hong kong adoptee

May 28, 2010

Hi leanneh,

Your feelings of being lost are very real and commonly felt by alot of transracial/intercountry adoptees.

I recommend that you have a look at the [URL="http://www.icasn.org"]Inter-Country Adoptee Support Network[/URL] web site - it's run by intercountry adoptees (mainly ICAs in Australia) for intercountry adoptees and it has a Hong Kong rep. Since it's totally volunteer-run, it might take a while for one of the reps to reply but in the meantime, you can browse their list of resources. Also, you might like to read, "The Colour of Difference: Journeys in Transracial Adoption" by Federation Press - it contains writings by ICAs (mainly in Australia) about their personal experiences.

Also, British Assocation for Adoption and Fostering (UK) also has some recommended readings and other resources.

[URL="http://www.adoptionsearchreunion.org.uk/help/reading/adoptedpeople.htm"]Adoption, Search & Reunion[/URL] And if you really want to read stuff that's more research/academic (very comprehensive), I recommend the article, "Beyond Culture Camp" by the [URL="http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/research/2009_11_culture_camp.php"]Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute[/URL]

And if you don't want to read stuff but just share feelings/experiences/vent, this forum is a good place. Lotsa very empathetic supportive people here.

Hopefully knowing that you're in the company of thousands of lost ICAs souls will help ease the sense of isolation. I, for one, can certainly relate to your feelings of being lost. Many ICAs struggle with double-loss: loss of birth family/roots and loss of culture. Plus, the idea of searching internationally through foreign bureaucracies, foreign languages, etc; is truly daunting. And don't even ask me what country I cheer for during the Olympics.... ;-)

Yours,

Ripples