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The Conversation

Factual: Life Stories

Two women from different parts of the world share the stories of their lives

Two women from different parts of the world, united by a common passion, experience or expertise, share the stories of their lives.

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The Conversation: Why was I adopted? Women looking for birth stories

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Janine Vance and Yennifer Dallmann Villa

02/05/2022 GMT

Why was I adopted? Women looking for birth stories

BBC World Service - The Conversation, Why was I adopted? Women looking for birth stories

Two women adopted from South Korea and Colombia finding out more about birth families

Two women adopted from South Korea and Colombia tell Beatriz de la Pava about wanting to know more about their origins and why they think international adoptions should be curbed.

What's it like being adopted into a country far away from your birth and into a family that looks very different to you? International and transracial adoptions both come with challenges for children and parents. Beatriz de la Pava talks to two women born in Colombia and South Korea about trying to fit in and discovering more about their roots.

Janine Vance was adopted from Seoul by an American couple along with her twin sister when they were six months old. A trip to South Korea in 2004 to an event marking 50 years of intercountry adoption caused her to think more deeply about her heritage. She found out that while most adoptees had been told they were orphans, this wasn't the case and parents were looking for them. She's written several books about adoption and wants to make the process of international adoption more transparent.

Yennifer Dallmann Villa was adopted from Colombia by a German couple when she was two years old. She always had a passion to know more about where she'd come from and as an adult discovered a huge online community of adoptees searching for birth families and origin stories. In her 20s she went to Colombia to photograph and write about First Mothers looking for children who'd been taken and adopted. She featured on a TV programme there which helped her find her birth family and is currently living in Colombia.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

(Image: (Top Left), Janine Vance, courtesy Janine Vance. (Top Right), Yennifer Dallmann Villa, credit Ina Busch. (Bottom Right), Yennifer Dallmann Villa with her birth grandmother and family in Colombia, courtesy Yennifer Dallmann Villa.)

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