As another step forward on my journey, I want to briefly share some thoughts and some never before seen photos:
These pictures were taken at the “Maternity Delivery Clinic” where I was born in Seoul. According to documents that I’ve been going through, I was named Kim Yung Jin by one of the nurses or social workers after I was either abandoned or left by my birth parents.
I was quite fortunate to be born healthy, which plays a key factor in adopting a child, and as many of you know, I ended up in a loving family in Indiana. I wouldn’t change any part of that and it can’t be taken away from me.
What I will say is this; just because I ended up in a great home with great adoptive parents and grandparents doesn’t mean I don’t have my own traumas and my own issues that I had to deal with. Adoption of any child, but particularly intercountry, transracial adoptions, leave scars that take a lifetime to heal, if they heal at all. Feelings of abandonment and relinquishment, anxiety and fear are sewn into our beings before we even know what those things are, and that’s a hard truth to realize.
Adoption is not all trauma, but it’s always there. To dismiss our trauma is to silence our voices and to imply our stories do not matter. But they do.
This month, I encourage all my people to follow an adoptee account, like @iamadopted, @_heytra, @katiethekad, @noonchico, @adapted_podcast, @adopteehub, @adoptee_rising, @adoptees4justice, or the many, many others out there and listen to adoptees share their stories. I encourage you to support their efforts and amplify their voices. Most importantly, I hope you take away a little more empathy and understanding of the adoptee community.
That’s what I’m trying to do right now, and I’d be happy to journey with you.
But where are the photos?!