Journeying from South Korea to the U.S.

When Hannah Lyons goes out to lunch with her mother, waiters often ask if they want separate checks.

Lyons, a public relations major at Tech, was adopted from South Korea when she was three months old. She came to the U.S. after spending time at an orphanage and then with a foster family. A “military man” flew with her from Korea to Michigan, where she grew up, and has been with her loving family ever since.

The Lyons Family

Her parents named her Hannah once she was adopted, but kept Sun as her second middle name to honor her Korean heritage.

Lyons’s family was always open with her about the adoption because she looks different from her Caucasian relatives. She said her family had books around the house about adoption in case she had any questions.

Shari Lyons, Hannah Lyons’s mother, said it does not matter that her daughter does not resemble her.

“You totally forget, even though she looks Korean,” Shari Lyons said.

Hannah Lyons has not met her birth parents, but has information to pursue them in the future. She is more interest in finding her birth mother and would like to see someone whom she physically resembles.

“I think a lot of the time people take for granted that they have people that they share physical attributes with,” she said.

When she was growing up in Boerne, Texas, the family lived in a mostly Caucasian and Hispanic area. Hannah Lyons said she was often bullied because of her appearance.

“It was hard for me to be bullied in school about my face, about my eyes,” she said. “That had a huge impact on me.”

If people do not know her family, Hannah Lyons said, they may attach stereotypical Asian characteristics to her. To avoid questions when she first meets people, she tells them, “Oh, I’m adopted.”

International adoption has been a part of South Korea’s history since the Korean War, but has decreased in recent years.

The number of international adoptions has dropped by nearly 50 percent since 2004, following an earlier decade of steady growth. The decline does not reflect a shortage of children needing homes, but rather stricter regulations that discourage international adoptions from countries such as China and Russia.

Shari Lyons said the process of adopting her daughter took almost a year. A case worker inspected the family’s home before the infant’s arrival.

She said the process of international adoption is not any more difficult than adopting within the U.S., with the exception of transporting adopted children to their new homes.

Shari Lyons encourages others to adopt if they are willing and able.

“If you have an open heart, I think it’s a real good thing,” Shari said. “There are children out there who need moms and dads.”

Although she is not her biological mother, Shari Lyons said she loves her daughter as if she is.

“The way I’ve always explained it to Hannah is her biological mother gave her up for adoption,” Shari Lyons said. “But in my eyes, that was a very selfless thing because she wanted the best for her, and we were able to give her the best in life.”

Hannah Lyons said she cannot imagine her life as part of any other family.

“I’ve been blessed with an amazing family,” she said. “I couldn’t have been blessed anymore.’