic while staying true to himself.  “Running” by JaeJin. “Overlook on Fairview”, “Delham Corner,” “Burham … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 9: Edward Pokropski is Case 84-1410 →

This is the second-half of a recent conversation with Peter Møller of the Danish Korean Rights Group.  The discussion took place on Dec. 11, 2022 (KST), just days after the Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission decided to start an investigation on Korean adoption by examining an initial 34 cases of the more than 300 submissions.  We also … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 8: An Investigation Starts (Part 2 of 2) →

I sit down again and talk to Peter Møller, one of the co-founders of Danish Korean Rights Group, which has succeeded in convincing a truth commission in Korea to open an investigation into Korean adoption. The group has submitted more than 300 cases representing adopted Koreans in a number of countries, alleging false paperwork and switched … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 7: An Investigation Starts →

Zhen E Rammelsberg, 50, was adopted by a white couple in Iowa in the early 1970s. She remembers being the only person of color in her small town of 700 people. Growing up in racial isolation led Rammelsberg to distance herself from her Korean heritage or from cultivating a positive racial identity of being Korean. … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 6: Zhen E Rammelsberg and Her Puzzle Piece →

Allen Majors, 63, is a Korean-American adoptee who has decided to retire in Korea — more than 60 years after being sent away for adoption to the US.  One could think of it as a kind of reclamation of identity but Majors chooses to not place too much emphasis and burdens on the past. Instead, … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 5: Allen Majors and Retiring in Korea and of Not Driving Lamborghinis →

Christy Zaragoza, 30, regularly spreads joy in the adoptee community as a board member of the Association of Korean Adoptees in San Francisco. She reveals that the reason she is so interested in making others happy around her comes from a dark place. This is the first time Christy has shared her story publicly like … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 4: Christy Zaragoza and Why She Spreads Joy →

Danish attorney and Korean adoptee Peter Møller is the next guest in the podcast. He and his group, Danish Korean Rights Group, are submitting cases to Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The aim is to encourage them to investigate Korean intercountry adoption practices during the authoritarian regime for alleged illegality and criminality on the part … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 3: Peter Møller and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission →

Last month, Adapted Podcast teamed up with the Association of Korean Adoptees to organize a Share Your Story Booth. It was open during AKASF’s annual “Bay to LA” event in Koreatown, Los Angeles. We had never offered this kind of confessional diary-type opportunity before and weren’t sure if anyone would be interested in self-documenting a … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 2: Share Your Story →

Season 6 kicks off with a live audience interview with Nick Greene of Association of Korean Adoptees- San Francisco. The Bay-area Korean adoptee group held its annual “Bay To LA” event September 16-17, 2022. More than 70 adoptees from CA, OR, TX, AZ, MN, IL, WA and MI attended. Greene, 40, is relative new to … Continue reading Season 6, Episode 1: Nick Greene & His Three Phoenixes →

American writer, poet and educator Sun Yung Shin, 48, of Minneapolis, MN closes out the season. Author of a new book of poetry called “The Wet Hex,” Shin reads excerpts from book and talks about how adoption, race, evolution and the pandemic  informs their writing. 

Jenny Town, 46, is a Korean adoptee who was one of the first waves to go back to Korea after their adoptions. Now, a foreign policy expert specializing in North Korea, Town recalls her time in Korea as a university student, dating, and what lessons she learned about herself while she was there. 

Korean adoptees Kim Stoker and kim thompson left Korea five years ago after many, many years living there as artists, activists, writers and educators. But when it was time to leave, it was time. They sit down with podcast host, Kaomi Lee, who also moved back to the States from Korea during that same time … Continue reading Season 5, Episode 18: Post-Post-Korea Musings — Kim Stoker and kim thompson →

The topic of mothers has been a sensitive one for Korean adoptee Corissa Saint Laurent, 48. She lost her natural mother at the age of three, and her adoptive mother years later, after her parents divorced. She sought solace in alcohol as a way to numb the pain and fight feelings of abandonment. It wasn’t … Continue reading Season 5, Episode 17: Mothers — Corissa Saint Laurent →

Bjarte Aarland, 45, says he’s always had pride in being Korean. Even if standing out for being different wasn’t valued in wider Norwegian society. Aarland talks about the complexity for many Korean adoptees in Norway, a country descendant from Vikings. And of being asked the ultimate question by his biological family: Was his adoption worth … Continue reading Season 5, Episode 16: Being Korean is My Medallion →

What if you only discovered you were adopted in your 30s? Kristen Choi, 33, or 최우경, learned the truth about being adopted from Korea only a year ago, and is still unpacking what this new information means. Choi is figuring out how to embrace a new identity as an adopted person, as well as exploring … Continue reading Season 5, Episode 15: A Late Discovery – Kristen Choi →

Jakob Sandersen, 54, is at a crossroads. A Danish pharmacist with a family living outside Copenhagen, he might otherwise be content. But the pull of Korea, his native country, has long been present. With his education and knowledge, he has opportunities to relocate and work in Korea. But something holds him back. 

Kimberley Lee, 38, says she’s always felt very Aussie growing up in suburban Sydney, Australia. Her Korean roots seemed as faraway as the country itself. But in recent years, she’s realized the importance of connecting that past to her present. 

For so many Korean adoptees, little if any information is ever known about one’s biological family, either because of empty case files, redaction of information because of Korean privacy laws that protect the relinquishing family or even less-than-helpful Korean adoption agencies that might not notify an adoptee that their family was looking for them. But … Continue reading Season 5, Episode 12: Korean Dragon — Han Yong Wunrow →

Ray Trom, 46, survived trauma that no child should have to experience, first after his parents died leaving him with abusive relatives, to being relinquished to an orphanage with a brother he barely knew, learning to fend for himself from abuse from other children. At age 12, he was adopted to Minnesota and thrown into … Continue reading Season 5, Episode 11: Gratitude and Loss – Ray Trom →

Mixed-race Korean adoptee JoYi Rhyss, 51, shares her story of grief and forgiveness. Her pain starts in Korea, where she lived with her Korean mother until age nine, but always aware she might be sent away because her dark skin meant she didn’t belong. Her journey took her to one of the whitest areas of … Continue reading Season 5, Episode 10: Grief and Forgiveness — JoYi Rhyss →

Justin Snyder, 35, is a dreamer and a seeker.  He was adopted from Korea as an infant by parents in West Virginia and grew up in a small town only to now have traveled the world in search of meaning, spirituality and innovative thinking. Snyder embarked on his own adoptee journey in 2016 when he … Continue reading Season 5, Episode 9: Dream & Manifest – Justin Snyder →

Tara Tenhoff, 47, is a Korean adoptee living in Minneapolis, Minn. She came to the US by way of a private adoption and had always been told a story that didn’t seem quite real until she went back to Korea a few years ago and met her birth family. Tara describes her feelings finding them … Continue reading Season 5, Episode 8: Never Forgotten – Tara Tenhoff →

Tobias Hübinette, 50, is an adopted Korean and academic scholar of critical adoption, race and Korean studies, respectively. His work has focused on looking at international adoption from Korea to the West from all angles, not just from the perspective of receiving countries or adoptive families. He has also been an activist and critic of … Continue reading Season 5, Episode 7: Sweden’s Race Warrior – Tobias Hübinette →

MAI YOUNG ØVILSEN, 39, is a Korean Danish composer and front woman for her band Meejah, whose alt-shoegaze sounds are guided by her haunting voice and lyrics about Korean adoption, transnational identity and homeland. Øvilsen also shines a light on an aspect of searching for biological parents for adoptees that is often left out of … Continue reading Season 5, Episode 6: Transnational Gaze – Mai Young Øvilsen →

French Korean adoptee Laure Badufle, 37, shares her story of growing up in the French countryside to meeting her birth parents in Korea in her 20s. Trying to make sense of the reunion and being thrown back into old family disputes, the chaos became overwhelming, and sent her on a tailspin. Eventually, Laure set out … Continue reading Season 5, Episode 5: Breathe & Be You – Laure Badufle →

Peter Savasta [he/him], 46, has been around adoptee spaces for more than two decades. Raised in Queens in an Italian-American family, he found mirrors when he went to a diverse high school in Bronx, NY, and again when he found other gay Asian-Americans. In adoptee spaces he was an early mentor and source of support. … Continue reading Season 5, Episode 4: Becoming Me – Peter Savasta →

Kimura Byol 木村 별 , also known as Natalie Lemoine, [ze pronoun] talks about how ze adoption and upbringing in Belgium helped shaped ze politics and activism related to international transracial adoption. Particularly Kimura is passionate about improving access for adoptees to their birth records and identities. Part of that activism began when Kimura faced … Continue reading Season 5 Episode 3: In Search of Identity – Kimura Byol →

Korean adoptee Adam Crapser, 46, sits down with the podcast this week to talk about representation, the media, Blue Bayou and the controversy surrounding Justin Chon and ethics, his life post-deportation and candid thoughts like you’ve never heard before. Photo: Jes Eriksen David Chang appears via fair use and courtesy of Netflix. Blue Bayou film … Continue reading Season 5, Episode 2: Why Adoptee Representation Matters – Adam Crapser →

This year has been a whirlwind. I was contacted by someone who would later be confirmed to be my paternal half-sister. Lisa Beck, adopted to Denmark as an infant nine years after my own adoption to the US, we met in Denmark this past summer for the first time. For me, it was the first … Continue reading Season 5, Episode 1: Meet my half-sister – Kaomi Lee & Lisa Beck →

Richard Kim is a former secretary general of Global Overseas Adoptees’ Link and lived in Korea for more than a decade. He talked with Kaomi Lee of Adapted Podcast about what both mean for Korean transnational adoptees. Listen to Richard’s interview from 2017

Susan Gaeta, 48, originally named Lee Hyung ho at birth in her native Korea, was adopted to the US as an infant. Today, she lives in Massachusetts and is a wife, mom and Lutheran minister. She’s also bisexual and has a rare health condition. Hear how she’s been able to find connection with others in … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 25: Susan Gaeta →

In 2016, Maree Kinder, now 33, originally named 창마리, quit her job in London and moved with her husband, Steve, to Seoul, to live for six months to search for her Korean mother. But disappointment and grief with her search had her turning to Korean beauty products as a way to numb the pain and … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 24: Maree Kinder →

Jessye Hale, or 송진주, 23, was adopted from Korea as a child and grew up in Wisconsin. Today, she finds herself back in her native country working as a cancer researcher.  She also found her biological parents and has been learning how to navigate these new relationships. 

Allie De Lacy, 25, was adopted from China to the UK at the age of two. Now married to a woman and living in Edinburgh, and an an anti-racism activist, De Lacy talks about her experiences growing up in near racial isolation and the racism she has experienced and still does today, as a result … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 22: Allie De Lacy →

TW: Cutting, child abuse (including sexual abuse)// Robert (Calabretta) Lee, 35, was adopted from South Korea to an abusive home in the U.S. He survived a difficult childhood, first in Michigan and later in central New York, by moving out at age 16 and found hope from key friendships along the way and exposure to … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 21: Robert Lee →

Korean-American adoptee Jacquelyn Wells, 33, born Choi Yena, shares some of her story in a wide-ranging interview about being a musician, jewelry designer and now taking on leadership roles in the Korean adoptee community. Listen to this up-close look at her life where she also talks about reuniting with her Korean family and her reflections … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 20: Jacquelyn Wells →

TW: Suicide // Korean adoptee Darcy Mitttelstaedt, 49, has overcome so much. And yet her faith and her work helping others have given her so much hope. She was adopted at the age of two from Korea and raised in a farming community in Nebraska amidst abuse and dysfunction. Despite it all and the emotional … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 19: Darcy Mittelstaedt →

Korean adoptee Sun Mee Martin, 39, was adopted from South Korea to southern Germany when she was 3 1/2 years old. She talks about how her own views on adoption have changed over the years, and of how her work has also evolved from being a communication designer to now curating spaces for interconnection and … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 18: Sun Mee Martin →

Danish filmmaker and Korean adoptee Sun Hee Engelstoft, 38, originally named 신순희, sits down with Adapted Podcast to talk about the making of her profound documentary film, “Forget Me Not,” which focuses on the lives of several Korean teenagers who are faced with a difficult decision of whether to keep their babies or give them … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 17: Sun Hee Engelstoft →

Timothy Vanderburg, 30, is an Australian Korean adoptee living in Sydney.  Growing up, he became involved with a local Korean adoptee camp and continued to have an interest in Korea throughout his life. And though he’s had many opportunities to connect with his native land and its people, those experiences have taught him important lessons … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 16: Timothy Vanderburg →

Korean adoptee SunAh Marie Laybourn, 38, was adopted to the state of Tennessee in the US at the age of four months from Korea. After her adoptive mother died when SunAh was young and navigating environments where she was different from the white or Black students at her schools, she buried her feelings as a … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 15: SunAh Laybourn →

Jonas Gürrich, 34, was adopted at three months from Korea to Norway. He has a positive outlook about his adoption and feels fortunate to have grown up with the parents and older sister, also a Korean adoptee, that he has. Recently, he’s been exploring DNA as a way to search for biological relatives, though not … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 14: Jonas Gürrich →

Remember the days when you were 21 and trying to figure out life? Add being a Korean transracial adoptee in Copenhagen dealing with racism towards Asian people in a global pandemic, meeting your biological family on your first trip back to Korea and trying decode the emojis sent from your Korean aunt? Meet Rasmus, and … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 13: Rasmus Myung Bertelsen →

Korean-American adoptee Tara Footner, 44, survived rehoming and abusive adoptive and foster homes as a child. Those early experiences led her to turn inward to write and reflect. Today, Footner has most recently channeled her creative energy into a new online platform called The Universal Asian.  *Child abuse including sexual abuse, rehoming; explicit language

Leah Nichols, 34, is a Korean-American woman who has been reclaiming her Asian identity after its erasure because of her intercountry adoption from Korea by white Americans, and subsequent environment growing up. She cares deeply about racial and reproductive justice and works to advance resources for other Asian adoptees. Nichols is also reunited with her … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 11: Leah Nichols →

James Straker, 51, was adopted to the US from Korea at age five. He doesn’t remember much during the time of his adoption. It’s taken him decades to unpack all the trauma from his adoption and dysfunctional adoptive family upbringing, including a suicide attempt, monastery training, moving back to Korea and marrying a Korean woman … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 10: James Straker →

Jenny Dargren, 46, is a Korean adoptee in Sweden. She opens up about her struggles with bulimia and how she finally understood the disorder to be linked to low self-esteem from her abandonment and adoption. She hid from her Korean roots for many years until traveling back to Korea for the first time in her … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 9: Jenny Dargren →

Heather Schultz, 36, was adopted from Korea at four months old by a couple in Long Island, New York. At a young age, Heather lost her mother to a terminal disease and had to survive the rest of her childhood adjusting to a stepmother and stepsisters, who moved into the home she shared with her … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 8: Heather Schultz →

Thomas Juncker, 21, was adopted to Denmark from Korea as an infant and grew up always having a keen interest in his birth country. In 2019, he decided to move to Korea during a gap year in his education. There he was able to explore his Korean roots, make new friends and ponder his life … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 7: Thomas Juncker →

First Lieutenant Benjamin White, 26, is a Korean adoptee commissioned in the US Army and stationed back in his birth country of Korea. He’s also gay. Listen to his story as he talks about navigating all of these identities as a military officer and as en ethnic Korean, trying to build ties with other Koreans … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 6: Benjamin White →

Chinese adoptee Grace Newton, 26, shares her story of coming of age and learning about international adoption as a social, political and industrial practice. An only child, Newton shared a close relationship with her parents, but delving into the history of transnational and transracial adoption created some challenging discussions. Her curiosity and desire to uncover … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 5: Grace Newton →

Warning: This episode contains references to sexual assault within family or kinship. Korean adoptee and Canadian Jenny Heijun Wills, 39, talks about her 2019 acclaimed memoir, Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related. It’s about her relationships with her first family after being reunited in a form of a letter to an older biological half-sister, separated by … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 4: Jenny Heijun Wills →

Daniel Jeremiah Persson, 27, was adopted from Korea at age two to white parents in Sweden and grew up in the countryside where he faced bullies and racism. It wasn’t until he left to attend dance school in London when he found his voice to express himself through words and movement. When he went to … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 3: Daniel Jeremiah Persson →

American Rachel Rostad, 26, is a Korean adoptee who reunited with her biological family only to find that her eomma was suffering from a chronic illness that only added more questions than answered any. But while she would come to feel a sense of belonging with her Korean family, her belonging in Korea was another … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 2: Rachel Rostad →

Shaun Seo, 33, is an Australian Korean adoptee whose childhood was marked with multiple tragedies. Living with his family as expats in Papua New Guinea and Fiji, he also was thrown into the politics of poverty and privilege at a young age. But a family rupture changed Seo’s life yet again and sent him back … Continue reading Season 4, Episode 1: Shaun Seo →

Korean adoptee Kara Bos sat down with Adapted Podcast listeners on June 27, 2020 to talk about her ordeal to find her biological Korean mother and having to resort to the Korean courts for official acknowledgement of her relationship to her biological Korean father. Her case was hailed as groundbreaking as it allowed a Korean … Continue reading Season 3 * Bonus with Kara Bos →

  Note: story includes child sexual abuse Kaomi Goetz 49, was adopted from Korea to the United States at the age of six months old. She grew up racially isolated in rural Minnesota, the only daughter and adopted child in her family. In many ways she was like most kids around her. She climbed trees, … Continue reading Season 3, Episode 21: Kaomi Goetz →

Jae Hyun Shim, 38, was adopted from Korea and grew up the youngest and only daughter and adopted child in their Minnesota family. But there were plenty of other adoptees in Shim’s life from an early age and their parents took unusual steps to secure access to Korean-ness for Shim. That close relationship with their … Continue reading Season 3, Episode 20: Jae Hyun Shim →

This week, we’ll hear from Daniel Kang Yoon Nørregaard, 33, adopted from Korea to Denmark at three months old, he talks about growing up in a predominately racially white environment, leaving his adoptive country to study design and eventually settling down in London. Though his career has been his focus, lately he’s realized there are … Continue reading Season 3, Episode 19: Daniel Kang Yoon Nørregaard →

Growing up in the English countryside in a middle class family and attending private schools and later a boarding school, already would have set Saschia Ryder, 48, apart from many others with less-privileged backgrounds in the U.K. But she was also adopted from Korea –and like many transracially-adopted Koreans — grew up in predominately white … Continue reading Season 3, Episode 18: Saschia Ryder →

Kurt RuKim [he/him], 34, was adopted from Korea and raised in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota. His identity has evolved over time, from living in predominately white spaces to embracing his authentic self as an Asian male and claiming his own body, being a dancer and racial equity activist and ally for other adoptees. RuKim … Continue reading Season 3, Episode 17: Kurt RuKim →

Sooki Jalali, 56, was adopted from Korea at the age of 12 or 14. She’s not exactly sure, and her paperwork was falsified, making her at least several years younger. Jun Sukja would take on a new name and identity in the U.S., but her new life often didn’t seem like an escape from her … Continue reading Season 3, Episode 16: Sooki Jalali →