logo
episode-header-image
May 2020
13m 4s

My story of love and loss as a transraci...

TED
About this episode
A mysterious tattoo on her forearm was all that linked Sara Jones, who was adopted as a child by white parents, to her South Korean origins. Searching for her birth family taught her that transracial adoption stories often frame new lives abroad as strokes of luck that call for endless gratitude, obscuring a far more complex reality. Through her experience of loss and discovery, Jones offers guidance on what adoptive parents can do to protect their children's unique cultural and personal narratives.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Today
The hidden cost of buying gold | Claudia Vega
Gold may glitter, but the hidden cost of mining it is devastating. Amazon researcher and TED Fellow Claudia Vega exposes how mercury pollution from artisanal gold mining poisons local communities and destroys rainforests — and shows why protecting the planet is far more valuable ... Show More
33m 25s
Yesterday
How we’re turning pollution into toys, toothpaste and more | Xu Hao
It took alcohol 200 years to go from scientific discovery to industrial revolution, but tech innovator Xu Hao says we can’t afford to wait that long to tackle the climate crisis. He explores why most climate solutions are still stuck in labs — despite breakthrough science that ca ... Show More
14m 22s
Oct 8
The best thing that could happen to the energy industry | Matt Tilleard
History has been written by whoever controls the dominant fuel of the era — until now, says renewables entrepreneur Matt Tilleard. He explains why, as the clean energy transition ramps up, we’re moving from a world where energy comes from burning fuels to one where it will come f ... Show More
13m 51s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2023
Transracial Adoption & Navigating Racial Identity | Beyond the Scenes
Transracial adoption has increased over the years and the experience of being raised by adoptive parents of a different race is not without complications. Host Roy Wood Jr. chats with author of the book All You Can Ever Know, Nicole Chung, and author of the book Surviving the Whi ... Show More
55m 51s
May 2022
Why was I adopted? Women looking for birth stories
What's it like being adopted into a country far away from your birth and into a family that looks very different to you? International and transracial adoptions both come with challenges for children and parents. Beatriz de la Pava talks to two women born in Colombia and South Ko ... Show More
31m 56s
Nov 2022
Transracial Adoption & Navigating Racial Identity
Transracial adoption has increased over the years and the experience of being raised by adoptive parents of a different race is not without complications. Host Roy Wood Jr. chats with author of the book, All You Can Ever Know, Nicole Chung, and author of the book, Surviving the W ... Show More
55m 26s
May 2020
Los niños de los desaparecidos (The Children of the Disappeared)
As the child of adoptive parents in 1980s Argentina, Tatiana Sfiligoy knew her family situation was unique. But it would be another decade before she uncovered the truth about what happened to her biological parents — including the role her country played in their disappearance. ... Show More
26m 49s
Dec 2022
Searching for my sister, the "keeper of memories"
Nakuset blocked out painful memories of being removed from her indigenous Canadian familyNakuset only goes by one name and it means "The Sun" in her indigenous Canadian culture. Born into an abusive household, her early days were difficult and it wasn't long before she and her si ... Show More
23m 31s
Feb 2021
The Sunday Read: ‘Sigrid Johnson Was Black. A DNA Test Said She Wasn’t’
It all started when Sigrid E. Johnson was 62. She got a call from an old friend, asking her to participate in a study about DNA ancestry tests and ethnic identity. She agreed.Ms. Johnson thought she knew what the outcome would be. When she was 16, her mother told her that she had ... Show More
47m 17s
Jul 2023
A better life
When Susan was a teenager, she set out to find answers about her birth parents. As an adoptee, she longed to know where she came from. When she eventually reunited with her birth parents as a teenager, she thought she’d finally feel at peace. She couldn’t have known that many yea ... Show More
54m 16s
Jul 2023
A better life
When Susan was a teenager, she set out to find answers about her birth parents. As an adoptee, she longed to know where she came from. When she eventually reunited with her birth parents as a teenager, she thought she’d finally feel at peace. She couldn’t have known that many yea ... Show More
52m 16s