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 the U.S. — in a rural Minnesota town with Norwegian heritage where she felt othered and desperately wanted to fit in. Rhyss’s journey of self-hatred and survival took her down a sometimes destructive path but she ultimately found how to embrace her Blackness and to accept herself. 

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 traveled back to Korea to attend The Gathering and learn more about his origins. 

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 initially and walks us through all the emotions of reunion and after. 

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 Korea’s commodification of its children — an acknowledgment that is only now starting to permeate mainstream adoptee, political, historical and adoption industry circles. 

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 common narratives.

About Meejah – Queen of Spring

Queen of Spring is written over the 8 trigrams in Korean philosophy and taoism:
Fire ☲ Thunder ☳ Mountain ☶ Lake ☱ Water ☵ Earth ☷ Heaven ☰ Wind ☴ A Cycle of Change. The Unity of All Opposites. 
Meejah – “Queen of Spring” is recorded in BlipBlip Studio in Roskilde and mastered in Stockholm by Magnus Lindberg

Meejah is Daniel Nayberg, Andreas Isbrandt Løvenskjold and Mai Young Øvlisen

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Listen to the album on Spotify:

Photo: Frej Rosenstjerne 

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 on a quest for answers and to find peace within herself. This work is something she’s now focused on helping other adoptees be able to find their peace too. 

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. Today, he continues to contribute by sharing his story with the podcast. 

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 ze own falsified and inaccurate adoption records.

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 and Justin Chon appears via fair use and courtesy of Focus Feature Films. Statement by Adoptee Advocacy via Justin Chon.

How to get involved and learn more about the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021:

Adoptees For Justice

Alliance For Adoptee Citizenship

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 time to meet an immediate biological family member and we sat down a few weeks after that meeting to discuss how we felt through the process.