Thank you for watching Kate's story! There will be more stories featured in the upcoming weeks so be on the lookout :) Please comment below about what impacted you about Kate's Korean adoptee story.
@@skycedi I wrote Mike Coleman I don't have family I am trying to get help I was adopted illegally. Could u help me in anyway I am trying to get help from other Adoptees please help me when u are able to write back
“You look really Korean” “You should learn Korean” These are things that we get told all the time by Koreans. I agree with her that its hard being in the middle. I just reconnected with my birth mother and its hard to conceptualize just meeting with her. We now talk on KakaoTalk and i have to translate everything through google translate, what is it going to be like when we meet in person? I visited Korea almost two years ago and it felt like home but it also felt foreign.
I wish you the best of luck with your birth mother! It is definitely a foreign and sometimes scary thing to face your past, but I hope you have a good experience!
As a Korean-American, I also had identity crisis in my teens. After a while, I just decided to not take it so seriously and just enjoy it. I just pick and choose the best of both worlds and ditch the parts that I don't like. I just try to have fun moving between cultures, which I think is a privilege that most people don't have.
Once I started to interact with 1.5s in college, I realized everyone has issues and not just me. By that time, I was hanging out with fobs and 1.5s and my identity issues went away.
Love her story and how she can openly express how she feels about everything. Korean as a language is in many ways more specific and more emotional than English is. Even as a non Korean, I used to put up an emotional wall that prevented me from learning more Korean. When I broke down that wall, my Korean picked up. I believe that she is a strong woman and can actually speak more Korean than she knows she can. Sometimes, it takes the right situation and the confidence for everything to pour out.
I absolutely LOOOOOOVE this video. Kate's story was so interesting, she really knows how to tell a story. I was impacted by how open Kate was about her feelings.
Thank you for sharing Kate. I think you have touch a lot of bases that help further refine people's awareness of such matters and with just seeing and hearing it from an actual person makes a big difference. I wish it reaches more of the young ones as well.
I was adopted at age 6. I remember my family, my village. But it was post war Korea. My family wanted the best for me. Must have been the most difficult decision to ever make.
The moment she met her biological mother 20 years later was very touching. I felt the girl was crying over her childhood being apart from her birth mom, crying over all the things she couldn’t do together with her, crying over being so close to her birth mom but at the same time so far not sharing even the same language. The girl is beautiful and bravely following her dreams, thank you for amazing story🌹
Loved watching this! I have two Korean sons and I struggle to keep them involved in their culture and language. I hope they get the opportunity to see what their bio parents look like one day. ❤️❤️
Politely, you need to "force" your kids. Creatively of course. Maybe bribe them with money. They will thank you later in life. I playfully yelled at my Mom for not finding a school for me to learn Korean when I last visited. If I would have been fluent or even partially fluent, it would have made things exponentially smoother in my post-high school years.
I'm not adopted, but I can relate to a lot of her childhood. Regarding racism, bullying, anxiety and language issues. I'm glad that things have gotten easier for her! Thanks for sharing, :)
Whether it's today, tomorrow or next year, you can learn Korean like any other skill. I'm Korean American and didn't really learn Korean until I came to Korea. It's a pathway to another world, one that is a part of you.
Exactly! My curiosity to the korean language is due to the love of food in general. Then, the lockdown happened and I got bored and needed some good zombie movies and I came across “kingdom” in Netflix and “train to Busan”. From there, my obsession to the korean movies and dramas took off like a speed of light ! 🤣🤣🤣 and before that I only knows American movies and international Chinese actors. Now, I know most Korean actors and their drinking habits and their screaming when drunk! 😂
I love the story a lot, specially since we are thinking about adopting from Asia, and I am thinking about how to raise a kid with a multicultural family without losing his/her own culture and language (I am hispanic and my husband is American)
Sometimes the kids don't want anything to do with their birth culture. I adopted my son from China (shanghai specifically) when he was 5 years old....he had an interpreter when he began kindergarten here in the states. He adamantly refused to speak to her in Mandarin...when she tried, he would demand she speak in English and would turn her back on her if she didn't. The only thing from China he was ever interested in was the food. He will be 18 this June and has no desire whatsoever to have anything to do with his birth country or culture. This is common with children adopted from China...don't know how it is with children from other Asian countries.
Excellent start to the series Cedric. I've always felt that it's really important for children who are transracially adopted to maintain a connection to their culture, people. Kate might have better off had her family lived in an area back home in the U.S. where she could at least interact with other Koreans and get involved with the community there. I'm very curious about what made her decide to return to South Korea, and hope things work out well for her. (And it was great catching you & the 'tache, goatee on Instagram 😆)
We spend so much of our lives fixated on unimportant things.. The way I see it is: Two wonderful people adopted a lovely lil' girl. Naturally, you grew up speaking their language. You hv spent some years now trying to understand who you are. You are someone who has been loved and cared for! Your biological mom gave you life, your adoptive parents, raised you to be a decent human being. Most importantly, you are the Most High's daughter, created to know Him. We are more than our bodies, more than our ethnicity, features and what hv you. The true you, is skin deep. 🌿♥️
What a small world?? I was one of her RAs in college! It’s amazing to see how much she has grown. You never know someone’s life and the struggles they are facing.. but the important thing is that God presents opportunities for us to heal.. even when we think we aren’t ready. I see so much more peace in her and I know her journey is far from over as she continues to move forward, but it’s a beautiful thing witnessing her growth since last seeing her over 7 years ago. I wish her all the best going forward and I hope she one day finds complete healing.
You’re welcome! So proud of you. I’m doing well thanks lovie! I have a beautiful 3 year old girl and a son on the way in a month. God is good! My husband and I are very blessed.
Thank you for sharing so openly, I have shared this with my 13 year old daughter 보영 who is not adopted but is facing many of the challenges you talk about like dealing with being the only "Asian" at school, being continually mistaken for Chinese and navigating between her mum (Korean) and dad (South African) cultural heritages. I hope that when she is older she gets to go and live in Korea to better connect with the culture of her mother and your video will hopefully encourage her with her weekly online Korean language lessons to make that an easier transition. We love Korea and have been helping graduates to go and teach English in the public schools there for the last 14 years.
Wow thank you so much for sharing with your daughter! I hope she’s able to navigate a little easier knowing she’s not the only one going thru these issues!!
Thanks for sharing ur story w/us, Kate! I cried when u were talking about being reunited with ur 엄마!😭 However, I am glad u were blessed to be a part of a loving adoptive family!🤗 And pls continue trying to learn ur native language a lil' bit at a time. I can't imagine how u feel about ur native language but I believe learning 한국어 will be even more therapeutic for u! Fingerhearts!💕 화이팅!💜
Thank you for watching! And I agree, my adoptive family is the best! I have no choice but to continue learning as I am still living here and people assume that I can speak it, so I have to practice! Haha, but also I get to practice with my kids alot at work, and they are some of the best teachers sometimes! Super patient and understanding~
I am tearing up. I can't believe I'm only discovering this now. I didn't know that someone could have such a similar story about growing up. Kate, wish I knew you, I feel like we would be great friends. I struggle so much now with serious topics and politics...everything comes out as a joke. My passion is skewed a bit too. ah well. I'm happy our stories are being told. I'm happy with this channel our OWN culture can emerge and be real.
Check out ways for you to Win free trips to Korea; many outreach Adoption agencies that are trying to improve the overseas adoption experiences and image. You have resources that my generation never had. Help out at Adoptee culture camps and research your story and origin. I'll tell you my closure story having found my biological family. Just remember though; don't open up Pandoras' box if you're not ready for the dark to stare back at you. You be in control of blinking first.
umm, this is one of the "tamer" adoption stories. side note: went down the European Korean adoptee rabbit hole at one point. Pretty interesting stories there as well.
@@HKim0072yea now there’s proof that most all the Korean adoptees from the 70s - the Olympics were trafficked through deception. I have never hated Korea more than after I learned that. Check out PBS for more on this.
It is ok that you don't speak the language because of where you grew up. It is never too late to learn another language and once you do another gap of your life will be closed. It is going to be a big difference in your life when you learn Korean. Remember, it took you time to learned and be flurence in English, and it will also take time for you to be flurence in Korean. Don't beat yourself up cause you can not speak Korean at present but you can push or encourage yourself to learn the language for yourself until then you will always wonder about it every now and then. Thanks to your adopted parents for giving you a better life and encouraging you to visit your birth home. Thanks and appreciation to your birth parents for giving you up for adoption if not you would not have experience the new life you have; therefore, both past and present made who you are.
Kate's story is powerful statement of "What Love Looks Like" she was adopted by a loving caucasians couple who loved her simply because she was worthy of being loved, she is a testament to how she's persevered through personal challenges and struggles. Thank you for sharing your courage and grace.
Live how you make it seem like Caucasians are all saints when over a million babies are abandoned by white teens and left to adoption. White families adopting Asians end up making them self hating self racist as they grew up around only whites a din white culture and gets bullied by whites for their eyes and skin etc. they end up sadly stereotyping their own race as that's the only data they receive from her white community.
Hello Cedric I actually met Kate back in Daejeon but never got a chance to hear her story. Thanks for putting out this video. There are lots of these interesting stories about Korean Adoptees and their journey to find their birth parents in Korea.
That’s awesome that you met her King. I’m glad she was open to sharing her story on my channel. I’m looking forward to sharing more stories like hers soon
This is a really cool and different kind of Korean adoption story. Kate's bio family knew who her adoptive family would be and even CHOSE THEM to adopt Kate, and even maintained contact with the adoptive parents, making the reconnection "easy". 99.9% of Korean adoptions are closed and involve a lot of unknowns, mystery, and secrets, and deception, making it nearly impossible to locate the birth child and birth parents. Kate's story is sooo different from most international adoptions which involve human trafficking.
Kate, I studied Korean in college, as an overgrown mixed girl who wanted to be fluent in her language, lol. I initially assumed it would be hard but I think I may have had a wonderful teacher, but I learned it it was more easier to understand than what I thought. I encourage you to find a class that “feels” comfortable for you. I applaud you for sharing your story. I hope any blockages or fears you have with the language disappears and that you find joy and fulfillment in learning, one phrase, one word, one syllable, at a time🧡
I really appreciate that! I am definitely realizing that understanding comes before having the confidence to speak...I have been blessed to have many friends who are supportive and helpful with my lack of Korean speaking abilities and are patient and willing to help me however they can. Thank you for the advice and encouragement!
I feel her so much on being the only one who was a different ethnicity in my school. Kids would always ask me stupid questions about my hair and make fun of me. And I turned into a bully too! Becuase I was bullied growing up. Great series Cedric!
I’m happy you enjoyed the video and could also relate to Kate as well. I’m sure those situations you’ve faced growing up has given you greater insight and made you stronger as a person.
Everyone gets bullied growing up. Kids are mean to each other. Even when you look the same they will find something else, like your weight, or your friends, your clothes, whatever. Although, theres a difference between jokes and friendly banter and true bullying.
If you grew up in Hawaii this would not be an issue. Hawaii is a great place to grow up. I grew up in Hawaii and went to the mainland and found my first encounters with racism in SF. I never heard of segregated neighborhoods. That doesn’t exist in Hawaii. I’m back living in my home, Hawaii. There’s no place like Hawaii. People are kinder, more caring and community oriented. Cultures are mixed and our food is the best with the meshing of all cultures. Come to Hawaii and you’ll begin to understand what I mean. You have great parents. I am not Korean but I have grown to love the Korean culture through watching Korean dramas. I am hooked. I love Korean dramas more than watching American TV.
It’s definitely very important to understand how your surrounding circumstances can affect the process of understanding your life personal identity! I’ve actually never been to Hawaii, but would love to someday
People just need reps in life and be ok with failing. For some reason, my college Japanese class had a bunch of Koreans taking the class. I think it was the first time I had interacted with Korean people since my summer camp in 6th grade. We would go out occasionally, but it sucked because they were more comfortable speaking Korean and I didn't speak any. Randomly, I got more and more reps hanging out with Korean people, so when I was out and everyone was speaking Korean, I didn't care. Just accepted it.
I relate to a lot of this. I was adopted from Korea as an infant and also grew up in a predominately white neighborhood. I feel like half of me wonders if some of these similar experiences have shaped some of who I am today, but the other half of me thinks it's weak or ungrateful for me to look back on some of my less-than-happy moments. I guess as an adult I am better able to rationalize some aspects of what it means to be adopted? It's certainly a fairly unique experience and I've basically accepted it the same way I accept that grass is green.
I’ve always thought of that “nature vs nurture” idea and wonder how much has affected me too! It’s fascinating meeting others going thru similar situations... thank you for watching !
Hi Kate thank you for your story. I agree that adoption stories can be vastly different. I really enjoyed hearing yours, it is also similar in ways to mine. I was adopted from Ukraine with a Ukrainian Pakistani background and never had friends or anyone look like me. I always felt I was not white but also not fitting in as Slavic because I am only half. It is definitely a bizarre and odd feeling. Kinda like you are stuck between worlds. Truly appreciate your story Kate! That is awesome that you are back in Korea and I hope that you can learn more Korean!
@@kmayniac3 Yes I have, it has definitely has been a long road but I finally saw that it was because I was focused on myself. I do believe in God and I believe he created all of us in his image. Once I saw that, the more I started loving myself for how he created me. :)
Hi Kate, I’m from Hong Kong. Just wanna tell you, you are beautiful to Asian standard. It’s a shame you don’t know that, so I have to let you know. My hubby is adopted too he grew up in mid west u.s. where people find him short and probably diff. So he has not much confident on his look. But to Asian standard my hubby has a rather handsome face and his height is just very normal. I keep telling him and he just couldn’t believe it😂
Because healthy white kids in America get adopted very easily. Relax dude. Sure, some of the families did it for "God" reasons, but generally international adoptions were faster / more streamlined than domestic ones.
Thank you for sharing... I can't imagine how she may be feeling to summarize something so personal, complex, and complicated into one interview... I appreciate how open she was. We need to talk about cultural identity more and how it can form in many ways.
Thank you for such a deep and sincere share as someone who’s walked in your shoes and has just begun to reflect on all these issues rather than resentment. Big hugs.
Kate"s story touched my heart in so many ways at the same time is not a drama is a life situation that many people had to go through but it has a happy ending ........ Kate , your parents always new that You are a beautiful , precious human being with a heart of gold. Cedric , Thank you for this episode .... I loved it.
I feel really bad that she had to go through this. I'm from Oregon as well and I think a lot of the Asian people here that don't live in a diverse area went through something similar to her. I struggled being Asian mainly in elementary school since I lived in a diverse town prior, so having to cope with a town full of white people and Hispanics was hard. It was nowhere as bad as the things she dealt with though. I wasn't bullied although I was teased for the food I brought to school because it looked different. I didn't and still don't have any Asian friends mainly because there isn't much opportunities to interact with them and there's not a lot to begin with. Also, things my mom told me made me feel nervous to interact with other Japanese people/Asians. There's mainly quite a bit of international students and I was taught in middle school that they only want to talk to white people so I tried to not interact with them at all for a long time. Another thing is that she would get mad at me for wanting to hang out with the few Asian kids I knew when I was elementary school because they lived a bit far and weren't next door neighbors or anything(Also it was snowing at the time so we couldn't drive anywhere). My parents are both Japanese and they used to get mad whenever I asked about the culture half of it because they just expected me to know everything(And maybe because I was annoying). My dad didn't understand why my brother and I weren't perfectly fluent in speaking, reading and writing even though we never had a Japanese education to begin with.
For me it was the same with being embarrassed at lunch with my "weird looking Asian food" I would hide and not eat sometimes. I'm still not fluent in Chinese but I'm working on it this year.
It's not healthy ignoring people's background, ethnicity and religion. Because it is a part of who people are. The better thing to do is to RESPECT and ACCEPT other people for who they really are. Being "colorblind" is hurtful.
Yes!!!!!!! I totally agree with you. Being "colorblind" is a catch phrase people say to seem open minded and not racist. See people for who and what they are and RESPECT it. Period.
Hm. This brought back a forgotten memory from my own childhood. When I was 7 or 8 my single mother and I lived the the upstairs part of a hoyse over a family. They had adopted a Korean boy. I got in trouble bevause while my m9tger was sleeping I would 8nvite him upstairs for breakfast and we would watch catoons. ..until we would get busted.. lol I didn't know my motger struggled just to buy food and ee had none to spare, I just knew ee had sone and I wanted to share. Interesting. Thanks!
Kate is very lucky to have met her biological family most Adoptees never meet there birth family. I knew I was different from my adopted family I found all this new information out this yr
Honestly, I'm not sure! I have some Asian friends who were adopted by Asian-Americans, some White friends adopted by White families, etc etc, and there will always be love, but it's a different type of trauma that is sometimes unexplainable knowing that the family who you were born to decided to give you up.
Beautiful story. Yes, Korea's greatest export, mainly in the 70s, 80s were their children. It's a sad reality, to give your child to someone else to raise would be such a trama for everyone involved. You see the parent would never forget that child no matter what the circumstances were that cause the choice. Thank you for the story. Cedric, have you encountered any adoptees who's home environment was the complete opposite of Kate's story? It would be interest to hear about this side of the journey.
Another great video, excellent insight..Katie is awesome and inspiring..thank you ❤️the content on your channel Cedric is so interesting and eye opening. ❤️👍🏼👏🏻
MY EXPERIENCE AS A KOREAN ADOPTEE FRM A FILIPINO FAMILY WAS A TRUE NIGHTMARE STEMMING FRM MY ADOPTIVE MOTHERS SONS EX-WIFE WEN THEY PUT ME IN HER HANDS TO RAISING ME THE MOMENT I CAME FRM KOREA N THRUOUT MY CHILDHOOD N TEENAGE YEARS WAS TRULY VERY SAD N HORRIFIC😔😔😢 TO THIS DAY I WILL NEVER EVER FORGET BUT I WAS TAUGHT TO RESPECT N TO FORGIVE😢😖
My best friend is adopted from Korea,two years ago we tried to find her parents the documents as many others were not correct with the correct information. Also the agency in Korea did the adoption was very shady and didn't want to show the paperwork. I secretly filmed it when she flipped the pages ,zoomed in and found out the autograph that gave the child away was not her mom but an other name later found out it was a worker an not the aunt that signed A total scam it was with false paper work. We unfortunately couldn't find her parents because of this. Very sad Many of friends that are Korean adopted have fake signs and fake reasons of adoption on their paperwork in Korea. They hide their child trading behind the law of privacy. So that as a adopted son or daughter you can never contact the family. But on the paper the names of family, adress and signatures are all by the employees 😡 two ofy friend had same sign of mom on their paperwork but they aren't related.but from same adoption center. ...very shady. 1 friend found his family because of his cousin but the name and reason of adoption on paperwork was completely fabricated. I hope the Korean government steps up about this.
Ugh, that’s so frustrating! Unfortunately because of the mass quantity of children being adopted and with no idea who the parents were sometimes, there was so many short cutting through the system and not double checking facts. I’m so sorry that your friend had to go thru that situation!
If you want, I used a free service to korean adoptees called GOAL, and they practically helped me step by step with anything I needed! I recommend checking them out, if your friend is still interested!
@@kmayniac3 heya! We used goal already , there are documents but we not allowed to get them because of the law in Korea. So we have to wait till they change the law. Also we did put her DNA in a DNA data bank . So hopefully something comes out one day. I think it's more then just people adopting a lot and they not knowing the background. With my other friend they on purpose lied and change the story. Later she found the real story when a cousin found him. So the reason behind this is I think almost Human trafficking. That lady was mentally ill and couldn't decide for her child at that time. So they kinda took him. Also we found an other lady that told us that they told her her baby was born dead. She was raped by her boss and 16 years old later she found out it was a lie and they took the baby. Many shady thing where going around in Korea about child adoption..m I just hope one day we can Sue he system for this. The government is responsible. A new update was that the sign and finger prints where fake. They where from a worker at the adoption center. So it's even possible that this mom got het kid maybe even taken. You never know. It's very very sad
IOPE that is indeed extremely sad! I’m so sorry your friend had to go through finding all that out. I know the government is (very slowly) making improvements to the system, in particular for adoptees, but hopefully there will be enough!
wouldnt it be so nice to see pictures of your birth parents....to just see your biology....not even meet them but just see them. probably wouldve helped a lot of my own self hatred issues
"Why are your eyes so squinty? Oh, you're not Chinese? Then what are you?" These were some common refrains in my life, too. I don't really blame my first grade classmates for saying those things, I just rolled with it. One of the parents were present when her son asked me, "Oh, don't Asian people eat dogs? That's so gross!" God, the mother was absolutely mortified and she was just stumbling over herself to apologize. It was actually kinda funny. But also kinda, you know, not.
Thank you for sharing your story ! When a Korean person says you have a very Korean face take it as a compliment! It is they’re way of saying your beautiful!
What an absolutely beautiful video!! Cedric, I really think she is "the one!" She seems so perfect for you....and vice versa. What a beautiful couple you are. :)) Thank you for sharing your story. I'm also adopted and Canadian. :)) I agree, it's so neat when you meet another adoptee as it feels far and few between. 💗💗🤗
@@classicfox1ify No, she's not, actually. This is Kate, but Ced's girlfriend's name is Becky. Kate is fully Korean, adopted by an American family, whereas Becky's Dad is White American & her Mom's Korean. She's a great person. You can check out her channel, "The Halfie Project" here on YT. Honest mistake, & Kate is lovely for sure, but she's not Ced's gf.🤷🏽♀️
Cedric, thank you for sharing such a wonderful story with us. I'm glad that she was able to connect with her biological family in a positive way. Sometimes that is not the case. Loving your content. Looking forward to other stories that you have to share. Really proud of the progress you are making professionally. Please wish Kate success in her journey to embrace her Korean heritage and culture.
Thank you so much for the kind and encouraging words Veda. I’m looking forward to sharing more on this channel and super excited that you are a part of it.
