The first volume of our new book series, "The Letter Never Sent, No.1" has been published. It contains letters from adoptees to birth parents, in both English and Korean. This book will be distributed at the 3rd Gathering of Korean Adoptees 2004 in Seoul.
IECEF plans to publish this book as an ongoing series. We will include all letters that we receive both now and in the future. If you are interested in submitting a letter for the next book, please send them to: molly@iecef.org.
Following is the introduction to the book.
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Dear Readers,
In publishing this book series of Korean adoptees’ letters written to birth families we want to accomplish a few very important goals. Over the span of 50 years of Korean international adoption, many adoptees have returned to Korea in search of their birth families. Ultimately, we hope that this book can help adoptees find their birth families. However, in Korea, adoption remains a very silent and painful issue, and many birth parents are ashamed to come forward. Through publicizing this book, we want to enhance the public’s understanding about adoption and create a space for Koreans to be able to grieve and to reconcile the loss of family. Perhaps this will make it possible for birth parents to find the courage to eventually search for their children. Our hope for this book series is also to provide Korean adoptees with another forum to convey their thoughts, feelings and opinions about their adoption and histories. By bringing adoptees’ letters to birth parents, we hope that this can be one more step forward in a lifelong process of coming to terms with loss, for everyone.
Jessica EunYung Fairbanks
Korean Adoptees' Homecoming Support Center at IECEF |
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IECEF
