A Personal Thank You To Scholar Sophie Coletta Nix For Acknowledging The Work Of Paperslip.

Published to Paperslip on January 13th, 2026.

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While there have been past attempts to plagiarize the work of Paperslip, the thesis of Sophie Coletta Nix stands as an excellent example of a scholar who has properly and generously acknowledged Paperslip’s original research on the history of KSS (Korea Social Service). Sincere thanks to Sophie Coletta Nix for doing things the right way.

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We want to personally thank Sophie Coletta Nix, the daughter of a mixed race KSS Adoptee, for acknowledging Paperslip in her excellent and enlightening thesis, titled “Black and Korean in Myŏng-Sŏng: The Formation of Kinship and Resistance”, a thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in African American Studies at UCLA (University of California Los Angeles). This is a thesis well worth reading for anyone interested in the history of KSS, and with a particular interest in the history of mixed race Korean Adoptees.

Sophie kindly writes in her Acknowledgments on page vi, “I want to thank the wonderful folks at Paperslip who continue to shed light on the history of Korean Social Service (KSS) and provide resources to adoptees attempting to recover their pasts. To me, they are scholars in their own right. ”

On pages 76 and 77, Sophie writes:

”The Adoption Process

From the late 1960s to the 2000s, Korean Social Service (KSS) documented key information regarding the origins of Korean orphans and potential adoptees on a Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary (Paperslip*20). This sometimes included the identities of the child’s parents (Paperslip). The English Adoptive Child Study Summary, which was provided to the “Western Adoptive Parents” prior to the child’s arrival as part of the matching process, did not always include this information. Very often, information regarding the child’s background was included on the Korean Summary and not the English Summary. In some instances, personal information—a child’s age, name, names of parents, whether their parents are alive—was falsified to make them seem more appealing to potential adoptive families.”

Paperslip Note — *Please note that Sophie should have included the (Paperslip) attribution following the statement, “Very often, information regarding the child’s background was included on the Korean Summary and not the English Summary.” While filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem made the excellent film “In The Matter of Cha Jung Hee”, Deann is not a KSS Adoptee (she was an ISS / International Social Services Adoptee), and thus does not have a document titled “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” or “English Adoptive Child Study Summary” — these are documents unique to KSS Adoptees only, which Paperslip coined the terms for in 2021.

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Although Paperslip is not an academic source, I regard the individuals who manage this site as scholars. They are specialists in this branch of study who pieced together a history that was not readily available to them. The information provided through Paperslip’s website is sourced from the experiences and combined knowledge from KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees adopted from 1964-2012 to the United States, Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland: “It’s ironically fitting that we should have to piece together the history of KSS ourselves, given that many of us have been offered little of our own histories by our Korean and US / European Adoption Agencies. This is an evolving story, with many contributors” (Paperslip).”

In her Bibliography, on page 158, Sophie acknowledges Paperslip as a source:

”Paperslip, Korean Social Service Adoptees, 2024, www.paperslip.org/.”

Please see screenshots below:

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Screenshots from the thesis by Sophie Coletta Nix, titled “Black and Korean in Myŏng-Sŏng: The Formation of Kinship and Resistance”, a thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in African American Studies at UCLA (University of California Los Angeles):