CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
AN (INTERNATIONALLY) ADOPTED ADULT TELLS HIS
STORY
Most
international adoption stories are of cute babies being placed with American families. This is the story from an interview with an adult adoptee in the international adoption triad.
Although Mark celebrates his birthday on July 6, his exact birth date is a mystery. He was abandoned in Seoul, Korea in August, 1965.
“Instead of being taken to the shelter I was placed on the steps of the police station,” he said. “The police saw the note in the basket and took me to the orphanage.”
July 6 became his birth date when Korean authorities estimated he was a month old when he was abandoned, and assigned him that date.
His abandonment not only denied him knowledge of his birth date—it deprived him of information others usually have about their biological parents, their racial make-up and their medical background.
Mark said he was “sick, real sick,” when he was abandoned. Soon he was in the hospital having surgery. “I needed medical care or I would have been six feet under.”
At the time of his abandonment a Pennsylvania missionary couple was dealing with the postwar poverty, disruption and rebuilding in Korea. Sam and Annette met Mark when they visited a Seoul hospital to visit parentless children
undergoing (more…)
CAROLYN'S COMPOSITIONS
An (Internationally) Adopted Adult Tells His Story
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CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
AN (INTERNATIONALLY) ADOPTED ADULT TELLS HIS
STORY
Most
international adoption stories are of cute babies being placed with American families. This is the story from an interview with an adult adoptee in the international adoption triad.
Although Mark celebrates his birthday on July 6, his exact birth date is a mystery. He was abandoned in Seoul, Korea in August, 1965.
“Instead of being taken to the shelter I was placed on the steps of the police station,” he said. “The police saw the note in the basket and took me to the orphanage.”
July 6 became his birth date when Korean authorities estimated he was a month old when he was abandoned, and assigned him that date.
His abandonment not only denied him knowledge of his birth date—it deprived him of information others usually have about their biological parents, their racial make-up and their medical background.
Mark said he was “sick, real sick,” when he was abandoned. Soon he was in the hospital having surgery. “I needed medical care or I would have been six feet under.”
At the time of his abandonment a Pennsylvania missionary couple was dealing with the postwar poverty, disruption and rebuilding in Korea. Sam and Annette met Mark when they visited a Seoul hospital to visit parentless children
undergoing (more…)