Affirming Korean Adoptee Anti-Adoption Self-Expressions as Anti-Racist, Abolitionist Articulations: Blog Comment Reactions to Adopter Savior Syndrome
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In conversation with recent adult Korean adoptee rights activism in South Korea, this paper centers the relational possibilities of adoptee solidarity with vulnerable families and communities. As social work scholars, we conceptualize adult Korean adoptee anti-adoption self-expressions as anti-racist articulations that can contribute to social work’s vision for social justice. Foregrounding Adoptee Solidarity Korea (ASK) for its alignment with abolitionist movements to protect single mothers from state violence, we illuminate adult Korean adoptee anti-adoption politics as epistemic oversights in social work. The empirical component of this paper revisits the once public comments that responded to Korean adoptee and co-author Seungmi Cho’s satire, “Adopter Savior Syndrome.” How do blog comment reactions make visible the pro-adoption, affective status quo? How do blog comment reactions generate alternatives? The analysis presented in this blended conceptual and empirical paper indicates the existence of and alternatives to the prioritization of sympathies for typically white adoptive families over adoptees of color and families of origin. We argue that social work can resist the oppressive prioritization of sympathies for adoptive families and, instead, affirm anti-adoption movements to protect vulnerable families and communities of color.
DOI: 10.52713/5arze892
Authors: Seungmi Cho, Linda Banda, Christine Velez
Institution: University of Vermont
Language: English
Topic: Child Welfare and Adoption
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7216015413