Education

A Korean Adoptee Filmmaker Turning Truth Into Belonging

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Shelby Kilgore was seventeen when she traveled to the country she was born in and met the woman who had named her Beautiful Truth. One trip to South Korea became the beginning of a calling she has spent more than a decade pursuing. In this episode of Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope interviews Shelby Kilgore, a Korean American adoptee and filmmaker who documents the stories of the adoption constellation, about the parents who prepared to raise her, the birth father who saved her photographs, and how telling the truth became her path toward healing.

Preparation Is Its Own Kind of Love

Long before the homeland trip, Shelby's mother went looking for answers. In the 1980s, when few resources existed, she sat in on conferences, listened closely to grown adoptees, and did her own work in therapy so her feelings would never crowd out her children's. Adoptive families know that quiet labor, because loving a child well so often begins with the humility to learn who that child really is.

Telling the Truth Can Set Someone Free

Shelby's Korean name, Yeonmi, means beautiful truth, and she has built her life around it. She films the stories of adoptees so no one feels alone in theirs, and the people she interviews keep telling her that speaking it aloud lifted a weight they had carried for years. For every member of the adoption triad, her work is a reminder that an honest story, shared with care, can reach a person you will never meet.

This episode offers hope and honest reflection for every member of the adoption triad, and especially for adoptees still finding the words for their own story.

Looking for support on your adoption journey? Visit VoicesofAdoption.org for support, resources, and community from every corner of the adoption triad. Subscribe to the Voices of Adoption show for real stories and the encouragement that helps birth parents and families find their footing.

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