Announcements

This article was originally published in "Oh My News" on Nov 21, 2010
Translation via KUMSN - Korean Unwed Mothers Support Network: kumsn.org
(http://www.kumsn.org/main/?document_srl=8133#0)
Korean: www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/view/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0001479276
[Oh My News] Nov. 21, 2010
“Child Is Adopted, Moms are Dropped Out of School……
Are Unwed Mothers Patients with Infectious Disease?”

http://www.slanteyefortheroundeye.com/2011/03/guest-post-business-of-adoption_29.html#
The Business Of Adoption Agencies From The Inside (A Korean American Adoptee's Perspective)
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
By Kevin
Please bear with me as I indulge some of my personal rants. Specifically, please be patient as I vent about the largest adoption agency in the lovely state of Minnesota.
My name is Kevin, and I’m what some call a KAD – Korean adoptee. Yes, I’m Asian. Yes, I’m Korean. Yes, I’m transracial. Yes, I love me some kimchi. And, no, strange girl from UCLA who opted to go off on Asian students, I don’t talk on the phone in the library.
I’m also a recovering “agency person” as well. A few years ago I worked for the largest adoption agency (as well as the second largest agency) in Minnesota.

Happy New Year!
We hope you are happy and healthy as 2011 begins. We also hope you will join us for our upcoming workshop on mental health and adoption, which follows a forum we organized on the subject in August.
We look forward to seeing you at the workshop on January 15 and wish you all the best in the coming year!
~The ASK Steering Committee
*************************************************
RESOURCED THROUGH WRITING:
Mental Health and Adoption Part II

International Adoption: Lessons from Korea
Since the 1950s, South Korea has placed an estimated 150,000-200,000 children in North America, Europe and Australia. Adoptees, activists and experts weigh in with perspectives on In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee, what we can learn from the largest international community of adoptees and the answers that they seek.
“An Adoptee Returns Home”
By Kim Stoker
Representative for Adoptee Solidarity Korea (ASK)
www.adopteesolidarity.org
Fifteen years ago I returned to live in the country where I was born. I truly had no idea that I was embarking on a journey that would lead me to where I am now. Like so many of my fellow Korean adoptees (KADs) from all over the world, I grew up in a white family in the white suburbs. I had white relatives, white friends, white teachers, and white role models. Encased in my own internalized whiteness upon returning – or rather, going – to Korea I had no agenda, no schedule to search for my birth family, no aim to discover my roots, and no plans to stay beyond the one-year teaching contract that I had signed. Or so I thought.

"Resilience (나를 닮은 얼굴)" by Tammy Chu
Film release in 2 Seoul theaters Sept 30!
Cinecode Sonje in the Art Sonje Center
Screening times: 13:20; 15:00; 18:40; 20:30
Map: http://artsonje.org/eng/
Hyperteque NADA (하이퍼텍나다)
Screening times: 11:00; 14:50

ASK FUNDRAISER
@ JANE'S GROOVE in Hongdae
~Play bingo, win fabulous prizes, support ASK~
Friday, August 13 from 9 p.m.
Organized by Adoptee Solidarity Korea
Go to Hongdae Station, line No. 2, exit 5. Jane's Grrove is a 15 minute walk from the station. Or meet at exit 5 at 8:30 p.m. and an ASK member will lead a group to Jane's Groove (http://cafe.naver.com/jgliveclub).
This event is open to everyone - adoptees, family members and friends.

ASK FORUM ON MENTAL HEALTH AND ADOPTION
Thursday, 12 August, 7:30 p.m.-10 p.m.
Organized by Adoptee Solidarity Korea
Hosted by KoRoot
Speakers: Tobias Hübinette, Mary Lee, Jacob Ki Nielsen
Moderator: Kim Stoker
This will be an adoptee-only event!

Adoption Day 2010: On Revising the Special Adoption Law
By Kim Stoker, ASK Representative
Six years ago a small grass roots organization of Korean adoptees living in Korea was formed. This small group of friends joined together out of mutual interest and concern over the continuation of the international adoption system in Korea. As Korean adoptees ourselves living and working in the country where were born, we questioned why Korea in the 21st century was still one of the top exporters of children in the world. We gathered together to educate ourselves about the circumstances – including the history, the politics, and the social realities – of how and why international adoption had become a thriving industry. We reached out to our fellow adoptees in solidarity to share what we learned and encourage a critical dialogue about ICA that hadn’t previously existed at that time. Our organization, ASK, Adoptee Solidarity Korea, was born out of the desire to see Korea, our country of birth, progress towards becoming a socially developed society that protects its children, respects its women – regardless of their marital status – and values all its citizens despite their socio-economic status.
In the six years since ASK was founded, this proposal to revise Korea’s Special Adoption Law, is in my personal opinion, the most important piece of legislation regarding adoption that has been yet put forth. The coalition of Gong-gam lawyers, adoptee organizations ASK and TRACK, KoRoot, and the single mother’s group Miss Mamma Mia have worked together over the past year and a half to see to it that this revision of the Special Adoption Law is fair and will protect the interests of vulnerable children, vulnerable women, vulnerable families and all adoptees – both domestic and international.
The adoption system in Korea needs to be modernized for the 21st century. As long as Korea continues to send children abroad for adoption, its image as an undeveloped country will persist. While increasing numbers of domestic adoptions are encouraging, what remains at the core of the adoption issue is the lack of development in the social welfare sector. Korea is currently ranked 28th out of 29 OECD-member nations in social welfare spending. As more children get adopted domestically, their rights also need to be protected – which would be ensured with the passage of the proposed Special Adoption Law – as well as the rights of women who give birth to these children. Korea currently ranks third from the bottom in terms of gender equality according to the OECD, and the WEF (World Economic Forum)’s Global Gender Gap Index ranks Korea in the bottom 25 countries. Clearly, there is much room for social welfare progress in Korean society.
To quote from Mahatma Gandhi: “A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” By revising the Special Adoption Law, Korea will show that it is willing to improve the status of women and protect the rights of children and underprivileged members of society. There is no better time than the present to do this. I urge the members of the National Assembly to revise this law. It has been said that: “The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.” I hope that Korea will prove itself to be a society that upholds morality by passing this law.

ADOPTION DAY WITH ASK:
Catch up on the latest movies featuring Korean adoptees!
May 7 and 8 at KoRoot
*PLEASE RSVP by TUESDAY May 4*
Catch some of the most recent Korean movies featuring adoptees. On the first day of this two-day event we will examine the Korean perspective by watching clips from Korean films with adoptee characters. On the second day we will show films made by and about adoptees.
Both screenings will be followed by a discussion about the themes of kinship, search, reunion/post-reunion, alienation/belonging, racism and nationalism running through the films.
DAY I: Friday, May 7, from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at KoRoot

CLARINET CONCERT
Miss Mamma Mia has been given a number of free tickets to a clarinet concert on Children's Day and they are inviting adoptees to join them for the event.
The concert is called "나너" and it starts at 10 a.m. on May 5. The tickets are being provided by the Naneo Organization (http://naneo.org/). Please see the attached flyer for more information.
The concert is at the Changjo Concert Hall (창조콘서트홀), Hyweha Station, line No. 4, exit 4, in the Mr. Pizza building on the 6th floor. See this link for a map: http://changjo7001.cafe24.com/base/company/map.php?section=03
If you want to go, please RSVP to Joo Ae ([email protected]) by May 3.