Official Bio

Born in Korea, Erin was adopted and raised in Northern California. As a very visible adoptee in her community, Erin has pondered identity and culture for many years. After graduating from UCLA and living abroad in Rwanda, she sensed God’s call to play some role in the adoption movement. Although it has looked different than imagined at times, she is grateful to share her experience as an adoptee with positivity and hope.

Erin lives with her husband in California where days are full of toddler fun and elementary school activities. Trusting in God through being bereaved of their firstborn son, they are blessed with the privilege to raise five children.

Hello! I’m Erin Fletcher. My story has taken me from South Korea to a small town in Northern California, Los Angeles, Paris, Rwanda, and then return back to California. I grew up the youngest (and only adoptee) of five children, in a home of faith and love. I am blessed now to stay home with my five children while I also pursue the tug on my heart to write and share my journey. 

Being cross-racially adopted in a small town was highly formative in my youth and I definitely went through many stages in the spectrum of rejection and acceptance of my race. I was thrilled to attend UCLA for my undergraduate degree, not only a prestigious university, but, even more uniquely, home to a Korean major. When I arrived, I realized there was so much more nuance to Asian-American identity than I had experienced and my understanding of racial identity shifted once again. I ended up graduating as a Communication studies major with a deeply impactful internship in child development and that background has definitely been utilized as I continuously ponder the language of adoption, what representation is on my shelf or screen, and nearly every aspect of parenting.

After getting married, my husband and I taught abroad in Kigali, Rwanda for a year and during that time started playing with kids during the orphanage’s visiting hours. Along with three of my siblings, we started the process to adopt a child. It was not the story for myself or my brother’s family, but my two sisters both welcomed boys to their families through that process. All during the year, I could sense God’s direction to become involved in the adoption movement. I didn’t know if it would be being adoptive parents or working at a church someday in an adoption ministry. Although being adopted myself, I was never resolutely committed to adopt once I was a parent, but I definitely wanted to support adoptive parents and encourage more people to be open to adoption.

However, once again, God had something different in mind, and immediately after arriving back in California, I became pregnant with our first child.  I am always reluctant to share because it is every parent’s worst nightmare, but our beautiful, healthy baby boy was only with us for 16 weeks after he was born. Josiah passed away suddenly and our lives turned upside down. More than being adopted, more than being a different race than my family, the loss of my baby is the biggest thing I struggle through. I realize that is an obvious statement, but I felt the need to mention it as I tend to write more on adoption rather than the grief of living in loss. While I never hope to meet another parent in this same boat, there is a sense of connection and understanding, and I am deeply indebted to those who held my hand with me (even just through the pages of a book) while remembering their own loss as well. I continually praise God that my journey as a parent did not end in loss, but am thankful to have birthed five more children, even though the last baby was a complete surprise. And although I wonder at times why it was not God’s will for us to adopt, and I do not think I’ll ever understand being bereaved, the culmination of all the ups and downs of parenthood only leaves me with one choice – to simply trust God and follow him. Which now includes following in this writing and speaking journey with hope that all the various parts of the story he has given me to share come together for good and encouragement for others.