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SUE-YEN BYLUND
I was flown out of Saigon, Viet Nam in May 1974 to come to Perth Western Australia. I was approximately 1 month old at the time. My adoptive family’s name is Luiten and I am now married with 2 children. We reside in Perth, but have been fortunate to have lived and traveled in many different countries. We currently operate our own architectural practice which we run from a home office. My adoptive parents Marlene and Richard (deceased) Luiten were the founders of the WA branch of ASIAC (Australian Society for Inter-country Adoption of Children). My adoption took place when there were no formal governmental guidelines and adoptions were mainly through private agencies. Conditions in Saigon and Australia were chaotic during this period. It was one year before the fall of Saigon and Australia was in the earlier stages of the post-white Australia policies. All these issues has made my unraveling of my history all the more interesting. Overall, I feel I have experienced a healthy and balanced upbringing. My adoptive family has always been honest and open to talking about adoption and identity issues. Having been raised in the city I experienced multi-culturalism in my schooling and community. My real motivation for exploring my identity came soon after the arrival of our first child (1999). I returned with my husband only to Viet Nam for the first time. Since then I have been back four more times. I have spent many years following leads and contacts that relate to my paper work and the orphanage Sancta Maria that I came from. The journey has been extraordinary. I have an interest in finding my birth parents, however, it has been more about the exploration of my identity that has motivated me the most over the years. I have been blessed with meeting and having been helped by so many people. My hope is that through keeping involved in the adoption network I can spread some of that generosity that has been shared with me. Sue-Yen Bylund
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