Episode 0: Introduction

This is Adoption Connection, Episode 0 And I am your host Yoonmi Kim. This Podcast is about adoption for everyone in the Adoption Triad, and perhaps for those outside of it. Why make this podcast? The media coverage on adoption is always tilted. No matter what country you come from there is always a tilted point of view about adoption. It makes it hard to marry these points of view together. It's also hard to communicate across the adoption triad whether you are a birth/first parent parent, adoptee, or adoptive parent. I don't want to cover just adoption searches and how to adopt a child or child placements, but the issues that influence the community as a whole. There are many other places that cover how to adopt, searches and placements. Rather I hope this podcast will open up a dialogue for those who want to address issues about adoption and ask questions that one may find difficult to normally ask. There will most likely be opinions that people disagree with and word usage that may be a sensitive topic, but my aim is to try to open a dialogue between the triad members and get them to talk to each other. First off, I am aware that birth parent, first parent and a lot of adoption terms are under contention. However at this current time there isn't a good terminology that allows me to choose the most PC terms for all things. So forgive me if I step on some toes. Since Google has the most hits on birth parent, I chose to use that. Same with adoptive parent and adoptee. I realize that some people may object, but I find that people will object no matter what I may say or use. Equally people slip or have preferred terms. I respect that. If you have objections or a solution, feel free to contact me which will be at the end of this show. Perhaps I'll have a few episodes on this topic. Now, you may wonder who I am. I am a Korean adoptee adopted in 1985. I was an older adoptee at that time. I was given the name Yoonmi Kim in Korea. I am using this name again to stay partially anonymous--I welcome others to also use handles and names so they can speak freely about the various issues as well if they wish. As an adoptee of the eighties I didn't have much information about my birth country, Korea and I experienced culture shock for a number of years. I always wanted to know more about adoption, but always felt this disconnect from the media TV and what was portrayed. There were so many deeper issues I struggled with in adoption, such as identity and none of the magazines seemed to be able to handle it well. While I am an international adoptee, I am open to talking with birth parents, adoptive parents and domestically adopted adoptees. I want to put in points of perspective about adoption in one place and be able to discuss them openly. Do interviews and so on. This will not be always easy to listen to, but I think that it can really help. I'm not sure right now how often this podcast will be. It depends solely on interest and if others want to listen to this show. So if you are interested, feel free to contact me at kim.yoonmi@yahoo.com or drop me a comment at adoptionconnection.blogspot.com