Background

From 1955 to 1998, more than 98,000 Korean children were adopted by U.S. families alone. Historically, Korean adoptions began as a direct result of the tragedy of the Korean War, when large numbers of children became available for adoption. In addition to the many children who were orphaned during the war, the children fathered by U.S. and European military personnel stationed in Korea were victims of a long-held social stigma against mixed-race children, and they also became available for adoption. Of the 9,500-plus Korean children adopted internationally by 1970, 90% of the adoptees were orphaned or mixed-race children. From the 1970s forward, as the after-effects of the Korean War faded, the shift changed from orphaned and mixed-race children to children born to single mothers. Single motherhood remains a stigma in contemporary Korean society and the majority of the adoptees are still indeed the children born to unmarried women. In spite of the very public criticism the South Korean government received about the “export” of its children for families abroad, Korean adoptees continue to become members of U.S. families. Over the decades, the impetus for adoptive families has evolved and changed dramatically. The initial urge to help and save suffering children from the ravages of war led to a desire to have adoptees assimilate into the dominant American society as quickly as possibly. In such a scenario, the special needs of a transracial adoptee in terms of access to other adoptees of the same background and access to the native culture went largely unnoticed or ignored. However, in more recent decades, adoptive parents have turned to international adoption to fulfill their own needs and desires to have children. Assimilation is no longer the norm, and the native cultures of the newer generations of adoptees are not only accessible, but celebrated through culture camps, adoptee groups, and “homeland” trips back to Korea.

What is the Adopted Friends Picnic?

The Adopted Friends Picnic is a biannual event that has been held by KASY over the past 10 years where over 100 adopted Korean children and their families spend time with Korean/Korean American students at Yale, learn about their heritage, culture and history, and meet other adoptive families with Korean children. The purpose of the event is to establish relationships between Korean adoptees and their big sibs (Yale students), as well as to provide a source of cultural enrichment for the adoptive families. In the past, KASY has worked to coordinate discussion panels, guest lectures, and film screenings on a variety of adoption-related issues. Little sibs spend the day with their big sibs, playing outdoor games, doing arts and crafts, and taking part in cultural activities such as tae kwon do, calligraphy and traditional Korean drumming workshops.