“Somewhere Sisters” with Erika Hayasaki

Open Adoption Project

In this episode, we hear from author and award-winning journalist Erika Hayasaki. Erika is a professor in the Literary Journalism Department at the University of California, Irvine.

Five years ago, Erika learned about Isabella and Hà, identical twins who were born in 1998 in Nha Trang, Việt Nam, where their first mother struggled to care for them. Isabella (initially named Loan) was taken to an orphanage where an American family adopted her. Hà, the other twin, was deemed too sickly for the orphanage. She was taken in by her biological aunt and her aunt's partner, and grew up in rural Việt Nam. After Isabella’s adoptive mother learned about Hà, she was determined to reunite the sisters.

Since learning about these twin sisters who were adopted by different families, Erika has been researching and interviewing to prepare this book, ”SOMEWHERE SISTERS: A Story of Adoption, Identity, and the Meaning of Family" which was recently published. In this interview, some of the things Erika discusses include the future of adoption post-Roe v. Wade, adoptee citizenship legal issues, how adoptee experiences fit into a complex understanding of Asian American identity, the history of adoption in the U.S. and transnational, adoptee experiences in the age of anti-Asian hate.