The Minnesota-based organization, “Land of Gazillion Adoptees,” has launched its online magazine, Gazillion Voices. You can read more about the publication and the story of its genesis in this interview on Minnesota Public Radio. Here’s an excerpt:
ST. PAUL, Minn. — When many people think of adoption, they tend to focus on the adoptive parents and the baby they bring home. But less attention is paid to what becomes of those babies… “That’s one of the biggest things about adoption that people forget to think about,” said magazine co-editor Kevin Vollmers of Minneapolis. “We actually grow up and make something of ourselves.
“We have kids, we have families, we have our own professional lives,” said Vollmers, who was born in South Korea and adopted at age 7 by a family from western Minnesota. “And there is some really important work that is being done by adopted persons.”
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Vollmers is a well-known player in the Minnesota adoption community. His blog, Land of Gazillion Adoptees, often questioned the business of adoption. Alexis Oberdorfer, senior director of adoption programs at Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota and Children’s Home Society of Minnesota, considers Vollmers both an ally and critic.
But she throws her support behind Vollmers’ efforts to elevate the voices of adoptees. “It’s absolutely important that voices of all members of the adoption process are heard, and have a place to be shared, and for adoptees to find commonalities, and frankly, critique different pieces so we can evolve over time,” said Oberdorfer, who is herself an adoptee.
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Vollmers insists that “Gazillion Voices” is pro-adoptee. Many adoptees think they have had good experiences, he said, and the magazine will have a place for them.
“It is very complex, adoption is,” he said. “To break it down to into pro-adoption and anti-adoption is a disingenuous conversation. It doesn’t allow for broader conversations. I’ve been labeled as anti-adoption, which is completely false.
“But that does not mean I can’t look at, for example, South Korea, where I’m from, and say there is a problem when single women who actually want to keep their kids cannot do that because of societal pressures and familial pressures.”
The inaugural issue will feature contributions from adoptees but also from a birth parent and adoptive parents.
As an adoptive mother to two children from Guatemala, I look forward to gaining insights by learning from the perspectives of the writers at Gazillion Voices. Good luck to the new publication! ~
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