A Phenomenological Study on Orphans' Lived Experience of Their Parents

Lee, Yang Sook

Abstract

There are currently 214 orphanages in Korea which house approximately 13,873 orphans aged between 3 and 18; this accounts for about 0.12% of all children in the same age range. Some have lost their parents, but most have come after their parents divorced or broke up. This means majority of the children in Child Care Centers have parents. Traditional virtue of obedience to parents (Hyo) was regarded as one of the highest value in Korea. Also the interaction between parents and their children was regarded as basic human nature that parents look after, both physically and spiritually, their children until they become one of the matured social member. Raised without having a chance to realize their filial duty and not having been cared for by their parents, most orphans feel that they lack something in their lives when compared with friends. In the end, they live their lives longing for their parents and go through mental discord about their parents. This paper is focused on understanding orphans' experience and views on parents. I approached the issue by applying van Manen's Hermeneutic Phenomenological Approach. The interviews, along with other reference material were phenomenologically reflected to draw essential themes as follows; 1. Orphans of pre-school age hazily long for parents without having any practical image of their parents. 2. They occasionally dream meeting their parents with image that can only last in their dreams, and this continues up through middle school. 3. At the age of elementary school, they crave the image of parents as they see their friends with their parents. 4. They start to despise their parents for having abandoned them when they reach puberty. 5. Meanwhile, as their vague image of parents fade away, they attempt to give up their thoughts toward their parents. 6. Highteens start to think in terms of fate. 7. They don't long for their parents anymore as they used to, but still wishes to meet them at least once. However, they don't want to start any kind of a relationship with them. 8. They fear that they will also fail in raising families of their own, and making their children orphans too, just like their parents have. They simply don't want to follow their footsteps. 9. Thinking that they were abandoned by their parents, they are reluctant to believe other people.