Once They Hear My Name (love the title!) was, to me as the adoptive mother of a Korean, an interesting book, but could have been much more interestingly written and presented. And it was depressing...hardly an argument for adoption, though I notice at least one of the adoptees themselves adopted a child from Korea. Cross cultural - or any - adoption requires a lot of thought. Like parenting itself, no one is quite sure how to do it "right." Yet having lived in Korea 1965-1985, and seen the bleak outlooks for abandoned children and children in orphanages during those years, I'm still glad we participated in several scores of adoptions. Most of the kids went on to have very good lives and I think all of them had better futures than they would have otherwise had in Korea in those days. It was also shocking to me that among all these adoptees, every one of them had been teased and taunted for being "different." I wonder how many of the teasers and taunters even knew they were being cruel and hateful and were wounding others in a way they'd never get over? ( )