To Save the Children of Korea: The Cold War Origins of International Adoption

Asian America

by Arissa Oh

“The important . . . largely unknown story of American adoption of Korean children since the Korean War . . . with remarkably extensive research and great verve.” —Charles K. Armstrong, Columbia UniversityArissa Oh argues that international adoption began in the aftermath of the Korean War. First established as an emergency measure through which to evacuate mixed-race “GI babies,” it became a mechanism through which the Korean government exported its unwanted the poor, the disabled, or those lacking Korean fathers. Focusing on the legal, social, and political systems at work, To Save the Children of Korea shows how the growth of Korean adoption from the 1950s to the 1980s occurred within the context of the neocolonial US-Korea relationship, and was facilitated by crucial congruencies in American and Korean racial thought, government policies, and nationalisms. Korean adoption served as a kind of template as international adoption began, in the late 1960s, to expand to new sending and receiving countries. Ultimately, Oh demonstrates that although Korea was not the first place that Americans adopted from internationally, it was the place where organized, systematic international adoption was born.“Absolutely fascinating.” —Giulia Miller, Times Higher Education“ Gracefully written. . . . Oh shows us how domestic politics and desires are intertwined with geopolitical relationships and aims.” —Naoko Shibusawa, Brown University“Poignant, wide-ranging analysis and research.” —Kevin Y. Kim, Canadian Journal of History“Illuminates how the spheres of ‘public’ and ‘private,’ ‘domestic’ and ‘political’ are deeply imbricated and complicate American ideologies about family, nation, and race.” —Kira A. Donnell, Adoption & Culture

Genres: Adoption, Nonfiction, History, School, Politics, Asian American

319 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 10, 2015

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the single most important book I’ve ever read. As a Korean Adoptee, I found the information insightful, infuriating, inspirational, and interesting. Though the content is tough to swallow at times, the writing was incredibly professional, approachable, and gentle to an adoptee.

Oh’s work and words were validating in many regards. There are a multitude of deeply personal, intimate thoughts I have on this book that I will continue to wrestle with for the rest of my life. (That’s not hyperbole!). I choked back tears a couple times, and I can’t tell if I want to scream, cry, run away, or shake everyone I meet and tell them to read this book.

Because everyone should read this book. It should be required reading to adoptees, adoptive parents, birth parents, social workers, therapists, pastors, white evangelical mom influencers on Instagram, Koreans, Korean Americans, any one interested in foreign policy, any one in politics…EVERYONE!

Korean and international adoption has profound ramifications and impacts issues the US is currently facing (ie. Stories of chartered flights and bus loads of immigrant children — echoes from the 1950s and Harry Holt’s “crusade.”), and this book sheds light on the origins of rescuing “poor orphan” foreign children.

To be adopted is equally personal and political. One cannot happen without the other. Oh’s book has pushed me to critically question both sides of the political aisle on immigration policies and practices that persist to this day.

I highly recommend this book. Read it with an open mind. It will challenge what you thought you knew about adoption, US policies on immigration, and the constructs we live our lives in every day.

[archibald (audrey) zebedee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written, thorough account of the history of transnational adoption.

[Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Läste för en uppsats i historian, så var kanske lite hastig vilket förhindrade en storslagen läsupplevelse. Sorglig bok, sorgligt ämne. Adoption finns ju fortfarande kvar i vårt samhälle, och det är sjukt att jag inte tänkt på saken mer än bara grundlig nivå. Går igenom i princip hela den koreanska adoptionsberättelsen, från början till slut. Det som börjar som ett försök att rädda fattiga barn blir systematiserat, vilket i sig kanske är ett problem, men är det värre än problemet det löser? Stor moralisk gråzon. Ja ni fattar.

[Bookwoman67 · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Although so much of the history of international adoption is recounted in binary terms, we should try to push beyond them in trying to fully make sense of it. A great deal of discussion about international adoption revolves around stark polarities - good or bad, demand or supply, love or money, rescue or kidnap, angry or happy adoptee, adopt a child or leave her to starve in an orphanage - but approaching it from the standpoint of either-or does not help us comprehend how and why international adoption can look so different at the macro and micro levels or understand the myriad dynamics."

The history is eye-opening, although the tone is a bit academic. For a more personal account from an adoptee's perspective (although from a slightly different background) try All You Can Ever Know.

Also, Frontline:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/do...

[Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting look at how international adoptions carry so much more geopolitical, racial, neocolonial, gendered, hierarchical meaning than at first glance.

[Sanchita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very evocative description of the larger political imperatives to increase international adoption.

[Reese]

giving a star rating to a book for a history class does not feel right but this was super interesting!

[Kellee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this on on Nicole Chung's recommendation (author of All You Can Ever Know). The title sounds very academic, and it reads a bit like a research paper - but that's not a bad thing. It's real, well-researched history, intermixed with stories of real people who (either for good or for bad) got swept along the baby pipeline from South Korea to the USA, and how that informs history, politics, economics, and social issues like racism and classism today. The sections about mixed-race babies were particularly infuriating.

Tags: nonfiction, history, Asian-American issues, Korea, adoption, cultural subgroups, social issues, professor author

[Maureen Flatley · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important, ground breaking look at the roots of intercountry adoption. The first book of its kind, this should be required reading for anyone involved w/ adoption.