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 a simple phone call or challenge what they consider to be unfair and inhumane privacy laws to adopted people that has often had surprising results. 

Audio available on Friday, April 12, 2024.

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 to move on from private practice.

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 in Denmark and what is needed for the future. Besides the US and Korea, Denmark is the third most-downloaded country for the podcast. 

Audio is available on Friday, March 15, 2024. 

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 available Friday, March 1, 2024.

Dr. JaeRan Kim: 

Harlow’s Monkey

Coming to consciousness

Journal link https://www.ibpj.org/issues/articles/Susan%20F.%20Branco,%20JaeRan%20Kim,%20Grace%20Newton,%20Stephanie%20Kripa%20Cooper-Lewter,%20Paula%20O’Loughlin%20-%20….pdf

https://harlows-monkey.com/

Instagram @harlows_monkey

LinkedIn jaerankimphd

Grace Newton: 

Instagram: @redthreadbroken  

Facebook: Red Thread Broken

Twitter or X: @gracepinghua   

Website: www.redthreadbroken.com

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 sister, Mia, also an adopted Korean, is featured on Season 7, Episode 8 of this podcast. This interview is the first for the podcast where adopted siblings who grew up together open up about their lived experiences, and illustrate their differences.

Audio will be available on February 16, 2024.

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 physical distance between Wisconsin (USA) and Korea.  And Haessly’s adoptive parents have at times struggled with accepting that her Korean father is back in the picture, especially her Danish mother. 

Audio available on Dec. 22, 2023.

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 on changing policies regarding adoption in Korea. She talks with Adapted Podcast about her career, some observations working at Holt Korea, the problem with proxy adoptions as well as results of a study she and others conducted for the Korean Human Rights Commission, which found that a third of respondents adopted overseas were abused in their adoptive homes. 

Audio available Dec. 8, 2023.