What They Won't Tell You About Adoption 

Hi all, I’m Janine, a co-founder of Adoption Truth and Transparency Worldwide Information Network (2011), along with my twin sister, Jenette. 

Unlike groups initiated by agency lobbyists and their special-interest groups, AT@TWIN is aligned with all international and domestic treaties recognizing equal rights for all people and founded upon innate natural laws. This is what I refer to as The Law of Nature or the Natural Law of Identity. 

I remember when we were coming up with a name for this group: The word “truth” came to mind after having read several accounts from adopted people that differed from the “fairytale” stories adoption agencies and their followers had pushed us to share while ignoring our concerns and additional burdens.

The word “transparency” also came to mind. Adoption agencies should be transparent when it comes to paperwork. Too many of us were told that there had been a fire or a flood, and therefore little to no records exist.

I also thought it was fitting that the word “trans” depicts the change and transfer of children who are “placed” for adoption. (Ever notice how the industry claims that they are “serving” children when they “place” them for adoption? This rhetoric softens the blow of what the public believes adoption to be—and what the families of loss believe it to be.)

Like many in AT@TWIN, my sister and I believe that all humans should have access to every document that pertains to the adopted person. AT@TWIN is also aligned with the original intent of the UNCRC, which recommends less severe and less invasive methods of child welfare. This includes care from immediate and extended family members (kinship care), community care, and temporary and even permanent guardianship. Child welfare methods that allow for the child to retain his/her true identity, and remain in contact with their blood relatives—not just the biological mother and father, but also siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents on both the maternal and paternal side.

I’ve been compiling material intended to shed light on adoption myths and empower adopted people. Meanwhile, my sister continued to maintain, admin, and grow the group to what it is today in addition to managing other pages and sites while working a full-time job in the health care field.  At the same time, our adoptive father (co-editor of Adoptionland), who was injured in a 1984 hang-gliding accident (which is told in Twins Found in a Box: Adapting to Adoption ) was nearing 90 years of age and needed full-time care, which I provided since '97.

Like many of us know, those of us adopted are caught between two worlds—not really belonging fully to either one. I am still burdened with additional responsibilities that need to be addressed since he is now almost 90, which might take the remaining part of this year. Still, I wanted to send a note letting you know that I do plan to create material for some of the research I’ve collected, and my sister will post them here. The first project is a deep dive into the life and times of the adoptive father and cult leader, the Reverend Jim Jones. This material will take time to finish, but I am a big believer in the old adage "Information is Power."

Adoption History: An Adoptee's Research Into Child Trafficking offers a bird's eye view on the history of the practice. Adoption law, such as the Hague Adoption Convention, was built by the demand side of adoption, led by adoptive parents and adoption agencies, who are now self-proclaimed child welfare professionals and experts. Adoption law ignores our innate rights to bloodlines and is instead founded upon the “right to adopt.” According to the recent 2019 survey of adult adopted people, 89.6% believe that the contract should now include the signature of the individual being transferred for adoption and no longer just between the adoption facilitator and adopting applicant.

Findings from (birth) mothers revealed that the "adoption industry research puts the REVENUE made from adoption-related and child welfare services at 13 billion dollars in 2013. When we follow the profits, we know that families not only need to be preserved, they need to be protected. They need to be informed on the aftermath of adoption and cautioned.

A cult-ure built on supposedly saving other people’s children from so-called inadequate, unwed, and even secular families prompted me to gather essays and title it Master Adoption: We Are Turning Adoption Upside Down, an equal-rights book grounded in the laws of nature. I will be sharing these thoughts soon. Visit my Goodreads or Amazon page.

I appreciate every single member of this group—even if we have not personally met or conversed yet. Send me, or to my sister Jenette a friend request or find me on Goodreads and Amazon. Continue to post news or thoughts on what’s going on in your area and around the world. Thanks for posting, sharing, and encouraging each other to speak truth to power.

Also, remember, together, we have already accomplished so much to alter the course of adoption history (and herstory). Each of us contributes to the collective in our own unique way; we are the people, for the people. Take care of yourself and each other!

Best Regards,

Rev. Janine Myung Ja, Ph.D., Philosophy, Amazon | Goodreads

Author of Adoption: What You Should Know & The Search for Mother Missing: A Peek Inside International Adoption (BTW it's free on Amazon this weekend!)

If you'd like to help us manage, create, and share social media pages, and/or giftfunds to create a website based on my research and written materials, audios, videos and translations and distribution, send Vance Twins a message. If you are an allie or a believer in equal rights for all people—even adopted people, let's make history together.

*A special thanks to Roelie Post, a Civil Servant of the European Commission, and Arun Dohle, Executive Director of Against Child Trafficking, for their education on international human rights agreements, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Visit their websites for investigational reports and search and reunion cases in parts of Asia and Africa. I would also like to thank my sister for accepting members into this group for so many years between her job at Life Care, for her commitment to the cause, and for her creation of several websites.

Our efforts are dedicated to Harry and Bertha’s Korean-born adopted son, Joseph Holt, who committed suicide in 1984.