Therapy for Intercountry Transracial Adoptees
An interview with Moses Farrow, LMFT on adoption, mental health and the experiences as an adoptee doing adoption therapy. Curt and Katie explore with Moses key aspects of being an intercountry transracial adoptee, implications for therapy, the importance of race and culture and addressing racism. We also discuss the importance of being an adoptee as an adoption therapist and the biggest issues facing adoptees including suicide and what is being done to help.
It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age.
Interview with Moses Farrow, LMFT
Moses Farrow, LMFT is a Korean adoptee adoption-focused therapist in private practice. In his capacities as an advocate, program coordinator, and direct service provider, Moses has supported adoption reform, child abuse prevention, anti-racism, and the destigmatization of mental health. Currently, one of his primary interests is to educate and promote suicide prevention among adoptees. As the lead for the mental health team at the Gide Foundation, he is developing projects that bring mental health to the forefront within the intercountry transracial adoptee community. Research has shown that the rate of suicide attempts is 4 times higher among adoptees than people who are not adopted. In recent years, Moses has written about his personal experience including the loss of three adopted siblings who died by suicide. In previous years, he has worked in community-based programs, hospital settings and outpatient practices. He has advocated for adoptees to have access to their original birth certificates and presented nationally on the need for post adoption services. Moses believes in empowering people to speak their truth in order to be seen and heard. It’s about saving lives.
In this episode we talk about:
Lack of knowledge around adoptees’ mental health and suicide rate
The process of coming out of the adoptee fog
Adoption as an industry rather than a way to create families
Different types of adoption
The narrative that adoptive parents get, regardless of the demographics of the parents or the adoptee – “Forever Families”
Internal conflict related to how one is raised and how one looks (i.e., native culture)
Looking at our own biases and blind spots related to intercountry transracial adoptees
The importance of educating ourselves about the adoptee experience
Each adoption experience is unique – there is a range of adjustment, mental health concerns, connection with adoptive family
Looking at the identity and how does one define oneself when they don’t fit here or in the country where one was born.
Identity formation when one is an intercountry, transracial adoptee
Internalized racism, lack of connection to native country, lack of acknowledgment of native culture
Places to get support with other adoptees facing similar struggles
Suggestions for working with parents of adoptees
The history of the adoption industry and why it is problematic
Ideas for advocacy related to adoption
The recommendation for adoptive parents to do their own therapeutic work
#InvisibleElephant
The complexity of racism as an intercountry transracial adoptee
The importance of solidarity with BLM
