Making Sense of Loss and Belongingness: Korean Transracial Adoptees' Journey from Europe to Korea

Abstract

From the year 1953 until today an estimated number of 200,000 Korean born children were adopted into foreign countries. There are studies focusing on Korean adoptees growing up in the USA, as the majority of those children were adopted by American families. However, there is a lack of research focusing on Korean transracial adoptees who grew up in European countries. This research aims to highlight Korean transracial adoptees journey from Europe to Korea. To give a deeper insight in Korean adoptees experiences growing up in a European country and coming back to Korea, the following research questions emerged. 1) How do Korean transracial adoptees make sense of who they are in their journey from Europe to Korea? 2) How do Korean transracial adoptees make sense of loss from childhood to adulthood? 3) How do Korean transracial adoptees perceive the sense of lack of belongingness in constructing their identity? To answer these questions in-depth interviews were conducted with 42 open-ended questions focusing on their family life, their school experience, their search for their birth family, and their identity development throughout their life span. Three participants narrated their life stories in two interview sessions. After transcribing the interviews, a cross-case analysis was conducted and highlighted unique and common experiences among the three participants. The major themes of their journey from Europe to Korea were their ongoing experience of loss and their lack of sense of belongingness. This study showed that the sense of loss and the lack of belongingness changed over time. Participants showed to be active agents in their journey from Europe to Korea. Indeed, through their life span, they constantly ameliorate their situation and adapt to new arising challenges. Keyword: Korean transracial adoptees, journey from Europe to Korea, sense of loss, sense of belongingness, constructing identity