Adult Adoptee Tour: For adopted adults, their families & friends June 13 - 22, 2012 Family Tour: For all adoptees and their families June 26 - July 7, 2012		What We Offer Tour Fees Get Started Request a Packet by Mail Reserve a Place in a Future Tour Read More Contact Tour Staff
Spread the word! Our 2012 Visit Korea Tours are just around the corner. Download a flyer to hand out at your church or next adoptive family gathering!  Printed copies available upon request--email our Korea Tour Coordinator.
Tours are open to ALL families regardless of agency used for adoption placement.

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Tour Fees

• $50 non-refundable application fee per household
   

• The per person tour fee for 2012 is listed in our Korea Tour information packet. 
  Click here to request to receive a packet.
   

• Tour Fee includes:

  • International roundtrip airfare from Los Angeles to Seoul

  • Airport transfers (if flying with group)

  • Accommodations (based on double occupancy)

  • Two meals per day

  • Admission fees to scheduled events

  • Transportation during scheduled tour activities

  • Hands-on cultural learning experiences

  • Visit to Eastern Social Welfare Society or other agency

  • Professional, English-speaking guide

  • Tour staff of social workers, adopted adults and/or adoptive parents

  • Available counseling support

  • Resources and orientation session to assist you in preparing for your journey
     

• Tour Fee does NOT include:

  • Side trips or

  • Individual purchases

  • Gifts

  • Individual tips

  • Trip insurance

• Refund Policy

  • The $50 application fee is non-refundable.

  • Airfare may be refundable.  Should a family choose to cancel their reservation on a specific tour, they will incur the following penalty:

    • cancellation on or before February 1, 2012- $200/person

    • cancellation on or before April 1, 2012 - $300/person

    • cancellation on or before May 9, 2012 - $500/person

    • Cancellation after May 9, 2012 - entire tour fee is non-refundable

  • Should Dillon International choose to cancel an individual tour due to insufficient participation, tour participants will be notified at least 60 days in advance of the tour's cancellation and all tour fees will be promptly refunded.
     

• *Tour Fees are subject to change depending upon air fare rates at final flight booking.

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Tour Information Meeting

February 28, 2012 Korea Birthland Tour Information Meeting 7:00 - 8:30 PM Dillon International office 1 First Missouri Center, Suite 115 St. Louis, MO  For more information or to RSVP, please call 314/576-4100 or email.
Whether or not you plan to travel in 2012 or not, come learn more about Dillon's Visit Korea birthland tours.  One tour is specifically for adult adoptees and the other tour is designed for adoptees of any age.  Meet tour staff.  A family who has traveled on the tour will also be present at the meeting to answer questions and share their tour experience.

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To Get Started

• Send us a 2012 "Visit Korea" Tour brochure & application.

• We can't go in 2011.  Please put us on the list for future Korea tours.

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Contact Tour Staff

	Mrs. Dukkyung Um is Dillon's Director of Korean Adoptions and will be your tour leader.  Mrs. Um previously worked as a social worker for Eastern Social Welfare Society in Seoul, South Korea, for 10 years before coming to the U.S.  She has been directing Dillon's Korea Adoption program and co-leading the "Visit Korea" birthland tours since 1996.  She brings to the tour program not only her extensive experience in the area of search & reunion services, but also her intimate knowledge and understanding of the Korean people and its culture.  To contact her, email Mrs. Um.
	Mrs. Jan Dunn is Dillon's Korea Case Manager and has been with Dillon International since 2004.  She will assist adoptees and their families in initiating a search for foster mothers, birth family members and/or obtaining additional background information prior to their "Visit Korea" tour.  To contact her, email Jan Dunn.
	April Whalen is Tour Coordinator for all birthland trips.  She joined Dillon International's staff in April 2011.  Prior to joining Dillon, April lived overseas and was in charge of coordinating tour groups to various countries.  She will assist families with tour registration, information and air travel preparations.  To contact her, email April Whalen.

Questions regarding specific tour itinerary should be directed to Mrs. Dukkyung Um, Tour Director.  Questions regarding tour dates, times and airline reservations should be directed to April Whalen, Tour Coordinator.  For more information, call 918/749-4600, email or write: Dillon International, 3227 East 31st, Suite 200 Tulsa, OK  47105

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Read More

• The Korea Tour Experience by Connie Hooper

• My Name is Jaemi and I was Adopted from ESWS by Jaemi Bowers

• Family Testimonials:

  • From an adoptive father:  Both of my children were adopted from Korea.  My son is 21 and my daughter is 19 (boy, how time flies!).  I really don’t think of them as being adopted; they are just my kids.  But this year I was finally able to ask them if they would like to go back to Korea to see and experience the country of their birth.  They both were very excited about making this journey and perhaps finding their parents.

         I really did not know what to expect.  I heard some voices on a conference call, had an itinerary, and saw some pictures of others who were also taking the trip.  Well, little did I know that we would get a lot more than we thought.  When we got to LAX I found that there were about 30 other people who were just like me. 

         This trip was wonderful from beginning to end because I not only got to experience it, but also got to share it with many others.  I think that everyone went through many different emotions.  We got so many more things from this trip other than seeing the sites, touring the country, and eating food that looked very different.  I can’t count how many times we cried when some got to meet their birth parents or when a foster father had to say goodbye. 

          I guess that the thing that I will remember the most about our trip was our visit to Sharon’s Home.  My children and I were not going to go.  I will be forever grateful to Kimberly for urging us to experience this.  As I said before, I don’t think of my children as adopted; they are just my kids.  When we were at Sharon’s Home, we got to hear not only expectant mothers talk about themselves, but also ask questions of our children.  They really did not want to ask anything of the adoptive parents.  So all we could do was sit and listen.  I was blown away by their answers.  Here were our children, talking about how they felt about being adopted.  I got to hear things from my children that we really had never talked about.  I don’t think that I have ever been so proud of them.

         Lastly, on the flight back home a couple of the families got to escort two babies to their new families.  One in particular was a little girl.  We got to spend some time with her at LAX since she was going to be on the flight through Phoenix with us.  Well, needless to say, she stole my heart. Boy, was she a sweetie!  It made me think of the trip that I made 19 years ago when I went to Korea and another little girl stole my heart.  I think of her from time to time and wonder if she’ll be making this trip in the years to come.
     

  • From a birth mother: This is the second time I met my daughter and her adoptive parents. I met them for the first time three years ago.  I feel like I have known them for a long time ever since the first time I met them. They are kind and loving to me and I am happy to be with them.  It was the best day for me that I could spend time with my daughter, her husband and her adoptive parents in Busan. It will stay with me in a special place for a long time.  I was happy to be able to meet the other adoptees and their families on the tour while I was meeting my daughter and her family.  I invited my daughter, her husband and her parents to my house when they had a free day and I wished they could stay with me longer.  I hope they can spend more time with me when they come to Korea next time. Again, I deeply thank the adoptive parents that they raised my daughter beautifully.
     

  • From a young adoptee:  I really liked the food in Korea! My favorite was mandus—Korean dumplings. One of the most common Korean foods is kimchi—a spicy cabbage. Koreans eat kimchi everyday. They even have special refrigerators just for kimchi!  We also had a cooking class. We made thin steak strips and Korean pancakes that had vegetables in them. It was quite an experience using chopsticks, but I got pretty good at it. Korean chopsticks are metal and very thin so it takes practice.  I really liked trying all the different Korean foods, but once in a while it was fun to eat at McDonalds!
     

  • From an adoptee about meeting her foster mother:  When I met my foster mother I was nervous and excited at the same time.  We had a translator there so we would understand everything she would say.  She remembered me as the "talker" even though I was only a little baby.  I was the 40th child she had fostered.  When we were with her, we learned that she has fostered a total of 86 babies.  We gave her a present to remember us.  It was some items that my mom had bought at Central market.  My foster mother gave me a whole bagful of presents.  I was overwhelmed with her generosity.  Some of the things she gave me were Asian dolls, pencil cases, and calendars.  She even gave my dad two ties even though he never wears ties!  Unfortunately, my sister's foster mother was too sick to come and meet us, but her social worker was there.  I'm glad that my family had this experience.
     

  • From the husband of an adoptee’s birth sister: I am so glad to be able to see my sister- in-law again. I am also delighted to meet her husband.  It is so wonderful that I could spend a day with my sister-in-law and her family along with the other tour participants in Busan. My baby daughter will be happy once she gets older and knows about my sister-in-law and her adoptive family. Even though we had a language barrier in communicating with each other, it is an unforgettable memory that we cheered a World Cup soccer game in the rain. One day is too short to know each other much, but the day we had in Busan is long and pleasant to me. I look forward to seeing them again. 
     

  • From the Director of Sharon’s Home after a tour group visited: Thank you for visiting Sharon’s Home in Gyeongsan.   The women at Sharon’s Home always are worried about their unborn babies when deciding whether to parent or place the baby for adoption.  As your tour group visited us last June, the women had an opportunity to get a clear answer to their questions. They have been wondering what their baby’s life is like after placement.  During the visit, the women saw adoptees who look to have grown well and it made them think about many things.  Also the Sharon’s Home staff and I were encouraged by the adoptees and their parents and their sharing.   We learned from them and it helps us when we provide counseling services for birth families. I pray for God’s grace to be with the adoptees and adoptive families.  

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