This is 32-year-old Amy Ginther, a voice coach in South Korea. She’s sitting with her biological family, but she can only talk to them in English.
Case-number Tattooed on the forearm of one of the adopted children
That’s because Ginther was adopted by another family in the U.S., along with tens of thousands of babies from South Korea in the 1980s.
Her biological mother says the adoption agency told her that her daughter could have a better life abroad.
Ginther doesn’t entirely agree.
32-YEAR-OLD AMY GINTHER, WHO WAS ADOPTED BY U.S. FAMILY IN 1983, SAYS:
“Despite all of those wonderful things that those parents do, children and adopted sons and daughters can still feel sense of loss, a sense of trauma, a sense of grief from that separation from their family, and that loss of connection between the culture that they were born into and the culture they grew up in.”
Laura Klunder was also adopted by an American family.
She has her case number tattooed on her forearm.
She and Ginther are part of a group called Adoptee Solidarity of Korea, which campaigns for an end to international adoption.
30-YEAR-OLD LAURA KLUNDER, WHO WAS ADOPTED BY U.S. FAMILY IN 1985, SAYS:
“I do envision a world one day, where there is no need for inter-country adoption, and where every child has a home, and at no point in time do they get assigned a number.”
The government says it’s encouraging adoption at home by making the process stricter.
Though some experts say they should be providing more support for families who can’t afford to raise children.
(Ventuno)