Citizenship
I have been inhaling various medias as I learn more about my biological heritage and adoption journey.
Something I hadn't realized until recently is that I was technically adopted by my parents twice. Historically speaking, many adoptive families assumed their adoptive child was granted citizenship once adopted internationally and returned to the USA with their American parents. However, this was not the case, children were not automatically given US citizenship. Rather, on the USA side further documentation had to be filed and this step is what was often missed (naturalization). Causing children to grow up believing they were American citizens when really they legally were not.
Even my mother has told me stories of traveling with me as a child where she would have an extra bag with copies of documentation proving I was her child, proof of her marriage because our names were different and my citizenship, all copied into multiple languages for fear we would be questioned or separated.
In today's political climate especially, I find myself ruminating on this fact. The bottom line is that I am immensely grateful that my parents did my adoption the way they did. First, adopting me in China, then adopting me (again) in the USA and completing further citizenship documentation.
This is not to say that I don't have a level of fear always in the back of my mind.
When I was about 20 I started carrying multiple official personal identification types. At first it was an unconscious habit and I couldn't tell you why. However, I realised it was because people always question my identity and where I belong. It is safest for me to always be able to show a government ID at any moment.
Many transracial adoptees (in the USA) are now realising they never had these documents regardless of when they were adopted and their identities are now in limbo.
The sad truth is that when we were adopted, our citizenship to our biological country was (likely) renounced on our behalf, in order for us to become a citizen of the USA - if the paperwork was completed. Today, if we were to ‘lose’ citizenship in the USA we would have no homeland.
Consider the linked story of Korean adoptee Adam Crapser.
I am speaking from my own life experiences and opinions as a transracial adoptee. Please recognise everyone is entitled to their own views and may have different experiences.
