“Being involved in the adoptee community opened her eyes to the spectrum of experiences adoptees face: ‘It’s not a homogenous experience at all, and it’s great to see the different things adoptees go on to do all over the world.’”
As a transracial adoptee, Janelle recalls it being difficult to reconcile her racial identity, often feeling “too white” for Asian friends and “too Asian” for her white friends. Growing up in a predominantly white area and realizing the lack of resources available for adoptees, motivated her to become engaged in the adoptee community. Her parents did not know how to support her with exploring her Chinese identity, so she took matters into her own hands. In fact, Janelle joined CCI back in middle school. And during high school, she connected with her local Families with Children from China (FCC) and helped start a program for kids and teens. She also served as a mentor in an online mentorship program. Being involved in the adoptee community opened her eyes to the spectrum of experiences adoptees face: “It’s not a homogenous experience at all, and it’s great to see the different things adoptees go on to do all over the world.” Janelle knows that the adoptee experience is complicated, and for many Chinese adoptees, being transracially adopted adds to its complexity. Thus, she geared her studies with the long-term aim of creating more resources for adoptees.
Recently, Janelle graduated with her bachelors in social welfare with a minor in sociology. She loves it and plans to work in social work afterwards, specifically with supporting foster and adopted youth. During her degree, Janelle was able to meet more Chinese people and at one point, even served as the president of her school’s Asian Student Union, which she describes as being tricky to lead the club without having grown up with more cultural context. Admittedly, she felt like a bit of an imposter and wondered whether she was doing enough. The thing that stands out most is that she can’t speak her mother tongue, which makes parts of the culture inaccessible. In the future, Janelle would like to revisit Mandarin and be more involved in Chinese culture. With plans to stay on the East Coast, she is looking forward to taking advantage of being in a more diverse area than where she grew up and of the Chinatown nearby. Beyond connecting with Chinese adoptees, she hopes to be a voice for transracial adoptees.
Humans of CCI profiled on Facebook in 2023.