Beginning September 2007, the Birth Family Search Department at G.O.A.’L will offer classes to birth family members who would like to learn the English language. The main purpose of this class is to assist with the often difficult communication process between Korean birth families and their relatives that were sent overseas for adoption. The class will also facilitate building a supportive network for birth families to meet with other birth families.
For more information, please visit:

http://goal.or.kr/eng/?slms=fam&lsms=1&sl=2&ls=11

Presented by the NSW Committee on Adoption and Permanent Care Inc

Venue: Stamford Plaza Double Bay, Sydney, Australia
Dates: Tuesday 2nd September 2008 - welcome drinks and registration

Wednesday 3rd to Friday 5th September 2008 - conference

The 9th Australian Adoption Conference “Connecting Past, Securing Future” will be held from 2 to 5 September 2008 at the Stamford Hotel, Double Bay, Sydney.

The theme for the conference was inspired by a quote from Hundertwasser who said: “If we do not honour our past, we lose our future. If we destroy our roots, we cannot grow.” It was felt that that for each adoption journey, by acknowledging the past, we are able to make sense of and secure the future.

The organising committee is very excited about this up and coming conference and we believe it will be dynamic, memorable and challenging for all participants. To date, we have received an enthusiastic response from around the globe, and from previous conferences we believe we will attract approximately 400 delegates across the three days.

The conference website, www.australianadoptionconference.com contains further information on the conference and speakers, as well as the Abstract Application form.

ASFC are currently seeking Intercountry Adult Adoptees from Western Australia to nominate for the Intercountry Adoption  Peak Body. For further details, please refer to information below or contact Sonya Mahoney.

Peak Body Intercountry Adoption Nominations

 As some of you may be aware one of the recommendations of the Bishop Inquiry into Overseas Adoption was that that a peak body consisting of Non Government Organisations (NGOs), adoptees and professionals be convened by the Federal Attorney Generals Dept.  Finally we are at the stage of nominations, they close 17th September.   Adoption Support for Families and Children (ASFC),  formally Australia for Children and prior to that ASIAC WA is the only parent run adoption support group in WA, our membership though large does not include all families and adoptees through Intercountry Adoption (ICA) in Western Australia, we would like to nominate an Intercountry adult adoptee to be one of WA’s representatives. 

The commitment would be 3 - 4 meetings a year involving travel interstate paid for by the Commonwealth please read attached information sheet.  WA’s Department of Child Protection Adoption Service does not have an ICA consultative forum, however ASFC does meet regularly with DCP, and we are meeting to forward nominations on 28th August. 

If you would like to consider yourself available for nomination you can do so directly by nominating directly to the AG’s Department,  ASFC would also like to put forward a nomination from a WA Intercountry Adoptee .  

If you are interested please get back to us on info@asfc.info or you can call me on 9272 9156 to discuss further by the Monday 27th August.  You would need to complete a short resume to go with the nomination.  The peak body will hopefully be ongoing so the opportunity is for over time the wider ICA community to be involved.

Please forward this to other Intercountry adoptees you know.

Regards,

Sonya Mahoney

on behalf of Committee

Adoption Support for Families and Children Inc

www.asfc.info

Korean adult adoptees in Perth (Western Australia) interested in a social networking meetup are encouraged to contact Pia.

Earlier this month, the Network of Professional Adopted Koreans (NoPAK) announced a direct connection had been made with the producers of KBS, a Korean television program which showcases adopted Koreans searching for biological parents and family members. NoPAK will be providing producers with a list of members who would like to be featured on the show.

Korean adoptees searching for their biological family and are willing to tell their adoption story are encouraged to join NoPAK and take advantage of this opportunity.

More information can be found on the NoPAK forums.

University of Newcastle PhD student Jessica Walton is exploring the unique experiences of Korean adoptees affected by being adopted to another country.

After being adopted to the United States in 1983 at the age of eight months, Jessica returned to South Korea in 2004 to teach English in Korean public schools.

Jessica said she was confronted with issues about what it meant to her to be Korean by birth, but grow up in America.

“I began to question the significance of where home is and what it means to belong,” she said.

“I wanted to know what other Korean adoptees felt about these ideas and so I decided to make sense of these issues through research.”

Jessica is researching the processes and experiences involved in being a Korean adoptee from an anthropological perspective, through the School of Humanities and Social Science.

She is looking for South Korean adoptees, aged 18 to 50 years, to participate in her research through email interviews.

“I’m looking at how adoptees consider their identities, how they view where they belong and where they feel their home is,” she said.

“I’ve found that Korean adoptees explore art, film, poetry and academic research to express themselves and identify with their birth country in diverse and challenging ways.

“As part of my research, I’ll travel to Seoul in South Korea next month, where I’ll interview Korean adoptees about their experiences in Korea.”

Intercountry adoption is now the most common form of adoption in Australia, following a decline in the number of Australian-born babies available for adoption in the past few years.

Anyone interested in participating in Jessica’s research can contact her via email on Jessica.Walton@studentmail.newcastle.edu.au