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Adoption Yesterday, Today, and Around the World

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REV. DR. JANINE MYUNG JA
재닌 명자  |  입양 전문가

AUTHOR | CURATOR | DIRECTOR 

International multi-award-winning recipient and gold-medalist author Rev. Dr. Janine Myung Ja, Philosophy, has written numerous books in the genres of memoir, anthology, history, politics, and self-help. Janine has been interviewed in newspapers, television, and radio from Seattle, Washington in the United States to Seoul, South Korea, including BBC Radio, Huffington Post, Northwest Afternoon, Northwest Asian Weekly, Dong-A Ilbo, and Chosun.

Janine is the pioneering curator of an anthology titled Adoptionland: From Orphans to Activists, spotlighting the experiences of adult adoptees from Europe, America, Asia, and Africa. She then researched and wrote an investigational book on the history of adoption, unveiling the tactics used to obtain children for adoption. She shares personal experiences in two memoirs, one focusing on her childhood experience and the other on her search for her birth family with her twin titled The Search for Mother Missing.

Home: Welcome
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YOU'RE IN GOOD COMPANY.

Janine's work also includes an anthology of diverse yet unified Korean adoptee voices and an empowering book that recognizes the inherent human rights all people should have--including adopted people who are deprived of their roots caused by the permanent separation involved because of adoption.

Between 1984 -2021, Janine provided full-time care for her adoptive father, a former aerospace engineer, after a traumatic brain injury from a hang-gliding accident impacted his speech, sight, balance, and fine and gross motor control skills. Vance's simple suggestions on coping with life's surprises can be found in an encouraging book condensed from her experiences after more than thirty years of caregiving experience. contact@janinevance.com for interviews on her personal story.

Rev. Dr. Janine Myung Ja is a proponent of the human-rights-based investigational agency, Against Child Trafficking (ACT), Europe. As a director of ACT in the USA, Janine launched the first Adoption Trafficking Awareness Symposium, which brought attention to the intersection between child trafficking and international adoption. As a writing consultant, her professional mission is to contribute to protecting local and global families from exploitation with information that gives a bird’s-eye view, a deep-dive into the history of the practice and also considers the adopted child into their elder years, families separated by adoption and parent of loss. Janine accepts written interviews at info@adoptionhistory.org.

Adoption: What You Should Know

The Works of Rev. Janine Myung Ja, Ph.D. Philosophy

1. How did adoption evolve throughout history and become what it is today?

2. What is the intersection between international adoption and child trafficking?

3. How have children been obtained from mothers, fathers, and communities?

4. Why are those who voice concerns about adoption immediately called anti-adoption or labeled as bad? 

5. What do adoption agencies pray you do not know about adoption?

6. What are adopted people saying about the practice today?

7. What needs to be done to stop the commodification and other concerns voiced by the people?

8. From what perspective should we look at adoption in order to protect local and global families from exploitation?

9. What human rights did the adoption pioneers ignore yesterday? Are rights respected today?

*NOTE: If you missed the symposium, you will find answers in the books Adoption History: An Adoptee's Research into Child Trafficking and Adoptionland: From Orphans to Activists. The curator's memoir, The Search for Mother Missing by Janine Vance, reveals how the author discovered the hidden side of international adoption.

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