Exploring the Impact of Birth Country Travel on Korean Adoptees
Titel:
Exploring the Impact of Birth Country Travel on Korean Adoptees
Auteur:
Bergquist, Kathleen L.
Verschenen in:
Journal of family social work
Paginering:
Jaargang 7 (2004) nr. 4 pagina's 45-61
Jaar:
2004-07-13
Inhoud:
Organized birth country travel for Korean adoptees within the context of post-adoptive services has been prevalent since the 1970s. It is estimated that approximately a dozen different heritage tours have escorted groups of more than 1,000 people, comprised of international adoptees and their families, within the past few years (Gubernick, 2002). However, little is known about the impact of such travel on adoptees and their families or how to support them. These emotionally charged sojourns are much more than just a summer vacation for adoptees and their families: They sometimes result in reunification with biological family and may constitute the first contact adoptees have with their birth country since placement. There have been approximately 150,000 foreign adoptions of Korean children since 1958 with more than 100,000 of the placements in the United States (The Evan B. Donald Adoption Institute, n.d.). The scope of post-adoptive services has widened over the past 45 years to encompass birth country travel as adoptees, parents, adoption researchers, and professionals have come to recognize that racial and ethnic heritage are integral to identify formation in transracial adoptees (Bergquist, 2000; Kim, 1978; Meier, 1999; Vonk, 1999, Wilkinson, 1985). This research contributes to the literature uniquely by examining the effect that birth country travel had on adoptees' identification to adoptive and birth cultures and the meaning adoptees assign to the experience. The finding can inform professionals, parents, and adoptees of the role of birth country travel in post-adoptive sevices.
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