Adoption: What You Should Know

by Janine Myung Ja, Rare Adoption Books, Janine Vance (Editor)

What You Should Know has been divided into four short, easy-to-read sections, revealing the making of the global system throughout time, starting in Europe, America, South Korea (Asia), and today finally, in Africa. Learn how religious folks, like Harry Holt (1954), spearheaded overseas adoption programs that have exploded into a worldwide in-demand phenomenon but blatantly ignore inherent and natural human rights (aka God's laws) for patriarchal and evangelical dreams and continue to violate the correct interpretation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

Most of us have heard the positive side of international adoption in the United States. Clips of children being sent into the arms of loving Americans can be found all over the internet. But did you know that in other parts of the world, the indigenous and less fortunate communities view overseas adoption as a violation of their natural, inherent, and God-given rights to family and community? Gain a bird's-eye view of the hidden side of the practice here.

Not many of us would wish for a new identity to live by and then be removed from our sisters and brothers--never legally permitted to contact them again--even upon our deathbeds. Manufactured adoption laws rooted in "the right to commodity children" consist of many governmental and religious red tape overseas adoptees are forced to contend with even into their elder years because of the fierce advertising campaigning of adoption agencies to convince the public to fall in love with their secretive profitable activities.

The pioneers who built and profited from the industry continue to deny adoptees access to documents that could lead them back to their families. This book protects you against adoption profiteers and traffickers who profess God is on their side. It summarizes the inception and expansion of the adoption industry, focusing on its roots and consequences kept from public awareness. Discover the history of adoption from another angle--a view adoption agencies will never tell you. The findings have been called mind-blowing!

Inspired by a Haitian adoptee who died of heart failure after learning that he had been trafficked to France for overseas adoption but was never able to acquire justice due to the public's love affair with the practice. The author co-founded Adoption Truth & Transparency Worldwide Information Network (ATTWIN), an adoptee-led forum rooted in equal rights for adoptees. ATTWIN refuses to accept any funding from the lobbying efforts of profitable multi-million dollar adoption agencies. The co-founders are adopted people and are affiliated politically as "Independents." This book is NOT recommended for adoption profiteers, anti-abortion fundamentalists, evangelicals, or individuals against equal rights for adult adoptees.

*For universities and institutions, this book is titled Adoption An Adoptee's Research into Child Trafficking and is available in hardcover

Genres: Adoption

222 pages, Paperback

Published August 26, 2020

About the author

Janine Myung Ja was adopted from Seoul, South Korea, in 1972, which resulted in her investigation into intercountry adoption into adulthood. She curated numerous books on transracial and overseas adoption, including Adoptionland: From Orphans to Activists, The Unknown Culture Club: Korean Adoptees, Then and Now, and Adoption: What You Should Know.

These books explore the experiences and perspectives of adopted people from various countries. The narratives also point out the challenges adopted people face, including issues related to identity, culture, and belonging.

JANINE and her twin submitted their adoption file to be examined by Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2022, along with more than three hundred Korean-born adoptees. Fifty years after her overseas adoption, Janine recently learned that her adoption was "illegal" and a "serious human rights violation."

Since 2004, Janine has written critically about the Evangelical Orphan Movement (EOM). To raise awareness of the crisis of child trafficking, which fills the adoption market, she serves as the Executive Director of Against Child Trafficking in the USA. She is adamantly opposed to the overseas child market spearheaded by missionaries who have profited from the now 20+ billion dollar Adoption and Child Welfare industry and exploited vulnerable women, children, and families globally.

Various adoptee groups have recognized her work, and she has received numerous book awards during her writing career. Janine writes about her private experiences and philosophy using her maiden adoptive name Janine Vance. To discover her past and present, visit Janine Vance. To learn about Janine's study on the history of adoption, visit Adoption History

Reviews

[Gonda Van Steen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took advantage of the holidays to read Adoption: What You Should Know. It was an eye-opening experience. Actually, it continues to be an eye-opening experience because I find myself going back to details of the historical sections time and again. I very much like that the book places so much emphasis on historical developments, which are also aptly presented as global phenomena. They bring home even more strongly that adoption transports own, by now, a very long, under-researched, and nefarious history. On the latter subject the author is clear in her objectives: creating awareness, inspiring action, guiding reform that must include the voices of the adoptees themselves. Warmly recommended! A marker of the turning tide in adoption literature, now that adult adoptees are finding their own voices and creating their own forums. As a movement, that, too, is to be commended.

[Kristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a global look at adoption. It is informative and should be part of the curriculum in women studies, minority studies, and social studies. People looking to adopt or adoption agencies workers should read this before deciding if they want to continue a career in adoption profiteering. Adoptees would find the information empowering and informative. This will #flipthescript on adoption.

[Rupert Wolfe-Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good history but too much polemic.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

If this were my first exposure to the complex and morally-fraught world of adoption, I likely would have given this book a higher rating. As it is though, this content was mostly review for me, and it referenced several other first-person accounts without adding new insight. I will say that I appreciated the excerpts from other countries with unethical adoption histories because I feel that most investigations focus solely on the US adoption scene. Although the US is certainly one of the biggest players in unethical adoptions worldwide, it should not overshadow the harms done to adopted children in Canada, Australia, etc. in the not-so-distant past. It is always moving (and jarring) to see the through line of adoption in various forms and eras throughout the history of the industrialized world.

I had a lot of issues with the audiobook (undisclosed AI narrator???), and regret listening to the book, rather than reading a print copy.

[Moon Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adoption history 101 is a rare bird's-eye view on adoption. The research is mind-blowing because it talks about the root of adoption trafficking and how children are being stolen from poor parents in order to fill the demand from richer countries, unfortunately as a very common practice. People who can benefit are academics studying the field, particularly useful for social workers, lawyers, government officials, FBI agents, and/or people who are thinking about adoption. Nobody wants to adopt a stolen baby.

[Ally · Rating 5 out of 5]

The "Baby Scoop" or "Baby Snatch" Era

Unbelievably important and insightful about Korean & Australian Aboriginal children who were kidnapped and sold as "orphans to adopt" by their governments. It's incredibly sad to hear these stories, but they are so important to share to discourage unethical international adoptions (much was spoken against Holt International, and it was very persuasive).

[Oliver Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond Informative

What an in depth expose not only on the history of adoption but the crimes associated with it stopping adopters from reconnecting with their families ever again. Truly exhaustive, but historically fascinating. I had no idea.

[Elle Otero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tailored for a specific audience

I am adopted and thought this would be for anyone who has been adopted... But it's a little more specific to international adoptees. Even so, there was some really good information that I found really interesting!