By Joe Soll (Gateway Press, Inc.) Some books are so good that you can even forgive your friend for “borrowing” your copy and never giving it back. Adoption Healing … a path to recovery by Joe Soll is one such book.

Choi Hyong-Sook, an unwed mother who once lost her child to adoption, but who fought to take him back and is now raising him as an unwed mother, is working to transform an unjust social order into one where we can all be more fully human. The paper described the experiences of five unwed mothers who participate in the group called Korea Unwed Mothers & Families Association, also fondly known to the Seoul adoptees as “Miss Mamma Mia.”

Why International Adoption From Korea Doesn’t Make Sense (and Why Korea Does It Anyway) Let us ignore for a minute that no international convention states that poverty is in and of itself is a good reason to separate children from their parents, communities, or countries. Let us play along for a minute with the rather [...]

Korea has been known as the “Cadillac” of international adoption for its supposed ethics and legality. However, as adult adoptees search for their birthparents and are reunited, it becomes apparent that Korea’s system has been riddled with abuses. Watch a program from Korean national broadcaster KBS to see the story of one adoption in which a [...]

By Guest Blogger Leanne Leith Ahh, another self-portrait. This time it’s 5:30 a.m. in Seoul, S. Korea, and I’m waiting for the first train of the morning. I’m reading Jane Jeong Trenka’s new work, “Fugitive Visions,” and it’s disjointed nature perfectly describes adoptedness. How I felt growing up in the midwest. How I struggled with [...]

Author Roelie Post wants to distance herself from pro and anti-adoption labels and direct the discussion back to the heart of the matter: whether intercountry adoption is a child protection measure, if children have rights in their own country, and if intercountry adoption is ultimately a breach of such right. Read the entire article: INTERNATIONAL [...]

This past May, South Korea — renowned within adoption circles for its transparent and above-board practices — was taken to task by the committee on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Geneva. The committee said there is “a possibility of abuse” in intercountry adoptions from South Korea. On Nov. 10, 2009, a [...]

Adult international adoptees have begun participating in a debate over whose best interests the practice actually serves, or should serve: the adopter or the adoptee? Hilbrand Westra, chairman of United Adoptees International, takes a critical look at the practice of international adoption and lays out how international law can help us fight child trafficking. Read [...]

Bert Ballard, a Vietnamese adoptee and adoption advocate, writes about some of his struggles with adopting a son from Vietnam. Read what Ballard sees as eight important characteristics that can be identified in today’s emerging narrative of international adoption: it is inclusive, allows for multiple paths, explicates economics, is critical, offers complex solutions, values the [...]

November is National Adoption Month. What would such a celebration of adoption, whether in the U.S. or another country, mean to my Korean birthmother? At the time my mother became a “birthmother,” I was six months old, and my sister was four years old. Because she passed away about nine years ago, I will take [...]