script

History

Americans adopting children born in Asian countries has become increasingly popular in recent decades starting from the 1950s.

Many children were born with american GI fathers and Asian mothers during the years of the korean and vietnamese war.

In China, with the establishment of the one child policy, undesirable children, particularly girls, were given up for adoption during the 1980s.

Other reasons for abandonment include economic poverty, unability to provide for their children , stimatization for infants born from wetlock as well as the aftermeth of divorce.

In the united states, the demand for parents wanting to adopt transnationally has been rising beyond the number of the available children in the American orphanages and, because there is such high demand, the overcrowding orphanages in Asia has supplied America with more children to adopt.

On average China has been the number one exporter of adoptees with 3000 in 2009, South Korea in 2nd place with 1080 in the same year, then Vietnam, India, phillipines, taiwan, and thailand with 56.

Struggles for the Adoptee and Family

As adoptees do not acknowledge their Asian-ness, they become aware that they are not white and culturally confused during their high school years.

Feelings of not belonging are felt by the adoptee; they are white, but at the same time asian. What makes them white is their upbringing, culture, and language. But they cannot be accepted as white because of their asian looks.

The two clash and adoptees go through a period with internalized racism, and refusal to acknowledge their Asian exterior because to the adoptees, admiting it would mean admitting to being an outcast.

In exetreme cases, some adoptees such asYun-sook kim Navaree, seek to end oversea adoption as they see it as having their culture "ripped from them". Instead, she proposes alternative solutions such as supporting the birthmother so the family can stay in tact or birth control. Adoptees, like Yun-sook, seek to go back to Asia and to their roots.

In college, as an example of unbelonging, adoptees will encounter a number of APAs, however APAs might reject them for being too "whitewashed" for only speaking one language or feel the unbelonging for not having the ability to understand.

In a study by Adoption Institute, results showed that adoptees recognized themselves as their parents ethnicity, but, with the increase of education the adoptee has, the more adoptees saw themselves as Asians than American.

How They Cope

To help adoptees, adoption agencies provide culture camps and heritage tours to help the adoptees by exposing them to Asian culture.

Adoptive parents have also been largely supportive when it comes to adoptees seeking their birth parents and the exploration of their culture.

Through a studies done by Asian-Nation, adoptees have shown they were more likely to explore their culture and that adopted parents were more educated on matters of addressing racial differences with the aid of education centers provided by adoption agencies.

Adoptees find their own identity by creating their own labels and keeping contact with other asian adoptees.