Adapted Podcast

Soon-young Oh, 39, has returned to her native Korea, twice to live. Each return trip taught this transnational adoptee something new about herself. Her second time moving back to Korea was in 2016, with a husband and a three-year old child in tow. Oh compares the two experiences and on what it means to be a parent to a biological child, and what she wanted to give to her son. 

For Anna Merrick Luster, keeping her Korean siblings together at all costs was a promise she kept to her biological parents before they died. But as you'll hear, that meant enduring painful years of sexual abuse by her adoptive father and possible emotional and psychological abuse from her adoptive mother. In this podcast series, we've heard some painful and complicated stories about Korean transnational and transracial adoption. This one is no different. Luster shines a light on an international adoption industry that often has blamed adoptees for the abusive families it has placed Korean children into, rather than acknowledge its own negligence and inaction to protect the very children being placed under a guise of child welfare. It also is an example of abuse that can take place behind closed doors in adoptive families in small towns as well as cities - and where local child protection services, schools and local officials have also failed to act. But despite everything, Luster's story is about resilience and survival and of how her memories of Korea gave her hope, even after being sent thousands of miles away. 

Brian Nieken, 32, has known who is biological Korean father is for half his lifetime - they first reunited in Korea when he was only 16. Nieken says as the years went by, important questions remained unanswered. He talks about that disappointment and of coming to terms with tough details about his relinquishment. 

Korean adoptee Matt Blesse, 31, is an American who moved back to Korea six years ago. A poet who now spends a great deal of time in kitchens in Seoul, the Californian chef-in-training got cerebral and talked with us about his ideas on adoptee identity and authenticity. We caught up with him on the island of Jeju.

This episode, we'll hear from Adam Kohlhaas. He talks about finding and meeting his biological parents while living in Korea, and how the reunion wasn't really as he imagined it be. 

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Thank you for listening to ADAPTED. Originally funded by a Fulbright grant (2016-7, Adapted will continue on in some form yet to be determined.

Music credits:

Alexander Paschka: theme music.

Jahzzar: “Friends,” “Silver,” and “Solitude.”

Kai Engel: “Oecumene Sleeps.”

Lion’s Club clip: Sangshow via YouTube.

Logo: Rusty Detty.

Special thanks: Brad Linder.

Robert Ogburn, 57, is a Korean-American adoptee who has returned to the country he was born in -- as a diplomat. Raised an only child, Ogburn's story includes an unexpected adoption twist and insights on how Korea and its perception about adoptees has changed over the years. And like so many other adoptees, Ogburn talks about a quest to know more about his past, and of the all-too common realities of an elusive paper trail. 

Austin Johnson, 28, is a Korean-American adoptee and Seoul resident. He's been living here with his wife, Janetta, for the past two years. They came to Korea together and it's ironically, Janetta, who actually been his bridge to Korea: cooking authentic Korean food and being an anchor when life back in his native country got tough. 

Not every adoption story is the same. Some adoptees struggle within their adoptive families out of neglect, of not feeling loved or a sense of belonging. Adoptees who return to Korea to live often face other issues too: of confronting their relinquishment and grief over biological parents. Korean-American adoptee Laura Wachs, 28, shares her story, and of how poetry has given her the strength to now help others who are also trying to make sense of their own meaning of family. 

Rachel Smith, 23, lives in Cheongju, Korea. She's spent the last two years teaching English on the Fulbright program. Smith talks to us about growing up in Kentucky, what got her interested in coming back to Korea, searching for her Korean mother and how all of this has helped her firmly grasp who she is at such a young age. 

Richard Peterson, 31, moved to Korea from New York City nearly nine years ago. A history buff, he immersed himself in Korean history and language in college. But while he reflects on his move back to the country of his birth, he's focused on the present with his wife Emily and their future.