This article is part of Mochi’s fall 2024 issue on Resilience, redefined as “finding agency in adversity and fighting for radical change.” We highlight the strength of individuals and communities and their courage in dismantling systems of injustice. Our hope is that you will feel the strength pulsing through these stories and that you also are inspired to pair resilience with actions that lead to real, necessary, and revolutionary change.
Emily Warnecke, a senior Korean adoptee who came to America at 3 months old in 1964, hangs between dread and depression as she lives in the United States without citizenship.
Grappling with a spinal disability that makes walking and sitting difficult, the 60-year-old former aerospace inspector battles every day to get the healthcare she critically needs. Repeatedly, she is denied Social Security and disability funds. She is forced to work past retirement age to cover her financial costs, and yet, under strict supervision from the U.S. government, she must first obtain a work permit — which usually arrives late. Although she had frequently lost jobs, the government had delayed her unemployment benefits; by the time they arrived, the adoptee had no money and had been evicted from her home.
Warnecke suffers because her adoptive parents, military officers in WWII, had never naturalized her. She isn’t the only one.
During the 1950-1990 international adoption spike, most parents assumed that their kids immediately received citizenship upon adoption. Korean War military families especially neglected naturalization for their Korean children because they believed the U.S. government and foreign adoption agencies would finalize the paperwork while they served abroad. However, as it was the parents’ responsibility, their carelessness left the adoption proceedings incomplete.
Under the Child Citizenship Act (CCA), current transnational adoptees and those less than 18 years old during the effective date of February 2001…
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