Jessie Elliott's Story

I was adopted at 12 years old. I am half Black and half Korean, adopted into an evangelical white family in Grand Rapids, MI, USA. Unlike many adoptees, I was not abandoned. My mom and gramma believed I would have a better life in America as a mixed girl, in addition to them suspecting my uncle of molesting me.

I spent 9 months at St. Vincent’s Home for Amerasians before coming here at 12 to endure more abuse by my adoptive mother until I left home at 20.

I have since gone to Korea, found my mother and grandma in my mid-20s, and my dad the year I turned 50. I am a bio mom of 3 and an adoptive mom of 1, all amazing young adults. I went back to college in my 50s to be a psychologist, and now I help families understand the traumas of adoption and help them on their path to healing.

I have written a memoir, The Hummingbird Lion, with psychological introspection at pivotal points. It is designed to help people understand how human development can derail with ruptures in development, like traumas from adoption and other trauma.