Exploring the Significance of Heritage Travel: A Journey Back, A Journey Forward

Introduction

Heritage travel includes a diverse range of experiences that help individuals, including  adoptees, connect with their cultural roots and ancestral origins. Travel can involve exploring familial heritage within one's home country or embarking on international journeys to trace lineage abroad. These journeys provide unique opportunities for individuals to form meaningful connections and gain profound insights into their history.

Heritage travel can include specially tailored trips for adoptees, such as adoptee-only focused journeys, which are known as Motherland trips, and heritage tours, which welcome adoptees and their loved ones These experiences create supportive environments for exploring roots and identities alongside peers who share similar life experiences and may be in similar stages of their lives. Private travel options allow for personalized experiences with a chosen support team, while heritage tours offer comprehensive explorations of genealogy, cultural immersion, and historical sites in a community. 

For adoptees who were adopted domestically, domestic heritage travel can provide a chance to explore and connect with their birth culture and heritage within their own country. Ultimately, any form of heritage travel can offer a powerful, transformative journey of self-discovery, providing adoptees with an opportunity to reclaim their identities, understand their cultural heritage, and navigate the complexities of their dual identities with a profound sense of belonging and understanding. This experience can facilitate the creation of new narratives that add depth and meaning to their lives.

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Ultimately, any form of heritage travel becomes a powerful, transformative journey of self-discovery.

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Understanding Adoption and Identity

In the United States, we live in a society where “membership” implicitly and explicitly accords certain privileges and opportunities. Daily interactions can provide a basis for how an individual questions their place in society. Researchers studying intercountry adoption and identity have found that many adoptees who do not share racial identity with their adoptive families have difficulty coping with the racial and ethnic discrimination they encounter on a regular basis^[1], which in turn contributes to lower self-esteem^[2] and an overwhelming feeling of isolation^[3]. This is compounded when family members and friends who belong to the ethnic and racial majority are unable to personally relate to the adoptee’s experience^[4]. Moreover, transracial adoptees grapple with the necessity to assimilate into the white dominant culture of their family and community^[5]. Intercountry adoptees of the same race as their adoptive family benefit from having racial mirrors; however, their nationality and membership may still be questioned due to their inability to claim

birthrights within the United States. Moreover, as Transue-Woolston^[6] noted, adoptees are expected to “leave behind our original families, original identity, a quest for reunion or original documentation, or mention of any personal feelings of loss in adoption.”

To address these challenges, some scholars have highlighted the importance of incorporating the adoptee’s birth culture into the family’s everyday life.  In Yoon’s study^[7], he found that parents’ positive support for their children’s Korean ethnic heritage yielded a positive sense of ethnic pride. Lee et al^[8]. show that parents’ sensitivity to race and ethnicity and active involvement in cultural issues positively impact the child’s development of identity. Heritage journeys offer opportunities to enhance emotional well-being, support ethnic heritage, foster a positive sense of ethnic pride, and actively involve loved ones in cultural matters. Previous models of identity development were often linear in nature and proceeded in stages from denial to full acceptance^[9]. While linear development models can provide invaluable insight into how adoptees may feel about their identity, and have formed the basis from which further studies on identity have emerged, it is important to note that the authors acknowledge identity formation as a lifelong process that is dynamic in nature and framed within the context of social groups and experiences^[10].

Heritage Travel as a Tool for Self-Discovery

Heritage travel provides many benefits to individuals of all ages. It helps strengthen connections to cultural roots and ancestral origins while broadening perspectives through exposure to diverse cultures. It promotes personal growth, resilience, and adaptability by helping travelers navigate challenges such as language barriers and unfamiliar environments. Heritage travel can strengthen family bonds, provide historical insights, and foster a sense of belonging for adoptees, including reconnection with first families^[11].

Positive racial and ethnic identity development can be facilitated by experiences such as travel to one's country of origin and interactions with people of the same race or ethnicity^[12]. For adoptees, engaging with more diverse settings—whether in their country of origin or a similar region—can help them re-evaluate the meaning of culture, race, and identity.^[13]

Heritage travel presents valuable educational opportunities, encourages cultural exchange, nurtures mutual understanding—forging connections across borders. Heritage travel offers adoptees a transformative journey of self-discovery, creating a meaningful link to their original culture and ancestral history. This experience is often most impactful when shared with other adoptees who understand the unique life experience of being adopted from the same country. As one adoptee who participated in a recent Guatemalan Ties heritage trip remarked, “What was really transformative about the experience was sharing it with the other adoptees. I’ve always felt like no one could understand what it’s like to be a Guatemalan adoptee, but after meeting the others, I feel like I belong.”

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This experience is often most impactful when shared with other adoptees who understand the unique life experience of being adopted from the same country.

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Through heritage travel, adoptees can reclaim lost connections and navigate dual identities. Returning to one's country of origin often enhances comfort with one's identity as an adoptee, particularly when accompanied by fellow adoptees from the same country. This bonding experience includes sharing meals, exploring cities, and embarking on daily excursions together. As they learn about their culture, adoptees often form distinct group identities that persist even after the trip ends. These transformative experiences can be essential for international adoptees to continually develop and strengthen their self and social identities.^[14]

Describing their profound experience on a Korean Ties heritage trip, a Korean adoptee said, "I was able to connect with people who have such different experiences, but similar feelings." This connection, a unique and powerful aspect of heritage travel, added immense value to their journey, highlighting the significance of heritage travel in an adoptee's exploration of identity and roots.

Preparation for Heritage Travel

Embarking on a heritage journey can be a deeply personal experience for adoptees, and the success of such a journey often depends on careful preparation and thoughtful consideration of various factors. According to Hanlon, et al.,^[15] while nearly 90% of adoptees who returned to their country of birth recommended birth country trips to other adoptees, respondents also expressed nuanced perspectives, emphasizing the importance of preparation, professional support, and age considerations when undertaking such trips.

These findings underscore the complexity and individuality of adoptees' experiences with birth country travel, where preparation involves both emotional and logistical aspects as adoptees navigate the complexities of their past and the practicalities of travel.

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Embarking on a heritage journey can be a deeply personal experience for adoptees, and the success of such a journey often depends on careful preparation and thoughtful consideration.

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Understanding how age considerations can impact heritage journey experiences is crucial for planning. Due to an adoptee’s ability to grapple with complex emotions related to identity and adoption, traveling as a teenager or adult may allow for deeper reflection and comprehension than might be possible for a child.^[16]  Additionally, older adoptees may have different needs and expectations compared to younger ones, emphasizing the importance of tailoring support and resources accordingly.^[17] 

When preparing for a heritage journey, it is also crucial to consider the type of group experience desired, such as non-adoptee specific group travel, Motherland trips (adoptees only), or heritage trips/tours (adoptees and their loved ones), each offering distinct benefits. As heritage travel continues to evolve, the landscape of companionship has diversified, offering a range of support tailored to adoptees' needs. These include adoptive parents, extended family members, other adoptees, siblings, and significant others. Choosing the right companions for this journey requires introspection and thoughtful consideration. The adoptee can reflect on those who have supported them through life's transitions and who can appropriately center the adoptee’s experience, prioritizing their story and needs. Additionally, they should consider the financial aspect, as international travel can be costly. While some may have more resources to contribute, others may offer invaluable emotional support. Before exploring the emotional preparation, take some time to consider the type of travel you’d like to have—guided or not, group size, and focus of the program. Once this is determined, detailed information ranging from food, culture, language, weather, and transportation will be provided by the supporting organization.

Emotional Preparations

Heritage travel is an emotional journey, filled with a range of sensitivities and expectations. For adoptees, it offers a chance to weave together the threads of their life story and perhaps find healing in acknowledging lingering grief and trauma. Wilson and Summerhill-Coleman^[18] explain that providing a context and physical space to one’s adoption story can support positive adoption adjustment and identity formation. Thus, emotional preparation is critical to addressing all of the feelings that may arise. Families should have open and honest conversations about their hopes, fears, and uncertainties regarding the trip, allowing each member to express concerns and receive support.

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…emotional preparation is critical to addressing all of the feelings that may arise.

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As mentioned, adoptees may experience a range of emotions, especially if they are grappling with questions of identity and belonging. These feelings may arise from concerns about confronting unknown aspects of their past, fear of feeling disconnected in a foreign environment, or anxiety about the emotional intensity of the experience. In regards to preparing for these trips, one study points out that across ages, emotional maturity and coping capacity of the adoptees participating in heritage trips need to be understood and acknowledged as well as honored. Wilson and Summerhill-Coleman go on to explain that one who is supporting a loved one on a heritage trip should “first recognize their own emotional needs before heritage travel so that they can best position themselves to understand and reflect on the immediate emotional needs of the adoptee during and after travel.” Because heritage travel can stir deep-seated emotions, being prepared for these emotional challenges is a crucial part of the journey.

Mindfulness, self-reflection, and seeking support from loved ones or professionals can help navigate the emotional landscape with resilience and understanding. Emotional preparation is a necessary step toward a meaningful and transformative journey. With the right tools and support, adoptees and their families can embark on their heritage travel journey with confidence and readiness.

Tempering Expectations

While not ubiquitous, it is possible an adoptee may not undergo a positive experience with heritage travel. As Wilson and Summerhill-Coleman assert, homeland travel may produce experiences of surprise, confusion, disenchantment, a need to renegotiate identity, increased awareness of straddling two cultures, and increased disillusionment. As noted in our introduction, different offerings of heritage tours are available to adoptees and their families, but sometimes the chosen option may not provide the expected support. Difficult emotions may arise that perhaps were untapped until the return trip home. Additionally, international travel in general has inherent stressors. When adding in the layer of adoption, identity, and belonging, some adoptees may find their stress reserves tapped.

Adoptees' feelings of disappointment may stem from mismatched expectations versus reality upon arrival. For example, a Colombian adoptee recently shared her experience of returning to Colombia with only her partner. She felt lost, lonely, and confused, lacking peers who could relate to her adoption-specific journey. While her partner viewed the trip as a vacation, she sought a more transformative experience and was disappointed when her expectations did not align with her partner’s. This underscores the importance of pre-travel support, resources, and opportunities to discuss concerns, hopes, fears, and anxieties.

Conclusion 

Heritage travel holds profound significance for intercountry adoptees, offering a vital pathway toward healing and identity formation. Returning to one's birth country can provide adoptees with transformative opportunities to engage directly with their roots, cultural heritage, and ancestral connections. Through immersive experiences like visiting significant locations, meeting local communities, and participating in cultural traditions, adoptees gain valuable insights into their past and present identities. This journey of self-discovery allows adoptees to reclaim and reconcile their multifaceted identities, bridging the gap between their adopted and birth cultures. By taking ownership of their narratives and embracing the complexities of their heritage, adoptees can emerge with a renewed sense of empowerment and agency over their life stories, fostering a deeper understanding of self and belonging.