Making the Most Space We Can for Others and Ourselves
03/30/23 • 44 min
Jessica M. Luciere, Colombian adoptee in reunion, generously shares her unique perspective as a long-time professional adoptee mentor/advocate and mother of two young children. An only child with adoptive parents who passed away, Jessica has the complex experience of witnessing her children forge life-long relationships with her Colombian family and not the Italian American parents who raised her. She reminds us of the importance of letting our kids have their own experiences outside of our losses, projections, and grief from adoption, and that the lines of healing across and through relationships are often not linear or exactly reciprocal. Jessica models deep commitment to the adoptee community through her professional work while balancing the sacred work of mothering, partnership and self-care.
Jessica M. Luciere Bio
Jessica M. Luciere, is a transracial adoptee, in reunion for the past 17 years, born in Bogota, Colombia who grew up in Long Island, New York as an only child in an Italian-American home. Jessica is a wife and mother to two young kids. She identifies as an Adoptee Advocate, working to create supportive spaces for adoptees and their families around the world, and currently the Manager of Community Engagements at Spence-Chapin. Jessica was one of the founding mentors in 2005, of Spence-Chapin’s NYC Teen Mentorship program which connects tween and teen adoptees with adult adoptee mentors, in a monthly group mentoring program, she is also the former President of All Together Now, based in Brooklyn NY, and has worked with AFFCNY. Jessica’s passion for connecting with adoptees and their families has always been the driving force in her work and is the reason she continues to create spaces for adoptee stories and voices to be heard by all.
Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn Park
Music: Mike Marlatt & Paul Gulledge
Editing: Federico aka mixinghacks
Artwork: Dalhe Kim
Listen on: iTunes & Spotify
Instagram: @laboroflovepodcast
Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast
Jessica M. Luciere, Colombian adoptee in reunion, generously shares her unique perspective as a long-time professional adoptee mentor/advocate and mother of two young children. An only child with adoptive parents who passed away, Jessica has the complex experience of witnessing her children forge life-long relationships with her Colombian family and not the Italian American parents who raised her. She reminds us of the importance of letting our kids have their own experiences outside of our losses, projections, and grief from adoption, and that the lines of healing across and through relationships are often not linear or exactly reciprocal. Jessica models deep commitment to the adoptee community through her professional work while balancing the sacred work of mothering, partnership and self-care.
Jessica M. Luciere Bio
Jessica M. Luciere, is a transracial adoptee, in reunion for the past 17 years, born in Bogota, Colombia who grew up in Long Island, New York as an only child in an Italian-American home. Jessica is a wife and mother to two young kids. She identifies as an Adoptee Advocate, working to create supportive spaces for adoptees and their families around the world, and currently the Manager of Community Engagements at Spence-Chapin. Jessica was one of the founding mentors in 2005, of Spence-Chapin’s NYC Teen Mentorship program which connects tween and teen adoptees with adult adoptee mentors, in a monthly group mentoring program, she is also the former President of All Together Now, based in Brooklyn NY, and has worked with AFFCNY. Jessica’s passion for connecting with adoptees and their families has always been the driving force in her work and is the reason she continues to create spaces for adoptee stories and voices to be heard by all.
Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn Park
Music: Mike Marlatt & Paul Gulledge
Editing: Federico aka mixinghacks
Artwork: Dalhe Kim
Listen on: iTunes & Spotify
Instagram: @laboroflovepodcast
Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast
Previous Episode
Research as Witness: Land Before Time, Annie, and Rethinking “Forever Family”
Today we sit down with Dr. JaeRan Kim, a fierce advocate, researcher, social worker, blogger and needle savvy knitter. Over many years, JaeRan has been very influential in the adoptee community through her academic publications and well-known blog, Harlow’s Monkey, where she connects transracial adoption to the larger forces of white supremacy, racism and colonization. She continues to be a vast resource for adoptees and adoptive parents alike. In this episode, JaeRan generously shares how she helped build her children's racial and cultural identities, critical thinking skills, and sensitivity to the lives and experiences of adoptees. She sheds light on which areas of adoption need more research and publication, and her commitment to fostering community connections among adoptees. Other poignant moments include JaeRan sharing about her singing the Annie Musical song “Maybe”to her child, and pushing back on the idea of adoptive families as always being a “forever family” for adoptees. Please find more of her incredible work at www.jaerankim.com and www.harlows-monkey.com, and her colleagues Rich Lee, Heewon Lee, and Xiang Zhou.
JaeRan Kim Bio
JaeRan Kim PhD, MSW, was born in South Korea and adopted to the United States in 1971. She has worked in foster care/adoption (both public and private), with at-risk young moms, and with adults with disabilities in residential care. JaeRan completed her PhD in Social Work at the University of Minnesota and was a Project Coordinator at the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare at the School of Social Work. JaeRan is a recipient of the Title IV-E Child Welfare and LEND fellowships. JaeRan is currently Associate Professor and BASW chair in the School of Social Work and Criminal Justice at the University of Washington - Tacoma.
Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn Park
Music: Mike Marlatt & Paul Gulledge
Editing: Federico aka mixinghacks
Artwork: Dalhe Kim
Listen on: iTunes & Spotify
Instagram: @laboroflovepodcast
Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast
Next Episode
Pandemic Parenting as Adoptees: Managing Up, Passing of Food, and Better Luck Tomorrow
Dr. Kimberly McKee joins us in a lively conversation that touches on her experiences with her blended family through the pandemic, relationship with her birth family, and upcoming research on API adoptee women and girls in the media. Kim generously shares her perspectives on the challenges and privileges of being a working mom, an adoptee in reunion, and in partnership with a fellow Korean adoptee. She is a fierce advocate for Asian Americans and adoptees through her academic work and teaching, the philosophy of “fed is best”, and taking the time and space to be very intentional about cultivating her ever-evolving relationships with her young son and two step-children.
Book Recommendations:
I Like Myself by Karen Beaumont
Who’s Knees Are These? by Jabari Asim
Who’s Toes Are Those? by Jabari Asim
Kimchi, Kimchi Everyday by Erica Kim
Mr. Watson’s Chickens by Jarrett Dapier
Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related. by Jenny Heijun Wills
Kimberly McKee Bio
Kimberly McKee is an associate professor and chair of the Integrative, Religious, and Intercultural studies Department at Grand Valley State University. She is the author of Disrupting Kinship: Transnational Politics of Korean Adoption in the United States (University of Illinois Press, 2019) and co-editor of Degrees of Difference: Reflections of Women of Color on Graduate School (University of Illinois Press, 2020). Her current book manuscript, tentatively titled, Adoption Fantasies: The Commodification of Asian Adoptees from Girlhood to Womanhood (Ohio State University Press, under contract), considers the reverberations and effects of sensationalist and fictional adoption portrayals in the lives of adopted women and girls. The monograph interrogates the limits and contours of multiculturalism and colorblindness, analyzing racialized and sexualized popular culture representations of Asian adopted women and girls from 1992 to 2015. McKee serves as a co-chair of the executive committee for the Alliance of the Study of Adoption and Culture. She received her Ph.D. in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from The Ohio State University.
Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn Park
Music: Mike Marlatt & Paul Gulledge
Editing: Federico aka mixinghacks
Artwork: Dalhe Kim
Listen on: iTunes & Spotify
Follow us Instagram: @laboroflovepodcast
Donate on Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast
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