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Making Sense of Loss and Belongingness: Korean Transracial Adoptees’ Journey from Europe to Korea

Many studies on Korean adoptees up the majority of these children were adopted by American families. In comparison, research on Korean transracial adoptees raised in European countries is limited. Thus, the current study to highlight the journey of Korean transracial adoptees from Europe to Korea. Three participants narrated their life stories as adoptees in two separate interview sessions. The findings of this study call attention to the adoptees’ ongoing reconsideration of their identity as they assimilate life experiences within two disparate cultural settings in Europe and Korea. The study found that ambiguous loss faced by the adoptees from their childhood in Europe continued to their adulthood in Korea. Major themes of the participants’ narratives in their journey from Europe to Korea focused on their feelings of loss and the lack of belongingness. This study found that the sense of loss and the lack of belongingness changed over time. Participants were active agents in the process of their journey from Europe to Korea, as they constantly worked to adapt to and improve their situation in face of adversity.


Introduction
When children grow up in transracially adoptive families, the process of developing an individual identity takes a very different pathway from the norm. Unique challenges of adoptees' identity development are described in the following quote: All human beings, as they develop, seek to understand who they are and what their place is in the world. Adopted individuals have the additional overlay of discerning why they are not with the parents who created them and what relevance this has for their own identities. Those adopted across race and culture also face the reality of integrating racial/ethnic identity without input from a family with this lived experience" (McGinnis,Livingston,Ryan,& Howard,p. 12 From 1953From to 2015,000 children born in Korea were adopted into foreign countries. Many studies have focused on Korean adoptees growing up in the US, as the majority of these children were adopted by American families. In comparison, research on Korean transracial adoptees raised in European countries is limited. Thus, the current study aims to highlight the journey of Korean transracial adoptees from Europe to Korea. Three participants narrated their life stories as adoptees in two separate interview sessions. The findings of this study call attention to the adoptees' ongoing reconsideration of their identity as they assimilate life experiences within two disparate cultural settings in Europe and Korea. The study found that ambiguous loss faced by the adoptees from their childhood in Europe continued to their adulthood in Korea. Major themes of the participants' narratives in their journey from Europe to Korea focused on their feelings of loss and the lack of belongingness. This study found that the sense of loss and the lack of belongingness changed over time. Participants were active agents in the process of their journey from Europe to Korea, as they constantly worked to adapt to and improve their situation in face of adversity. Keywords: constructing identity, journey from Europe to Korea, Korean transracial adoptees, sense of belongingness, sense of loss (1968). However, the significance of racial and ethnic identity did not peak during adolescence; rather, it heightened during young and late adulthood (McGinnis et al., 2009). Crocetti and colleagues (2008) also emphasized the life-long process of identity development by stating that individuals may rethink and readapt their identity, even after having developed a firm sense of self (Crocetti, Rubini, Luyckx, & Meeus, 2008). Transracial adoption was once heavily criticized due to its negative impact on child development (NABSW, 1972). Racial differences among adoptees and their community is not the only factor that complicates the process of developing a firm sense of self. The adoptees' sense of belonging also influences the development of identity. Hagerty, Lynch-Sauer, Patusky, Bouwsema, and Collier (1992) described belongingness as the personal involvement in a system in a way that people perceive their involvement as having value. In other words, individuals seek to "fit in" and have a sense of belongingness within a community. However, "fitting in" may be challenging for transracial adoptees, especially due to their racially distinct features (Hagerty et al., 1992).
Although there is a small body of research that focuses on the development of ethnic identity among transracial adoptees and how adoptive parents culturally socialize their children (Johnston, Swim, Saltsman, Deater-Deckard, & Petrill, 2007;Lee & Quintana, 2005;Mohanty, Keokse, & Sales, 2008), these studies provide limited insight about the life-long process of adaptation within changing family dynamics. More research is needed to explain how transracial adoptees define themselves and their life experiences. In light of this gap, the current study sought to address the complex process of identity construction from the perspective of transracial adoptees who were born in Korea and adopted to European countries.

Adoption and Ambiguous Loss
International adoption in South Korea dates back to the Korean War in the 1950's. Since then, an estimated 200,000 South Korean children were adopted into homes in North America, Europe and Australia. The country that adopted the greatest number of Korean adoptees was the United States (111,574), followed by France (11,183), Sweden (9,515), Denmark (9,355), Norway (6,411), the Netherlands (4,099), and Switzerland (1,111) (E. J. Kim, 2010). Reflecting the country with the highest number of transracial adoptees, many studies have focused on Korean-born adoptees growing up in the US. However, there is a lack of research focusing on Korean transracial adoptees reared in European countries.
In the current study, particular attention was given to the notion of "ambiguous loss" by Boss (1999), since loss and belongingness were the most significant aspects of the adoptees' perception of their lives. Abrams (2001) mentioned that adoptees may experience a sense of loss for their birth parents, which may be ambiguous in nature and may hinder the grieving process. Passmore (2007) described that adoptees generally experience three different types of losses: the loss of birth parents, the loss of biological connection to the adoptive familiy, and the loss of identity or background information. The sense of loss experienced by adoptees is not a clear-cut loss; Boss described this nature of loss as ambiguous loss (Boss, 1999). It is the uncertainty of the situation, which makes closure impossible, and thereby, complicates the grieving process. Ambiguous loss is the most devastating loss among the types of losses people may experience in their personal relationships due to its unclear and undetermined nature.
The type of loss Korean transracial adoptees experience aligns with the characteristics of ambiguous loss as defined by Boss (1999). In most cases, adoptees do not have any actual information about their biological family. Adoptees are aware that they have another set of parents somewhere, to whom they are biologically related, to whom they resemble, and who are generally labeled as the "real" parents. Especially for cases of international adoption, such background information is difficult to obtain (Abrams, 2001). Only a small percentage of adoptees actively try to resolve this uncertainty by searching for their birth parents (Warner-Colaner & Kranstuber, 2010). Although the search for birth parents may be expected to lessen the degree of uncertainty experienced by adoptees, research by Powell and Afifi (2005) reported that levels of uncertainty and ambiguity actually increased with the active search for birth parents. Another challenge that adoptees' must face is the experience of living in their birth country. Encountering the Korean culture and Korean people may also pose new challenges for the development of adoptees' identity. Hübinette (2004) uses the metaphor of a "third space" to illustrate the situation of Korean transracial adoptees. The third space is the domain between the Korean utopian dream of a global ethnic community and the Western culture expecting assimilation and loyalty.
The current study aims to examine the narratives of Korean-born transracial adoptees, in defining who they are and where they belong. This study aims to set a foundation for understanding transracial Korean adoptees in European countries. In guiding the interviews to gain in-depth understanding of the adoptees' experiences, the following research themes have emerged: (a) How do Korean transracial adoptees make sense of who they are in their journey from Europe to Korea? (b) How do Korean transracial adoptees make sense of loss from childhood to adulthood? (c) How do Korean transracial adoptees perceive the lack of belongingness in constructing their identity?

Interviews
Narratives of three Korean-born transracially adopted adults were obtained via in-depth individual interviews. Utilizing the methodological process of sequential interview by Seidman (2006), two interview sessions were held in order to gain a better understanding of the participants' experiences. The aim of the first interview was to assess the context of the adoptees' experience. The interview questions addressed general experiences in the adoptive family, school, and community. The first interview began with the question, "Can you talk about three days in your life you will never forget?" The second interview focused on the meaning that participants gave to their experiences. There was a minimum of two days between the two interview sessions. The interview proceeded with questions addressing the adoptees' reflections and their perceptions. Before starting the second interview, the participants were asked about how they felt after the first interview, and if there was anything they would like to add to the contents of their first interview narrative. During the second interview session, questions such as, "How did the experience of being a transracially adopted person affect/influence your identity over time?" were asked. Each interview lasted between 1 to 2.5 hours. The interview included 42 open-ended questions that were formulated to gain insight on the adoptees' experience, in respect to the life span perspective, including personal life, adoptive family, school life, community, birth family, cultural socialization and identity, and the changes of perception over time. Some questions were adapted from previous qualitative research questions that focused on ambiguous loss and identity development.
Data collection took place during April 2015. All interviews were conducted by the first author who is fluent in English, German, French and Korean. Since participants were fluent in English, all interviews were carried out in English. German and French were occasionally used during the interview to clarify subtle meanings and to avoid possible language barriers. Interviews with two of the participants were conducted in a seminar room at the authors' university. Interview with the third participant was conducted in a public coffee shop. During the interview, the first author took on the role of a student while the participants became the "experts" who narrated their life stories. The authors maintained a respectful attitude to learn from the participants' life experiences throughout the entire process of interviewing, transcribing, and analysing the narratives. The authors also reciprocated their understanding about cultural differences, and shared their values about personal life experiences within different cultures as international students and qualitative researchers.

Participants
Procedures for participant recruitment and data collection were approved by the Institutional Review Board of Seoul National University. Given the possible difficulty of recruiting adoptees who grew up in a European country, multiple recruiting methods were utilized. Collaboration with a non-profit organization for Korean overseas adoptees was established. The organization published a flyer on their Facebook site, and two participants who were interested in the recruitment contacted the author via e-mail. The third participant was recruited using the snowball sampling method. After giving the participants detailed information about the aims of the research, all participants agreed to contribute to the study. To protect the identity of participants, pseudonyms were used. All three participants were Korean adoptees who grew up in European countries, and had lived in Korea for at least five consecutive years. One participant was female and the other two participants were male. One participant requested that his nationality be kept confidential. The nationalities of the other two participants were Dutch and French. Their ages ranged from 35 to 46 years. All three adoptees were unmarried at the time of data collection. The age of adoption placement ranged from 3 months to 6 years. All adoptees had at least one sibling who was also an adoptee from South Korea. Two participants had biologically-related siblings. All three participants grew up in a family with Caucasian parents, and lived in a neighbourhood which was predominately uniform. All three participants were either working or studying in South Korea at the time of the interview. Their length of stay in South Korea ranged from 5 to 8 years. All three participants came to Korea to learn more about their birth background and had experiences of actively searching for their birth families.
There is a lack of research focusing on the experience of Korean transracial adoptees after they settle down in their country of origin. This study aims to fill this gap by acknowledging the perceptions of transracial adoptees and their journey from Europe to Korea. Consequently, Korean transracial adoptees who have returned to Korea and spent some time in their birth country were included in this study.

Procedures
The process of data analysis followed the steps of coding, memoing, and concept mapping as described by Babbie (2010). Six audiorecorded interviews were transcribed and read numerous times in order to identify the sections in the narratives that best reflected the adoptees' experience over time. Since the aim of the study was to describe the journey of transracial adoptees, similarities and differences among the experiences of the participants were highlighted. First, participant's unique life experiences and subsequent themes regarding their family situations were assessed. To create a visualization of the narratives, descriptive life themes were each listed on separate flash cards, symbolizing the participant's life span journey. The life span began with the day of adoption to the interview, and ended with the participant's future projects. Various themes emerged at different life periods: adoption placement, childhood, post-adoption, adolescence, early adulthood, and their return to Korea. By focusing on the main life periods, commonalities among the major themes throughout the participants' life span emerged. Major themes in the adoptees' lives included adaptation after adoption, school experiences, motivation to search for birth parents, coping with loss, and adaptation to the Korean society. After arranging the descriptive subjects of participants' narratives to reflect the life span perspective, a cross-case analysis was conducted.

Results
The adoptees shared their experience of growing up in an environment, which was rooted in European traditions without any prior knowledge about the Korean culture. Their narratives reflected their journey of adapting to the European society and disregarding apparent differences during childhood and adolescence. Later, they shared their rising interest in Korea and their search motivation for their biological roots. After meeting their birth parents, two participants encountered new challenges during their adaptation process, attributable to the expectations set by the Korean society for the adoptees. Spending multiple years in their birth country after growing up in Europe and assimilating to European values and traditions allowed participants to become more aware of their preferences. All participants limited their stay in Korea, and had plans of returning to their home country in Europe. The narratives represented how life experiences of adoptees were challenged by identity development, coping with loss and the lack of the sense of belongingness.

Ongoing Loss
The following passages in the participants' narratives illustrate their experiences of loss from childhood until the time of the interview. Growing up in Europe, participants had a continual sense of emptiness, which motivated them to return to Korea to obtain more information about their birth background. In Korea, the adoptees encountered multiple obstacles while in search of their birth parents.
Something is missing. Two participants had vivid memories about their first day arriving in the new country and meeting an unknown family. The following passages describe the adoptees' memories of being placed in a new family and the way this family managed the ethnical differences among family members. Mike's narratives describe his arrival in Europe, and how he met his adoptive parents for the first time: I arrived in [European country]. And after the quarantine, our parents came to take us home. They came to the hospital, and they brought us to the station, and they were thinking to take the public transportation, the bus. And at that time, my father held me up in his arms, and I was crying and shouting so loud, that they thought it would not be possible to take the public transportation. They took a taxi. About my reaction, I think I was not used to being held by somebody I did not know.
Orlando was adopted at the age of five, and he also shared intense memories of his placement into a new family: Trying to fill the gaps. While all participants exhibited very low interest or rejection about Korean culture in their childhood and adolescence, a deeper attention arose during their early adulthood. Sarah, Orlando and Mike became more interested in their Korean heritage during their early adulthood, and decided to visit Korea in order to learn more about their birth heritage. The adoptees recount their confrontation experiences with untruthful and missing birth background information, and how they tried to fill the gaps. Mike described his search for his birth family as a fast and easy process: I had a file review with a social worker, showing your documents and so on. And also, I told them that I would like to find my birth mother. But I was thinking it would be really hard, and it would take a really long time, and I would be back in [European country]. So maybe, it was in the second or third week from the tour. But I stayed two more weeks for myself. And ten days after the visit of the adoption agency, I received a call from them, and they were asking me, "Are you still interested in meeting your mother?" And I said, "Yes." And they said, "Okay. So, we found her. When would you like to meet her?" And so on.
In contrast, birth mother search experiences for Sarah and Orlando were filled with frustration and disappointments. Sarah had searched for her birth family for more than ten years, and was unable to locate them due to the lack of some key information: All three participants were very active in the search for their birth parents. They tried various methods to find their birth family, such as connection with adoptee organizations, participation in a TV program, and publication of an announcement in the newspaper. Orlando and Mike even arranged a meeting between their adoptive and birth families, and were aware of the rarity of that situation.
Enduring with unanswered questions. The following passages highlight the adoptees' ongoing desires to know the reasons of their adoption and their frustration of being powerless in uncertain situations. Due to the lack of certain information, Sarah was unable to find her birth family. In her narrative, her obvious frustration regarding her inability to do anything to find her birth family is clearly identifiable: Because everyone else knows where he or she came from, and if you don't know [where you come from], (…) you always wonder.
After an emotional search for their birth family, participants hoped to gain a deeper understanding in the reasons and motivations behind their adoption. Although Orlando and Mike were able to meet their birth mother and some extended family members, questions still remained. Mike expresses that the only responsible person for his adoption was his grandmother, and he cannot understand the reason why two of the three children were given up for adoption: My consideration is that, because they were a rich family, they could make an effort to have three kids, or three grandsons. For  As described earlier, the loss experienced by adoptees is not solely the loss of their birth parents; it is also the loss of background information and identity (Passmore, 2007). Even though Orlando and Mike were able to find their birth family, they do not know why their adoptions took place and why they were sent abroad. Without credible information about their adoption background, they still have a sense of uncertainty, which they had hoped to resolve by meeting their birth family.

Making Sense of the Lack of Belongingness
The narratives in the subsequent paragraphs show different feelings of adoptees throughout their journey, beginning with the experience of racism and discrimination during their school life, to the lack of belongingness during their stay in Korea. The participants described their feeling of incongruity between the way they look and the way they feel. In the last session, the adoptees clearly defined what it means to be a Korean adoptee who grew up in a European country.
Feeling different. Growing up in an environment which is predominately uniform and attending a school as a minority presented some challenges for the participants. All three participants were familiar with being in a school environment where the majority of children were European. The following narrative relates experiences of racism, and their loneliness while coping with such adversities: That was very tough. I remember when I was in the classroom, everybody spoke French except me. So, I didn't have friends, because nobody wanted to talk to me, because I didn't understand anything.
Sarah, Orlando and Mike experienced racism throughout their lives. In the following passage, Sarah explains how she started to feel uncomfortable by the way she looks due to racist comments from other children or adults: Sarah also reflects on how she tried to speak about the challenges related to racism with her parents and how she remained aggrieved:

They would just say, you have to ignore it, because if people say bad words, words don't hurt. You know, they would say those kinds of things to me, when we were little. But it doesn't really. I felt…I didn't feel [that I was] taken seriously, because it really hurt me.
The racial dissimilarities between adoptive parents and their children have created a unique context, which may lead to a lack of understanding. This situation is well displayed in Mike's interview. He mentions the difficulty that adoptive parents have of fully understanding their children's experiences: And with my parents, I think there is a certain level of understanding, but some parts they are not able [to understand]. It's not because of them, but because of their situation.
Adoptive parents may not be aware of the racism that their children experience due to racial differences, which put adoptees in a completely different context. This is also shown in the study by McGinnis and colleagues (2009), in which many Korean transracial adoptees describe the lack of understanding and awareness that their adoptive parents have regarding a person of colour in a predominately uniform society.
Discrepancy between how they feel and how they look. All three participants had the feeling of discrepancy between the way they looked and the way they felt. Growing up in a predominately uniform society made them feel different from other children. The following passage from Orlando's interview reveals how difficult it was for him to look Asian among a predominantly Caucasian environment:

Tough! Very tough, because I didn't understand. I understand when I look at my face in the mirror [and see] that I don't look like the other children. But [it's] very tough. I didn't choose it. I feel like I was a victim.
Sarah also narrates the disparity between how she grew up and the way she looks: All three participants grew up in a predominately uniform society with unique European cultures and traditions. This socialization gave them a strong sense of European identity, which diverges from their phenotypical appearance. This is confirmed by one of the largest studies focusing on identity development of Korean transracial adoptees conducted by McGinnis et al., (2009). In this study, 78% of adoptees reported that, as children, they had considered themselves or wanted to be Caucasian.
Lack of sense of belongingness. The adoptees' journey does not end with the reunion of birth family members. Even after contacting the birth family and visiting their birth country, challenges arise. The following passages describe the challenges found in their relationships with their birth parents, difficulties encountered in the process of living and working in Korea, and the reconstruction of their identity. Orlando expresses his frustration about the actual relationship he has with his birth mother: Mike describes the feeling of confusion toward his birth mother: So, logically, rationally, I know she is my birth mother. But emotionally, it's still, like, in between. Even after returning to Korea, a country where the majority of the people look like him, he was not exempt of discrimination: The challenges related to reconnecting and building a relationship with the birth family may differ from the adoptees' initial expectations. In her book about Korean transnational adoption, Prébin (2013) emphasizes that not all reunions and relationships with the birth parents are successful and harmonic. She discusses the issues related to Korean cultural values and expectations, which influence the relationship between the adopted person and the birth family. At the time of the interview, all three participants had been living in South Korea for at least five years. Life in Korea allowed the adoptees to interact with other Korean people, and this made it possible them to become aware of the expectations that the Korean society had towards them.
Orlando regularly contacts members of his birth family, who expect him to behave like a Korean. His narratives reflect how he feels upset because of certain comments and situations:

Discussion
"Whether adoption 'works' cannot be answered by a simple 'yes' or 'no', because just as there is no single adoption experience, there is no single correct response" (Ahn-Redding & Simon, 2007, p. vii). As stated in the quote, every adoption experience is unique and this makes it difficult to judge whether or not transracial adoption is a constructive intervention. Sarah, Orlando, and Mike give us insight on life as transracial adoptees by sharing many private and sensitive experiences. There were subjects which made them relive both joyful and painful moments in their lives.
As Irving (2002) emphasized, the major loss that adoptees experience may not be solely explained by the loss of their birth parents. This experience of loss may be the loss of identity or background information, loss of biological relatives, and the loss of biological connection to adoptive parents (Passmore, 2007). The loss recounted by participants in the study was related to the inability to receive complete information about their biological background, the secrecy related to the adoption motives, and the lack of belongingness. Sarah's ongoing and unsuccessful search for her birth mother reflects the concept of ambiguous loss. Sarah described feelings of exhaustion and uncertainty of whether to continue or stop her search. On the other hand, Orlando and Mike were able to find their birth relatives, but there still remained unanswered questions, which they believed were vital in gaining a deeper understanding of their adoption. The narratives showed how their sense of loss changed over time. As they grew up in Europe, they experienced a rising interest in their birth background. Participants wanted to fill the gaps of missing information and wished to learn more about themselves. They came to Korea, hoping to find the mislaid pieces and to obtain answers about their biological background. However, instead of answering these questions, new questions emerged and remain unsolved even after reuniting with their birth family.
Another important challenge that the three participants faced was the lack of the sense of belongingness. One of the many challenges faced by transracial adoptees while growing up in a European country is developing a sense of belonging in an unclear context of ethnical and cultural values in a certain society, while maintaining a conspicuous racial appearance. The reverse challenge is experienced when they return to Korea; they share similar phenotypical appearances with other Korean people, but their ethnicity is marked by European culture, which causes strains in their interaction with members of the Korean society. Sarah, Orlando, and Mike narrated the difficulty to find a place where they belong, due to the discrepancy between their inner and outer self. This challenge of belongingness was also described by Hübinette (2004), who illuminated the idea of a "third space." The results of this study adhere to the findings from previous research on Korean transracial adoptees who have expressed their challenges to find a place where they truly fit in (Hübinette, 2004;Trenka, Oparah, & Shin, 2006;Kim, 2007;Kim, Suyemoto, & Turner, 2010). An important finding in this research is that the insufficiency of the sense of belongingness that adoptees experienced had changed over time. Growing up in Europe, adoptees looked different from the people around them, and they had to cope with racism in their daily lives. In Korea, they shared similar racial appearences with others in their community, but their ethnicity actually led to an even bigger variance between themselves and the Korean society.

Conclusion
Observing the experiences of adoptees in respect to the life span perspective was useful in accurately demonstrating the journey of coping and adaptation among Korean transracial adoptees. As described by the participants in their narratives about returning to their birth country, a firm sense of self may be challenged throughout the lives of adoptees (Crocetti, Rubini, & Meeus, 2007;Crocetti et al., 2008;Crocetti, Scrignaro, Sica, & Margin, 2011). Growing up in a European country and having a Korean birth heritage made the participants feel as though a part of themselves was missing. In order to develop a firmer sense of self, Sarah, Orlando, and Mike decided to travel to their country of origin to find out more about the void of their birth and background information. Coming into contact with the Korean society and Korean culture helped participants to become more aware of their European identity and the European values they acculturated during their development. By comparing their experiences in Korea and European country, participants were able to develop a fuller sense of self by integrating certain values from each culture that best fit their cultural identity. The findings of the current study, which reveals how adoptees have become more aware of their European values and the importance of transmitting such values to their children, are new observations in the research on Korean transracial adoption.
Although the overall process of the study allowed extensive insight into the lives of transracial adoptees, there were some limitations. The recruitment of the participants was not a random sampling, and only self-selected participants were included. Additionally, all the participants returned to and resided in their birth country for multiple years. The duration of residency may have an impact on the experiences narrated in the interviews, and may not be comparable with all adoption experiences. The in-depth interviews were retrospective, addressing issues related to adoptees' experiences during the past 30 to 40 years. As a result, certain memories may have been distorted or forgotten. It is also important to note that every adoption experience is unique (Passmore, 2007) and that the journey of Sarah, Orlando, and Mike do not reflect the life experience of all Korean transracial adoptees. Based on the results of this research, we can draw some significant implications for future studies in child development and family relations. The study conducted by McGinnis and colleagues (2009) states that adoptees benefit from their interaction with other children who are also adopted. Hence, adoption placement of Korean children into families with other Korean adoptees or with their biological siblings should be promoted. A majority of Korean adoptees experienced racial discrimination in their school, neighbourhood and even in the family system. Unfortunately, many Korean transracial adoptees reported that their adoptive parents lacked understanding and awareness in regard to their experience as individuals of Korean heritage in a predominately uniform society (McGinnis et al., 2009). Analogous narratives emerged in the interviews with Sarah, Orlando, and Mike. Experiences of racism among Korean transracial adoptees indicate serious concerns that necessitate attention. Adoptive parents should receive more education in order to support their adopted children who may have to cope with racism. Although a more sensitive methodology of parenting regarding racism may not completely prevent experiences of discrimination against their adopted children, it may help adoptees to feel that they are supported and cared for. Cultural programs for Korean overseas adoptees should implement additional interventions that support adoptees in coping with racism and discrimination. Furthermore, adult Korean adoptees emphasized that their experiences and identity development could have been enhanced by growing up in a community and school with more diversity (McGinnis et al., 2009). Similar comments were reported in the narratives by Sarah, Orlando and Mike. In other words, a community with more diversity may offer supplementary support for Korean transracial adoptees in finding role models and reducing the feeling of alienation. As described by Trenka, Chinyere, Oparah, and Shin (2006), the responsibility of many adoption agencies is not to find parents for children, but rather, to find children for parents. For Korean transracial adoption to be considered as constructive, the child's well-being and development at the time of adoption and in the future should be the greatest priority in every adoption placement.
In the narratives of Sarah, Orlando, and Mike, the authors found a recurrent theme of constant challenges faced in the process of identity development, mainly caused by the people around these adoptees. Further quantitative research is needed to identify specific external variables such as racial discrimination and cultural expectations. All participants in this study had at least one Korean sibling in their adoptive family. Future research is suggested to examine the significance of communication among transracially adopted siblings.
This research provided insight on the life experiences of Korean transracial adoptees who have grown up in a European country. Their narratives revealed the ongoing process of identity development and coping with ambiguous loss. More longitudinal and representative research is needed to better understand the ongoing, lifelong journey of adaptation and identity development of Korean transracial adoptees.