Rebecca Pollack became a Mentor in 2018 and was excited to have a place to grow in her adoption journey. Rebecca is a social worker with a mental health program at Mt. Sinai St. Luke\u2019s Hospital. As a Mentor, she loves sharing her experience with others who have also been adopted: children, teens, and adults.<\/p>\n
I was born in South Korea and was adopted when I was about two and a half years old. I grew up outside of Binghamton, in Upstate NY. My parents had three biological children prior to adopting me. I have an older sister and two older brothers. In my free time, I enjoy exercising, traveling, and photography. I have been back to Korea twice, once in 2014 and then again in 2016. My first trip back was with a group of adult adoptees, where we experienced Korea as adults. I went back to Korea in 2016 for the International Korean Adoptee Association (IKAA) gathering in Seoul with about 500 adoptees from around the world.<\/p>\n
\n
My family shared my adoption story with me from the time I was very young. My family shared books with about adoption, as well as Korean items to enhance my knowledge of my culture. I went to Korean language school for a short period of time at a Korean church in the area. I always knew that I was different from my family since my siblings all have blonde\/ brown hair and light eyes. I always felt a bit bewildered when I met people who said that I looked like my mom. I would just say \u201cok.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
Growing up, even as an adult, people would ask where I\u2019m from. Are you Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, or Native American Indian? I would respond that I was born in South Korea. When I say that I am Korean-American, people want to know whether I\u2019m from North or South Korea. Another issue I encounter is when I have gone to school meetings and provide my work ID, people look at the name on my ID and ask, \u201cAre you married?\u201d Or when walking down the street I have heard Ni hao<\/em> being directed at me.<\/p>\n \n This is my first year as a Mentor in Spence-Chapin\u2019s Adoption Mentorship Program<\/a>. After returning to Korea twice and continuing on my adoption journey, I sought opportunities to connect to a mentorship program, particularly with other adoptees. I thought about it in the past, but this was the first time I made more of an effort to identify a mentorship program.<\/p>\n \n I have loved my experience as a Mentor so far! I appreciate having the opportunity to meet and get to know other adult adoptees, especially having the experience to get to know those with a variety of adoption narratives. I also enjoy the opportunity to meet young adoptees and to share our experiences with one another. I appreciate being a part of safe place to share our thoughts, challenges, and experiences with one another.<\/p>\n \n This is the opportunity for young adoptees to share their adoption journey with others as well as to continue writing their narrative. And again, you are in a safe place to share thoughts and feelings where you will not be judged or criticized. This is the opportunity to live your life authentically and feel a bit vulnerable from time to time.<\/p>\n \u2014<\/p>\n \u65af\u5f6d\u65af - \u67e5\u5e73\u5605 <\/strong>\u6536\u990a\u5c0e\u5e2b\u8a08\u5283<\/strong><\/a> \u4fc2\u91dd\u5c0d\u6536\u990a\u5605\u4e2d\u5b78\u751f\u3002\u6211\u54cb\u5605\u8a08\u5283\u900f\u904e\u53cb\u8abc\u3001\u5efa\u7acb\u81ea\u4fe1\u540c\u57cb\u6311\u6230\u4f62\u54cb\u53bb\u767c\u73fe\u540c\u7406\u89e3\u4f62\u54cb\u5605\u6536\u990a\u8eab\u4efd\u540c\u7d93\u6b77\uff0c\u4ee4\u6536\u990a\u8005\u6709\u80fd\u529b\u3002\u5982\u679c\u60f3\u4e86\u89e3\u66f4\u591a\u6709\u95dc\u4ee5\u53d7\u5c0e\u8005\u6216\u5c0e\u5e2b\u8eab\u4efd\u52a0\u5165\u5462\u500b\u8a08\u5283\u5605\u8cc7\u8a0a\uff0c\u8acb\u806f\u7d61\u6211\u54cb\uff1a <\/strong>mentorship@spence-chapin.org<\/strong><\/a> or sign up for our FREE <\/strong>Mentorship Webinar<\/strong><\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rebecca Pollack became a Mentor in 2018 and was excited to have a place to grow in her adoption journey. Rebecca is a social worker with a mental health program at Mt. Sinai St. Luke\u2019s Hospital. As a Mentor, she loves sharing her experience with others who have also been adopted: children, teens, and adults. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1617,1770,1487,534,1486,1029,45,1035,1025,1069,94],"tags":[671,828,533,50,532,78,98,3611,54,3590],"class_list":["post-7246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adoption-mentorship","category-mentor","category-mentor-spotlight","category-mentorship","category-mentorship-program","category-post-adoption-support","category-post-adoption","category-spence-chapin-adoption","category-spence-chapin-services","category-womens-history-month","category-womens-day","tag-adoption-mentorship","tag-mentor","tag-mentor-spotlight","tag-mentorship","tag-mentorship-program","tag-national-womens-history-month","tag-post-adoption","tag-post-adoption-service","tag-spence-chapin-adoption","tag-spence-chapin-service"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u4f60\u5e7e\u6642\u958b\u59cb\u52a0\u5165\u65af\u5f6d\u65af - \u67e5\u6f58\u5605\u5c0e\u5e2b\u8a08\u5283\uff1f<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\u4f60\u505a\u5c0e\u5e2b\u5605\u7d93\u9a57\u4fc2\u9ede\uff1f<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\u4f60\u540c\u5c0e\u5e2b\u8a08\u5283\u5605\u5e74\u8f15\u6536\u990a\u8005\u5206\u4eab\u5572\u54a9\u5efa\u8b70\uff1f<\/strong><\/h3>\n