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 →