Korean adoptees (1950s- ), or KADs as they are called, are children from Korea who were adopted and grew up overseas. There are more than 150,000 of them, most of them in America, though a surprising number are found in Scandinavia. You see them in other Western countries too.
Most of those in America were placed with white families and were brought up white. They talk white, act white, have white friends, go to a white school, have white parents and may even have a white name.
And yet they do not look white.
Because of white racism it means that they are stereotyped by whites, that growing up they get called names, that white children, those darlings, pull up the corner of their eyes at them. It means whites will never truly accept them as they are. If they are girls, it means they do not look like what America sees as beautiful.
And so, many do not feel like they belong, they feel out of place in America.
Some go to Korea, to the country where they were born, where everyone looks like them. But most do not feel like they fit in there either. While Korea feels bad about sending so many of its children away, the KADs are too American to be Korean.
So they become lost souls, many of them, white on the inside, yellow on the outside, caught between two worlds, never truly belonging to either.
There are three main ways they deal with this:
- They try not to think about it and try to fit in as honorary whites.
- They learn about Korea. It helps but it does not become a part of their daily life.
- They seek out other KADs, people who understand them. They come to see themselves as KADs, as something neither white American nor Korean but something new.
In the 1950s Korea started sending children overseas to be adopted. Back then it was torn apart by war and very poor. But even as late as the 1980s one Korean child in 100 were being sent overseas. And even now in the 2000s, as rich as Korea is and with Korean women having only 1.2 children on average, even now one in 200 is sent overseas. Only China and Russia, much bigger countries, send more children.
South Korea is not proud of this and wants to stop the practice completely by 2015.
In America white parents at first were told to bring up their Korean children in a completely colour-blind fashion, just as if they were white. But that meant these children faced white racism completely unprepared and with no one to turn to who understood. Often they were the only Asian person at school or in town!
The common wisdom now is to teach the children as much about Korea as possible. Not sure where that leaves the racism bit, but it has to help to know where you are from and be proud of it.
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Thanks for talking about Korean adoptees. They may be adopted more by nonblack Americans, they aren’t fully accepted in mainstream society. Sure, they may get some privileges that Black American children don’t get, but still aren’t treated as equals in this society.
Steph
I am working on a post about blacks adopted by white parents. I found out about Korean adoptees along the way – there is way more about them on the Internet it seems.
I found it interesting how KADs are about as white as you can be short of being physically white and yet they are not accepted. It shows you where whites have drawn their lines, that it is not as tra-la-la as some white commenters on this blog would have you believe.
Every parent around the world, well not every, as we are not using absolutes, but a good majority of them send them to America because the education and opportunities here are pretty much unmatched in the rest of the world.
Koreans, or any other race of people that immigrates here, are not acting “White,” they are acting American.
South Korea does not have much in the way of foster care or orphanages and few Koreans adopt. All that gets out-sourced to America and other willing countries. So if a woman abandons her baby knowing the police will send it off to America, it creates a moral hazard.
Almost anyone brought up in a white family in a white part of town is going to act white, white American. There is no “American” in the sense you seem to mean it. Everyone is something-American: white American, black American, Cuban American and all the rest. I think KADs prove it.
Hello! My name is Kim Bomin from Korea Maritime University.
First of all, i’m so sorry for my terrible English…
I’m studying Korean network for communication between Korean and overseas Koreans.
I ask your help! If you don’t mind, please tell me your ideas about the emigration and overseas residence.
If you have resided for over 15 years in overseas, answer the question below.
Q1. Name/sex/age/occupation/academic background (If you don’t want to answer, skip it)
Q2. What qualification or specific character should be requested to be recognized as Korean? Please tell me your opinion.
Q3. Are you proud of being a Korean? When do you feel it?
Q4 What benefits or disadvantages are caused at your work because of the fact that you are a Korean?
Q5. Is there any difficulty to live abroad?
Q6. Do you think that Korean people in your region are helping each other?
Q7. Are you joining groups or meetings that are operated by overseas Korean? Then what is the purpose of the activities?
Q8. What things should the Korean government and Korean people do for overseas Koreans?
Tell me your ideas.
Q9. Do you want to recommend emigration to people who are living in Korea?
Q10. What do you think about the problem of the Korean race(한민족) and the future of it?
Please send me the answer to qhalskim@yahoo.co.kr
Thank you so much for your help!
I wish for your happy life in overseas.