TheHummingbirdLionUS

As a transracial adoptee from Korea at the age of 12, I navigated a life of trauma but also a life where I changed the course for my future. The memories of my mom and grandmother are what helped me survive the abusive adoptive home through my adulthood when I was found by my biological father and family.
I am also a mother of 4 amazing young adults, adopted and biological, all raised under one roof. I
I got tired of adoption being talked about only as a "happy ending" story. It's more complicated than that and more hopeful than that, too, once you're willing to look at it honestly. Adoption reform isn't an attack on adoption itself, but a call for education, change, and transparency. It's healing, for the people living it and the people who love them.

The lion and the hummingbird are the two halves of that truth. The lion is the fierce, protective love that doesn't flinch from hard conversations. The hummingbird is the lightness and resilience it takes to keep showing up, wings beating fast, even when the work is heavy. Every piece in this shop carries a little of both. Today, I am a PhD level researcher in developmental psychology who consults, coaches, and advocates for change in how families get made. I sit in the unique intersectionality where my lived experience is woven into my education to offer support on attachment ruptures and traumas adoptees exist in, all too often.The adoption space is where the greatest loss in a child's life makes it possible for the greatest wishes of adults to come true. It's time we all recognized that fact as a society so we can truly honor the child in the center of it all.

This isn't just merchandise, it's a way to wear the belief that repair is possible, that hard stories deserve honest language, and that the people doing this work (parents, caregivers, adoptees, therapists, and everyone in between) deserve something that says "I see you" out loud.

Thank you for being here. Every purchase helps this message reach one more person who needs it.

...Jessie, founder of The HummingbirdLion