- LGBTQ+
NPR It’s Been a Minute: “Joel Kim Booster on making a queer, Asian American ‘Pride and Prejudice'”
This is a podcast by gay Korean adoptee Joel Kim Booster (comedian and actor). This episode explores how the film Fire Island honors queer friendships, subverts heteronormative themes, and tells a story which feels universal.
- LGBTQ+
Asian Pride Project
This organization celebrates LGBTQ individuals and API families and communities through artforms. It tells the stories of LGBTQ triumphs and struggles in the API community. These artforms include short films and videos, photography and written word. This source applies to the Asian and Asian American community and the LGBTQ community. It is a source you can just scroll through and look at on your own time.
- LGBTQ+
Gender Spectrum
Gender Spectrum is a source for anyone who is part of the queer community or would like to understand more about it. The organization works to create gender sensitive and inclusive environments for all children and teens. On the webpage you can find online consulting, groups, and plenty of resources.
- LGBTQ+
Outfest
Outfest’s mission can apply to and most benefit the LGBTQ+ community. It is known as, “The world’s largest LGBTQ+ film and media organization.” The organization holds several programs, projects, and events for artists with its film festivals as its focus.
- Media
Adopted (2008)
Adopted tells the story of two adoptees and their families. One family is a couple preparing for the adoption of a baby girl. The other, a 32 year old adoptee from Korea that has struggled to speak with her adoptive parents her whole life about adoption. The two stories are at opposite ends of the adoption process, but both stories converge to show that love alone is not enough to make a family work.
- Media
The Drop Box (2015)
Pastor Lee Jong Rak is a pastor in South Korea. His ‘drop box’ is a space where children can be placed if the parent decides to give up their child. Throughout the film, Pastor Lee emphasizes the special value of each child’s life, and how God has a plan for the little ones. The documentary focuses on his work with adoption and the babies placed inside his ‘drop box’.
- Media
The Dark Matter of Love (2012)
A documentary on the psychological aspects of growing up with and without parental love. The story centers around the Diaz family, who chooses to adopt three orphans from Russia, and how their new and old kids handle family together. It also covers their work with individualized family therapy that helps them to begin communicating more effectively.
- Media
Found (2021)
The story of three adopted Chinese-American teenage girls who discover they’re blood-related cousins on 23andMe. Their online meeting inspires the young women to confront the burning questions they have about their lost history and travel back to China.
- Media
Stuck (2013)
A documentary that follows four children from three different countries on their individual voyages from orphanages to their new homes with families in the United States. It explores the corruption and greed behind the adoption process as parents try to adopt kids but are blocked by outside efforts.
- Media
Approved for Adoption (2012)
An animated film about a young Korean boy joining a Belgium family and his return to his birth country. The story follows him over the course of his life, and the times when his adoption influenced whether or not he felt accepted.
- Media
Unlocking the Heart of Adoption (2002)
This is an hour-long documentary which chronicles the filmmaker’s journey as a birthmother and reveal the personal storeis of adoptees, birthparents, and adoptive parents. A wide variety of perspectives on adoption are explored, including the connections between birth families and adoptive families.
- Media
Somewhere Between (2011)
A documentary on four different teenage girls adopted from China under the One Child Policy who are currently living in the United States. The film explores their struggles with racism, identity formation, belonging, and race and gender.
- Birth Family Search
Lion (2016)
The extraordinary birth search family based on a true story. When a little boy from India gets lost on a train and taken thousands of miles away from home gets adopted by an Australian couple. With his unforgettable memories, his determination, and the online technology Google Earth, 25 years later Saroo sets out to find his first home.
- Adoptee Groups
Angela Tucker
Angela Tucker is an author, a podcaster, a film producer and has gained a reputation for being a national thought leader on the intersectional topics of race, class, and identity. She was adopted from foster care to a white family, and grew up in a city that was predominantly white. She has 15+ years of working in social welfare organizations, has consulted with NBC’s This Is Us, and supported the lead actor of Broadway musical Jagged Little Pill. Her first book is scheduled for publication in the spring of 2023 (Beacon Press).
- Birth Family Search
Twin Sisters (2013)
This documentary film is happy and heartwarming about twin sisters who are adopted by two separate families who find their way back to each other via social media. This movie brings up topics such as growing, learning, understanding, and identity.
- Birth Family Search
First Person Plural (2000)
This documentary film tells the true story of an 8-year old girl who is adopted by an American family, only to discover years later that she has a birth family in Korea. The documentary explores themes of identity, race, assimilation, and birth family reunion.
- Birth Family Search
Searching for Go-Hyang (1998)
This film is about twin sisters who are adopted into the US but return back to Korea 14 years later in hopes of exploring and reconnecting with their homeland and roots. This story addresses issues of national identity and cross cultural adoption.
- Birth Family Search
aka DAN: Korean Adoption Documentary
Dan Matthews is a Korean adoptee who journeys back to Korea to reunite with his biological family, including a twin brother he never knew he had. He has all this documented and shared on his YouTube channel for his fans/followers to follow along to.
- Birth Family Search
Twinsters (2015)
This documentary tells the true-life story of identical twin sisters separated at birth who discover each other online. They meet and confirm their identity with a DNA test, and they set out to explore aspects of their background together. One twin lives in the US while the other twin lives in France.
- Birth Family Search
Blue Bayou (2021)
A Korean-American man raised in the Louisiana bayou works hard to make ends meet for his family. However, he must confront ghosts of his past when he discovers he could be deported from the US and sent back to South Korea.
- Birth Family Search
Off and Running (2009)
Avery, an African-American adoptee and track star with white Jewish lesbians for parents and two other adopted siblings begins to become more curious about her roots. Her curiosity about her African-American heritage grows and she decides to contact her birth mother. Avery’s life turns into a crisis and struggles over her “true” identity, her isolation from Black culture, and the circumstances of her adoption.
- Media
One Child Nation (2019)
This film includes the various diverse perspectives on the one child policy that China implemented in 1980, from the people who carried out the policy to the people who fell victim to the policy. This film is for anyone interested in learning about one of China’s biggest and most impactful planning initiatives. It’s an eye-opening documentary to give new perspectives and understandings of the causes and effects of the policy.
- Birth Family Search
Closure (2013)
A trans-racial adoptee finds her birth mother, and meets the rest of her family who did not know she existed, including her birth father. This documentary explores themes such as identity, the complexities of trans-racial adoption, and closure.
- Race Education
MTV Impact: “If Microaggressions Happened to White People”
A 3 minute YouTube video highlighting the microaggressions people of color deal with everyday.
- Media
“Raising Our Multiracial Family”
“A Black woman shares her story of raising her family of 4 children including one white, adopted son. Insta- @raisingculturesfamily , tiktok- @raisingcultures”
- Media
Psychology Today: “Adult Adoptee Voices Are Changing Adoption Narrative”
“The article is written by a Korean transracial adoptee speaking about the Side x Side project where adoptees discuss their lives, relationships, and origins. It summarizes the project and talks about how even if adoptive parents think their relationship is great, it may be prudent to reexamine and ask honestly how their children are feeling
“
- Mental Health
Center for Adoption Support and Education: About TAC
An article explaining Training for Adoption Competency (TAC) which is commonly used by mental health practitioners.
