Unit 3 - Korean American Adoptees

Beginning in the mid-1950s, following the Korean War, the arrival of adoptees from Korea began a social phenomenon that continues today: large-scale transracial adoption. How has transracial adoption impacted American society? How has transracial adoption changed through the last half-century?


Deborah Johnson Transracial adoption expert	Deann Borshay Liem Filmmaker and activist	Chris Soentpiet Illustrator and author of children’s books

In September of 1999, almost 400 adult Korean adoptees arrived in Washington D.C. for a first-ever, historical gathering aptly named The Gathering of the First Generation of Adult Korean Adoptees . All adopted between 1955 and 1985, the group came from over 30 U.S. states as well as several European countries.

These Korean adoptees represent the largest wave of international adoption by U.S. and European families: from 1955 to 1998, more than 98,000 Korean children were adopted by U.S. families alone. Historically, Korean adoptions began as a direct result of the tragedy of the Korean War, when large numbers of children became available for adoption. Bertha and Harry Holt, a farming couple from Oregon, very publicly adopted eight Korean children immediately following the war. Together, they quickly thereafter established Holt International Children’s Services, which remains one the country’s leading adoption agencies for international adoption.

In addition to the many children who were orphaned during the war, the children fathered by U.S. and European military personnel stationed in Korea were victims of a long-held social stigma against mixed-race children, and they also became available for adoption. Of the 9,500-plus Korean children adopted internationally by 1970, 90% of the adoptees were orphaned or mixed-race children.

From the 1970s forward, as the after-effects of the Korean War faded, the shift changed from orphaned and mixed-race children to children born to single mothers. Single motherhood remains a stigma in contemporary Korean society and the majority of the adoptees are still indeed the children born to unmarried women. In spite of the very public criticism the South Korean government received about the “export” of its children for families abroad, Korean adoptees continue to become members of U.S. families.

Over the decades, the impetus for adoptive families has evolved and changed dramatically. The initial urge to help and save suffering children from the ravages of war led to a desire to have adoptees assimilate into the dominant American society as quickly as possibly. In such a scenario, the special needs of a transracial adoptee in terms of access to other adoptees of the same background and access to the native culture went largely unnoticed or ignored.

However, in more recent decades, adoptive parents have turned to international adoption to fulfill their own needs and desires to have children. Assimilation is no longer the norm, and the native cultures of the newer generations of adoptees are not only accessible, but celebrated through culture camps, adoptee groups, and “homeland” trips back to Korea.

Today, while the number of adoptees from China and Russia outnumber those from Korea, Korean adoptees remain a welcome addition to thousands of waiting families throughout the United States. Korean adoptees also remain the largest international adoptee community.

Adoptees from Korea – and everywhere else – have diverse stories. While they might share some similar experiences, each of them is also unique.