Love is NOT all you need
Unpopular Adoption Opinion: Love is NOT all an adoptee needs! I oftentimes hear this sentiment as a justification for adoption and people’s desire to help all of the “orphans” around […]
Category Archives: For Adoptive Parents
Balancing Emotions with Adoption Jenga
Adoptive parents often mistake silence for a lack of curiosity or questions about adoption, but this is not necessarily true. The adoptee may be waiting for the parent to bring up the topic or may be unsure if they are allowed to ask questions around the circumstances of their adoption. I have adapted the grief Jenga game for adoptees in the hopes that this can increase communication around adoption in your families if this is not something that you currently do.
ADAPTED Podcast, Season 4, Episode 5: Grace Newton
A few months ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Kaomi Goetz over Zoom to talk about my personal experiences as a Chinese adoptee. Our conversation ranged from […]
Adoption/Searching Online Groups
A few weeks ago, I decided to restart my birth parent search that came to an almost immediate halt in China in 2015 (read about it here). I realize that time is going by – time that I will never get back – and feel confident that I am in an emotionally strong enough place to begin again. I decided to join a number of search groups on Facebook and on WeChat for information about searching, templates for language used on search posters, and camaraderie from others who are also going through this complicated process. Below, I’ve shared a list of potentially relevant searching groups for Chinese adoptees.
Adoption Themed Book Club List
I recently participated in a FCCNY book club discussion of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See. The book revolves around a Chinese adoption story. The author, Lisa See, is not an adoptee, and her limited knowledge of adoption and adoptee identity development was very apparent throughout the book. At the end of the meeting, the adoptive mothers in the group began discussing book possibilities for future meetings. This prompted me to put together a list of adoption reading for anyone considering an adoption themed book club or wanting more information about adoption.
Checking My Privilege
When I question how I could have both been helped and hurt by white privilege, it is the same type of reflection that I must conduct when I think about the ways in which I have both gained and lost so much through my adoption. The ability to not think in simple polarities has shaped and defined my maturation and has been a liberating discovery.
Racial Whiplash (n)
Racial Whiplash – noun ra·cial whip·lash | \ ˈrā-shəl \ ˈ(h)wip-ˌlash Definition of racial whiplash 1 : psychological injury or confusion resulting from the sudden, sharp whipping back and forth of receiving contradicting racial microaggressions (commonly in […]
Global Deinstitutionalization of Children
She was two years old when her mother placed her in an orphanage in South Korea. Her mother’s intentions were not to relinquish parental rights, but simply to keep her […]
Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2019: A Major Step Forward
Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2019: A Major Step Forward Introduction International adoption is oftentimes talked about in benevolent terms and seen as a new beginning for children who are orphans […]
On Gratitude and Adoption
I met up with a friend recently for a morning tea before work. Though we had seen each other frequently, they had all been rather quick passings that hadn’t allowed […]
