Asian Adoptees

Asian American adoptees navigate unique challenges related to identity, belonging, and mental health as they experience the overarching impacts of systemic racism while also feeling disconnected or completely alienated from their cultural heritage. 

This storytelling stream started after several CAPU adoptee volunteers approached us to share their desire for a dedicated platform to share their stories. Recent investigations into the Korean-U.S. adoption market have revealed systemic corruption and exploitation, including child theft and trafficking, underscoring the lack of knowledge and understanding surrounding the international adoption industry. The urgency of this issue stems from these new investigations and from adoptees' struggles with identity, racism, and cultural disconnection.

CAPU’s work in this storytelling stream includes a series of dialogues with local adoptees captured on film, and fostering spaces for adoptees to share their stories and connect with others.

Community Partners

  • Anna Ghublikian

    안녕하세요! I’m Anna and I am a multi-disciplinary artist. At present, I’m exploring Asian-American identities, experiences, and intersections in the West. I am also a documentary filmmaker and founding member of Emergent Media Collective. I believe that creativity is essential for reflection and expression, and providing space and practices to envision and manifest liberatory futures. 

    Born in Seoul, Korea, I am a transnational, transracial adoptee raised in the hills and on the shores of New England. I live in Denver, Colorado, occupied territory of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and úu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute). I’ve done industry work as a development producer for edutainment video content on arts and crafts, and am also involved in local activism and community organizing.

Adoptees in Dialogue

Adoptees in Dialogue is a film project created by and for adoptees. The project directed and edited by local Colorado Asian adoptees, Anna Eunjoo Ghublikian and JinYoung Kim, documents the unique experiences of adoptees directly from their point of view through a series of honest conversations, elevating an authentic and often unheard perspective of our community in a journey for belonging. The first public preview of the project in January of 2026 at Social Fabric Hub drew over 50 adoptees and their friends and family. A special festival cut was selected for Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival’s 2026 short film showcase. It was an honor to see “Adoptees in Dialogue” on the big screen and hear the filmmaker Q+A. 

If you are interested in adoptee centered stories exploring themes such as family, belonging, and owning your own story, you can watch the complete “Adoptees in Dialogue” video podcast free on Youtube.

Featuring Dan Taylor, Kirby Shedlowski, and Su Sheehan and produced by Colorado Asian Pacific United

Share your story!

CAPU needs your help to document our API heritage in Colorado. If you have a story to share, please let us know by emailing us at: contact@coloradoasianpacificunited.org

Back to Storytelling Programs

Partners

Colorado Health Foundation

AAPI Giving Circle

Mahle Foundation

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