Deann Borshay Liem
Appearances
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
We have a right to our identities.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
Yes. So I returned to Korea in the 1980s and went to the orphanage and met the social worker who handled my case. And in fact, I made a film about this called First Person Plural. And she basically stated that there was a girl at the orphanage named Cha Jung-hee. She had been adopted by Arnold and Alvin Borges. All the paperwork had been signed. The money had been exchanged.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
And, you know, photos had been sent and letters exchanged, et cetera. And my parents were really excited to adopt this girl. But at the last minute, her father, her Korean father, said, no, I'm not going to send my child for adoption and took her home. And so she admitted that she looked around. What she said was that she did not want to disappoint my American parents.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
So she looked around for a replacement, thought I was about the same age and height and looked similar to her and put me in her place. So my picture was put on her passport and they sent this second picture of, quote, Cha Jung-hee, but it was a picture of me with her name written on the back. and then sent me as her.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
And the interesting thing is, and this is what I think the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Korea is discovering, is that the paperwork was so complete that aside from these two photos, no one would have known that a switch had been made because I came to the U.S. as a complete orphan. So although I had family and even Cha Jung-hee,
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
had a family, the paperwork was such that she was considered a, quote, orphan with no family anywhere in the world.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
I think just the fact of not knowing Where we come from and not knowing one's origins and the inability to actually track down those origins is really difficult. I think we all want to know where we come from and we have a right to know. Even though many of us, you know, I myself, for example, I was adopted into a very loving, caring family.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
You know, they provided everything that they could possibly provide for me in terms of education, caring, all of those things. And yet I wanted to know who I was. So I think it's an existential challenge. that we all have.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
And the problem with the system of sort of industrialized adoptions that occurred in Korea is that it made it very difficult for us to return and find those origins and find an answer to these questions that I think it's very difficult to live without knowing, you know, the answers to.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
I think I just felt a mixture of emotions. You know, on the one hand, I felt relief that what we as adopted Koreans have known about for many years has been affirmed by a governmental entity.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
At the same time, I think I just felt a lot of anger that this was allowed to happen on such a mass scale and just a tremendous amount of grief for families who have lost children to adoption, for the adopted people, ourselves, and even to the adoptive families. So just to be honest, sometimes I just feel numb about it because it's just so overwhelming.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
I asked my adoptive mother if I could have my adoption records. And as I look through them... I discovered that there were two pictures, one that was of me and one that was of another girl. And yet on the back of both pictures was the same name, the name that I was adopted with, which was Cha Jung-hee.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
Absolutely. I think there are hundreds of thousands of children. people who have been adopted from Korea, Guatemala, China, Colombia, India, et cetera, I think there needs to be an investigative effort here in the U.S. You know, how many of these children have similar experiences, falsified documents, or were trafficked? How many of us are searching? So an investigation in the U.S.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
needs to take place, you know, from all of these countries.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
You know, I think a truth and reconciliation process isn't binding. I know one of the recommendations is to issue a formal apology. I think an apology will be fine, but I think it needs to be followed through concrete action. I think this process can lead to truth-finding and a way by which society can come to terms with some of these historical wrongdoings collectively.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
But I think really there needs to be some concrete action. So adoptees need to have access to their records. Adoption agencies are currently transferring records to the government agency called the National Center for the Rights of the Child. That process needs to be better funded and better staffed.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
I think policy-wise, there still needs to be better financial support and social support for families that are headed by single parents, whether it's a single mother, single father, a grandparent, et cetera. And I think that it's time for South Korea to end international adoptions.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
These brief images of a little home in the hills, scenes from an orphanage, children running around, shoes on a rack.
Consider This from NPR
South Korea admits to widespread adoption fraud. Here's one story
It was just a transformative moment in my life to know that I had been switched with another child. My adoptive parents knew nothing about it and that it took all these years to kind of come to terms with the truth.