GOA’L: An invaluable resource for Korean adoptees in Korea

When Toby Dawson mentioned his plans to establish the Toby Dawson Foundation in Korea, to help fellow Korean adoptees and orphans reunite with their Korean families, I felt a sort of pride similar to the pride I feel when any of my fellow adoptee friends publishes an article or book, or gives a spot-on radio or podcast interview. But simultaneously, I immediately thought of an existing organization with a similar purpose: GOA’L: Global Overseas Adoptees’ Link.

Established in 1998, GOA’L is an adoptee-founded, adoptee-run nonprofit organization based in Seoul. As the only adoptee-operated nonprofit NGO in Korea, GOA’L is unique, and I would love for every Korean adoptee out there (including Toby Dawson!) to be aware of it.

One of the many functions of GOA’L is to assist those of us adult Korean adoptees who wish to find our birth parents.

I visited GOA’L’s former office when I was in Korea in summer ‘02, and despite their cramped quarters, I could tell that GOA’L’s volunteers were passionate and committed to their organization and to the adoptees they serve. My GOA’L visit was my first experience meeting Korean adoptees from countries other than the United States (Sweden & Norway). One of GOA’L’s founding members and a few other volunteers and staff members took my friend and me out for dinner at a nearby barbecue restaurant, where I remember hearing my Swedish adoptive surname pronounced by a Swedish Korean adoptee — probably the first time I ever heard it spoken properly.

Although my search for my Korean family finally wrapped up in spring 2002 when a social worker from my Korean adoption agency located my umma and abeoji, I had asked for help from GOA’L, and felt reassured to have them on my side.

GOA’L continues today thanks to the hard work and sheer grit and determination of a group of devoted Korean adoptees who beamed back aboard the mothership to live in, work in, and reconnect with our birth culture, and to help fellow adoptees do the same. Carrying on GOA’L’s missions are a tireless crew of Korean adoptees, as well as some Korean-Korean volunteers and staffers who ally themselves with GOA’L’s cause.

GOA’L’s personnel are knowledgeable advocates for overseas Korean adoptees and for those among us who return to Korea. In 1999, GOA’L successfully lobbied the Korean government to include adoptees among those overseas Koreans eligible for the F4 visa, making it easier for adoptees to stay for extended periods of time in Korea.

GOA’L works to improve Koreans’ perceptions and better their understanding of adoptees’ circumstances and perspectives through public education and the Korean media. GOA’L provides birth family search assistance, translation services, support for adoptees seeking employment in Korea, and serves as a general home base of sorts for adoptees who return to Korea. Social gatherings, activites and an annual conference also help adoptees feel like they have a home in Korea. The Korean adoptee community in Seoul wouldn’t be where it is today without GOA’L.

I admire and respect Toby Dawson’s desire to leverage his celebrity and apply his experience to benefit fellow adoptees and young Koreans who have been separated from family. But it is my hope that he would be open to connecting with GOA’L, and even exploring the possibility of partnering or aligning with them to work toward their common goals. I believe it is to our advantage for all of us to join forces in Korea as much as possible, to maximize resources.

Navigating the Korean social welfare system and political labyrinth — both of which have historically misunderstood adoptees and orphans and have long cast us in a distorted and biased light — is no simple task, and it would be a shame if the Toby Dawson Foundation had to begin the process anew, at square 1. GOA’L has a 9-year history of working to elevate awareness and improve representations of adoptees as rightful owners of our Korean heritage, rather than third-rate pity cases who bear a national shame. Although I don’t wish to take anything away from the Toby Dawson Foundation, I do hope that Toby Dawson sees the great potential in hooking up with GOA’L.