Why I offer private consultations for Korean Adoptees through Paperslip.

Above — Paperslip’s table at a Korean Adoptee conference in Chicago in 2024.

Summary:

Korean Adoptees (who were adopted through any Korean Adoption Agency, not just KSS) can often benefit from having a private Zoom consultation, since most Adoptees do not have a strong understanding of the rapidly changing birth family search process, or of documents which they may already have in their possession. Having a private Zoom consulation to discuss the birth family search process, an Adoptee’s specific documents, and adoption story can potentially save an Adoptee years of wasted time and thousands of dollars in their birth family search process.

*Please note that we do not discuss the TRC 3 process in the context of these private Zoom consultations. All information related to TRC 3 is freely available on our Paperslip Blog.

Above — Birth family search can often feel like a confusing maze of information. We aim to guide Adoptees through the process in the context of our private, one-on-one Zoom consultations.

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Tomorrow I am doing a private Zoom consultation with a KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptee whom I first met at a Korean Adoptee conference in Chicago in Summer 2024. She decided to do a Zoom consultation with me in February 2026, in advance of her first upcoming trip to Korea, as part of a homeland tour for adult Korean Adoptees. I am sharing this story in an attempt to illustrate why doing a private Zoom consultation may be extremely valuable for those who are new to birth family search, are planning an upcoming trip to Korea, and who have a limited understanding of their adoption documents. Please note that Paperslip does not engage in “on-the-ground” birth family search in Korea. However, in the context of a private consultation, we can refer Adoptees to “on-the-ground” birth family search resources, not all of which are publicly shared on our site.

Prior to 2024, I had not previously attended the Korean Adoptee conference in Chicago where I met this female KSS Adoptee. The reason I had decided to attend in 2024 was because a prominent Korean Adoptee in the community had told me that he had attended the same conference in 2023, and had happened to mention Paperslip to a male KSS Adoptee whom he had met there. This KSS Adoptee later reached out to me through Paperslip, and I helped him in the initial stages of his birth family search — which at that time, prior to the closure of KSS’ Post Adoption Services in July 2025 — entailed submitting two forms to KSS. I provided him with guidance about how to complete his KSS forms — which at the time, I was helping many KSS Adoptees with — and his search later resulted in a reunion with his Korean birth family in Korea.

I realized that I should attend this conference the following year, in 2024, to try to spread the word about Paperslip to more KSS Adoptees.

In 2024, I applied to make a presentation at the conference. My proposal focused on what was then the upcoming FRONTLINE / Associated Press documentary, South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning, in which I had played a pivotal — though egregiously uncredited — role behind the scenes for years (2021-2024). I also hoped to address the planned July 19th, 2025 transfer of all former Korean Adoption Agency files to NCRC, an issue I believed required urgent attention. Unfortunately, the conference organizers did not share my sense of urgency and declined my proposal. As a result, I was unable to alert Adoptees at the conference about the forthcoming transfer of records.

In hindsight, now that the transfer to NCRC has happened, and it’s a complete mess as we long predicted, it seems clear how valuable that information could have been to the community.

Paperslip is not a non-profit, and therefore, I paid for my ticket and conference fees out of my own pocket. My goal was to catch as many KSS Adoptees as possible, to try to inform them about how to request and receive their formerly secret Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary, a process which was then possible to do directly from KSS, thanks to my and another KSS Adoptee’s accidental discovery of this process in 2021. KSS itself never told Adoptees about this process.

Fortunately, another Korean Adoptee friend who has long been involved in activism offered to donate a table to me in the conference’s presentation hall. Conference goers could wander the various booths and speak with representatives. So I paid for Paperslip business cards, a banner, and other materials for the table, and during the conference, spoke with a small handful of Adoptees who wandered by the table. There were just two KSS Adoptees with whom I spoke directly, one of whom is the one I am doing a private Zoom consultation with tomorrow. I told her about how to do a free FOIA request (which unfortunately, in current times in the US, is far less advisable and entails specific WARNINGS) and she later tried this on her own.

Her first FOIA request, which she attempted independently, failed, and she received no documents. She then reached out to me to let me know about her unsuccessful FOIA attempt, and I offered to do a free Zoom with her to walk her through the FOIA process. We figured out the issue with her first FOIA request, and I walked her through how to do a new one. When her second FOIA request was finally processed, she received something around 150 pages — the largest treasure trove of FOIA documents I had ever heard of. However, of course she did not share with me her actual FOIA documents (something which I consider wise, since FOIA documents contain a lot of sensitive, private information. I think that Adoptees, especially in these times, should be exceedingly careful about with whom they share their documents). Verbally she told me that her FOIA documents contained information about a Korean “grandmother”, information which she did not have before. I thought that in itself was amazing. However, this KSS Adoptee only came “out of the fog” at the 2024 conference, and I did not press her to share further information with me.

Fast forward to February 2026, and this same KSS Adoptee is now more ready to face her adoption history. She is preparing to go on her first trip back to Korea as part of an upcoming homeland tour with other adult Korean Adoptees. However, like many Adoptees, she is extremely frazzled in her attempts to understand her adoption documents — including those she received through FOIA — and doesn’t fully understand their significance. Since most Adoptees only see their own paperwork, they are unaware of what most Adoptees do and don’t have amongst their documents. She finally decided to do a private Zoom consultation with me yesterday. In advance of our Zoom, she shared with me her FOIA documents. As it turns out, her FOIA documents contain a treasure trove of information about her Korean birth mother! (*Please note that this is very rare, though not impossible, information to obtain through a FOIA request — which unfortunately, in current times, are coming back highly redacted and has many associated WARNINGS). This is something I had not known from what the Adoptee had told me verbally. Had she not decided to do a private Zoom consultation, which enabled an opportunity for her to share her documents with me, I would not have known that there were several more birth family search tips about which I could inform her in advance of her trip to Korea.

My point is that Adoptees are often reticent to pay for anything related to birth family search, and that this can cost them years of time, and thousands of dollars in wasted trips to Korea when they do not know what to do with the information which they may already have.

So I am glad when an Adoptee decides to do a Zoom consultation, because I know that there is so much information which I can share. Despite the amount of information available online, through Paperslip, Facebook groups, etc., years of experience has shown me that Adoptees often cannot put together a complete gameplan for birth family search without some sort of one-on-one guidance. Just look at all the Adoptees who ask the same questions repeatedly online. They then receive partial, fractured answers which don’t put together a complete picture of birth family search. The need for one-on-one guidance is completely understandable given the various factors which prevent Adoptees from fully understanding the complex web of birth family search. The problem is, most Adoptees don’t want to pay for anything, and frankly, many won’t even read links even when links are sent to them directly. Therefore, many of them end up spinning in circles for years.

Paperslip is far from being a business. The amount of money earned from these consultations is laughable. But I continue to offer them, because Adoptees so badly need them. The unfortunate part is that most Adoptees are unwilling to pay a small consultation fee, and many will end up wasting years of time and thousands of dollars running around in a circle without guidance.

For those who feel a consultation is beyond their budget, please know that a substantial amount of FREE information is available on Paperslip. It’s there for you to access and use. We (not just me, but other Paperslip Contributors) have devoted thousands of hours in service to Adoptees, making these resources freely available.

What you choose to do with that information is entirely up to you. Whatever path you take in your search, I sincerely wish you the very best.

For those with interest in a private Zoom consultation, please reach out to us at paperslipadoptee@gmail.com

Thank you.