"It seemed ironic that I would be experiencing culture shock in the country where I was born." A Korean adoptee on returning to her birth country as an adult.

While writing about addressing this for my kids with frequent visits to Cambodia, another thought kept niggling.

I was born and raised in California. Although I traveled a good deal, California was in every way my home until I was almost... more

An article from Canada about an adult adoptee from Korea and her search for birth family has me thinking this morning. A young women, adopted at 22-months in 1976 writes about her experiences with the transracial aspects of adoption and her feelings about being Korean.

When her mom died of cancer when she was twenty, she "ached to know" her past and her birth parents.

What were they like? Did I look like them? Why did... more

Writing yesterday about the planning stages of our up-coming trip to Cambodia ... even though we haven't yet established exactly how up-coming it will be ... I mentioned the fact that we'll be spending at least a couple of days at AOA, the... more

Our first trip to Cambodia in 2003 was to adopt our son, Sam, and a nerve-wracking experience it was.

When we returned in 2005 for our daughter, Cj, we were much more relaxed. Not only had we been through the adoption process once, therefore knowing what to expect at each step and finding it much easier to trust... more

We're going to Cambodia! And, this time we won't be adopting while we're there, so this trip will be a real vacation.

As anyone who's ever traveled to another country to meet their new child knows, stress levels are too high and nerves too frayed during that amazing, emotional and extremely busy time to much to allow for much laid-back vacation fun.

Horror stories from headlines haunt the first-time adopting parents, and visions of babies vanishing in a puff of smoke while some shyster runs off with the dough dog every... more