Six years ago, Korean adoptee Hana Crisp, 32, of Melbourne, Australia, found her birth family, including a biological half-brother Subin Kim, 29. Both agreed to be interviewed about their relationship and the reunion process over time. In separate interviews, the biological half-siblings provide a rare glimpse of what connecting and reestablishing family bonds is like after a lifetime apart, and within the context of relinquishment.

Brian Park, 25, is a Korean-American adoptee and is gay. He’s been living in Korea since 2014 when he met his birth family. Park is used to feeling different – first growing up in remote Iowa as one of only a few Asian faces, and later as he came to terms with his sexuality in Arizona, among new friends and at a new school. We’ll hear about his path to self-acceptance and and how being in Korea has meant having to negotiate a different set of societal norms, and why he does.

Miranda Kerkhove, 41, is a Korean adoptee from the Netherlands. A translator by trade, Kerkhove’s interest in her ethnic roots was first sparked by language, which prompted a move back to Korea. Kerkhove talks about life back in her birth country and a feeling of duality that has emerged.

Megan Arnesen, 30, of Plymouth, Minnesota spent the summer in Daejeon, Korea on an English teaching internship. She’s a Korean-American adoptee who had already lived in Korea, the land of her birth, previously. This time, Arnesen returned as a new bride and reflected on her reunion with her birth family, being raised in a nearly all-white community in the Midwest and about her feelings about being adopted.

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Madeline Yochum, 25, and Andrew Blad, 28, share with us their experiences growing up in North America. On the surface, one might think they have a lot in common: both are millennial Korean adoptees living in Korea. But actually, they’ve had very different childhoods and as a couple, are learning from each other. Listen to their story.

Alicia Soon, 33, is a Korean-American adoptee living in Seoul, Korea. She talks to us about her childhood on a farm in rural Pennsylvania, how she struggled within her adoptive family and of ultimately liberating herself and of being back in the country of her birth. Below is a sampling of her ink drawings inspired by her reunion with her birth family.

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