I am writing this as a Korean Adoptee. Sometimes this is abbreviated as KAD (I guess for Korean ADoptee). This has been somewhat of an exploration of self discovery, but is happening much later in my life. I am 52 years old as of this writing, and started looking into this a year or so ago. I have not found my birth family, but I wanted to document the process I have been going through in hopes that it would be helpful to someone else. I should have done this from the beginning, but I didn't - so here we are.
The first thing you want to do is gather all your documents that you personally have. You may need to ask your adopted parents for these documents. I won't go into how to ask that question. It may be a sensitive topic - do it with your own level of discretion. For me, it was pretty easy. When I moved out of the house, they basically gave me everything they had.
This information is for someone who strictly wants to search for their biological parents / family. Although I would encourage you to tap into the KAD community, that's not what this is for.
I was adopted from the Holt adoption agency.
The Holt adoption agency has a US side and a Korean side. I contacted the US side (debbyh@holtinternational.org) and they were able to give me a lot of additional documents. They had me fill out a request form and send it back (to confirm I was who I said I was). For me, it looked like this (below):
Request for information:
How to obtain file copies:
I was surprised to see the additional data. It was good to see. There were a couple of cute pictures of me as a kid I had never seen before and a bunch of documents - some were in Korean (which I don't read or write).
I can't remember how this happened, but the Korean side of the Holt adoption agency (Holt Children’s Services of Korea) was also contacted. I think they are part of the same organization, but it's not clear to me how in sync they are. I think Debby Hanson wound up contacting the Korean side of Holt. I eventually got an e-mail from holtkorea@hotmail.com.
Here was the response I got from the Korean Holt Adoption Agency:
According to the initial social history, 원일 was reported as an abandoned baby, and was admitted to Wyatt baby home on December 15th 1970 from CBH.
Then he was admitted to Holt adoption program on December 28, 1970.
So that was a bit of a bummer. The Holt agency also recommend I contact NCRC (http://www.kadoption.or.kr/en/) which is the government appointed office that regulates adoption in Korea, and they provide some services for adult adoptees trying to locate birth family. On this website, you can upload your profile in hopes of contacting your birth family. I don't know what the odds are, but it can't hurt and it doesn't cost anything, so I did it.
DNA
My paperwork ended up in a dead end. So, the only other hope I really have is DNA (thank goodness for technology). One of the big problems with DNA is that there is no global, centralized database. This is the downside of privatizing tests. So I wound up taking every DNA test out there. I understand that may not always be possible (financially), but that's what I did. There are a lot of DNA test companies. Take advantage of the free DNA tests, because there are some.
I live in San Diego, and I learned that the Korean Consulate in Los Angeles (a good 1.5-2 hr drive from San Diego) provides a free DNA test for KADs. They send this DNA sample to the police in Korea in hopes of finding a match (apparently, DNA testing in Korea still has a stigma associated with it, so it's not wide spread). Here was the response I got (it took much longer than I expected to get the result - several months, so be patient).
Dear Philip
Thank you for your participation and interests in the DNA Collecting Testing at the Korean Consulate General in Los Angeles.
The National Forensic Service has endeavored to search for a matching through the analysis of collected DNA through its database resources.
However, we are sorry to inform you that no match was discovered through the analysis.
DNA Testing Companies
- 23andme.com
- Ancestry.com
- FamilyTreeDNA.com
- MyHeritage.com
- HomeDNA.com
- LivingDNA.com
DNA Resources
- Centimorgan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VmgHOhG6io
- 3400 cMs - You share a parent, or they are your parent
- 1700 cMs - You share a grandparent
- 850 cMs - You share a grandparent or great grandparent
- 425 cMs - You share a great grandparent (possibly grandparent if generational)
- 212 cMs - You share a great grandparent
- 106 cMs - You share a 2x great grandparent (possibly 1x great grandparent if gen)
- 26 cMs - You share a 3x great grandparent (possibly...)
- 13 cMs - You share a 3x great grandparent
- 6 cMs - You share a 4x great grandparent (possibly...)
- 0 cMs - Beyond 4x great grandparent
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhTRJzYX9Ac
DNA Databases
The FamilyTree DNA website will allow you to download the raw form of your DNA data. You can take this data and upload it to an open database (which could provide more match opportunities).
- gedmatch.com
- dna.land
Free Stuff
- See Free DNA test at Korean Consulate above (your area may have something similar)
- There is a free Family Tree DNA kit available (thanks to the generosity of Thomas Park Clement). The details are in one of the pinned posts in the KAA (Korean American Adoptees Facebook private group).
Resources
- 325Karma
Conclusion
No one can really understand your journey but you. Good luck to you, and I wish you nothing but the best. I would encourage you to tap into the KAD community. Sharing that common experience can be helpful to finding yourself. I will try to keep this page updated as my own journey continues. Like I said earlier, I have not found my birth family yet. Please realize that despite having a shared experience, we all have different life experiences. Be careful not to be too judgemental - just listen, learn and love. Peace out.
My Adoption Timeline
I went through all my adoption papers and created this adoption timeline.
- 1970.12.15, Admitted to Wyatt Baby Home from City Baby Hospital (CBH)
- 1970.12.28, Admitted to Holt Adoption Program
- Remained at Wyatt Orphanage instead of with a Foster Family.
- 1971.03.24, Petition for Naturalization Filed
- 1971.04.03, Admitted to Mapo Hospital for TB
- 1971.04.04, Admitted to Mapo Hospital with Pneumonia.
- 1971.05.20, Orphan Investigation Completed
- 1971.06.02, Petition for Naturalization Approved
- 1971.06.14, Discharged from Mapo Hospital
- 1971.06.24, Receipt for Child from Hold Adoption Agency
- 1971.09.09, Receipt for “Purchase”
- 1972.06.30, Legal Adoption Date
- 1972.07.18, Final Decree of Adoption (Indiana)
- 1973.02.22, Baptism at St. Thomas Aquinas in Boulder, CO
- 1975.04.18, Naturalized (Certificate of Naturalization, Certificate 10079377)