Am I a
DoKAD?
Probably a fair question, since most people have never heard the word. Here is the whole thing in about thirty seconds.
no test. no proof. no forms about your family.
What is a DoKAD?
DoKAD / DOH-kad /
noun
A descendant of a Korean adoptee. Most often the child of someone adopted from Korea — sometimes the grandchild, sometimes further down.
If your parent or grandparent was adopted from Korea, that is you. There is no test to pass and no box you have to tick.
Section 01. The short version
A DoKAD is a descendant of a Korean adoptee. If your parent or your grandparent was adopted from Korea, you are one.
That is the entire definition. It does not depend on whether you speak Korean, whether you have been to Korea, whether people read you as Korean, whether you are mixed race, whether you know anything about your family before the adoption, or whether you have ever thought about any of this before today.
Some people use the word about themselves straight away. Some never use it and just come to things. Both are completely normal.
Section 02. Where you might sit
If your mother or father was adopted from Korea, this is you. It is the most common way into this community.
This diagram is simplified. Real families are messier than five boxes in a column — step-families, adoptions in more than one generation, relatives who are not on any paperwork, people raised by someone other than a parent. If the shape of your family is not on here, that does not mean you are not.
Section 03. Try it against your own family
pick as many as you like — or none
There is no test you need to pass and no single way to identify as a DoKAD.
Come as you are, including unsure. You can read everything here without telling us anything about yourself.
This page is built to work as a handout too — use your browser’s print option for a clean one-page version, or grab the assets on the Share DOKADS page.