From Isolation to Advocacy: Confronting Color Evasiveness in Transracial Adoption with JaeRan Kim

October 1, 2024

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“Transracial adoptees often don’t feel a part of their community of origin and it can be really hard to feel like you belong. We are often raised intentionally by our parents to reject our racial and ethnic communities so I hope others can understand the context and give some grace to transracial adoptees who are still trying to figure this out.” –JaeRan Kim

“It’s not just that people don’t see color, it’s that they’re avoiding seeing color. They actually are avoiding talking about it, confronting it, wanting to grapple with it. And so it’s really more of a mechanism of evasiveness than it is just now seeing it. Cause they see us, right? They see us; they just don’t want to acknowledge it. That’s the difference.” –JaeRan Kim

In this episode of Social Justice Origin Stories, Dr. JaeRan Kim, associate professor of Social Work and Criminal Justice at the University of Washington, talks about the origins of her non-linear path to Social Work and her dedication to social justice, shaped by her personal experiences as a transracial and transnational adoptee from Korea.

“As a transracial and transnational adoptee, raised by white parents, I grew up in isolation and did not have either mirrors or windows in terms of racial references. I also did not grow up to have any consciousness about structural racism. Like many people, it took a while to learn how to confront my internalized racism, develop language to speak about race, and explore my racial identity.” –JaeRam Kim

She describes how becoming a parent herself, meeting other Korean adoptees, traveling to Korea, and starting her BSW program with all BIPOC instructors and mentors were transformative experiences that helped give her the structural lens she needed to understand her life experiences.

Her storytelling highlights the impact of community, mentorship, and the importance of lived experience in shaping social justice work, emphasizing the need for systemic change to support and empower those with direct experience. JaeRan also discusses the lessons she has learned and imparted, particularly the importance of critical engagement and validating the lived experiences of people of color.

Meet JaeRan

JaeRan Kim, Ph.D., MSW, (she/hers) is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work and Criminal Justice at the University of Washington, Tacoma. Prior to completing her doctoral degree, she worked with foster and adopted children and families and with adults with disabilities in residential care. JaeRan’s research is focused on the post-adoption wellbeing of transracial and transnational adoptees, the experiences of social work students with disabilities, and the preparation and training of professional social workers. Dr. Kim prioritizes community-based projects and is the author of the blog, Harlow’s Monkey.

In addition to following Dr. Kim on Harlow’s Monkey, you can connect with her on Instagram @harlows_monkey, and LinkedIn @jaerankimphd.

More from JaeRan

“My life experiences have shaped how I now see the world. I don’t think in binaries any more and I really want to be that mentor and catalyst for other transracial and transnational adoptees who may be struggling with their racial identity.

I also feel strongly that I can provide that educational lens for non-adopted people who might not understand the identity challenges transracial adoptees often experience – for example, many transracial adoptees have white parents who are very conservative and express troubling opinions about immigrants, people of color, etc. and do not understand how that hurts their adoptee relative.

Along with some colleagues, I’ve created a model to help other adoptees explore and understand their personal journey as well as think about how they are part of a larger collective. The model is at adopteeconsciousness.com.”