SEOUL, South Korea — Rebecca Kimmel sat in a small room, stunned and speechless, looking at the baby photo she had just found in her adoption file.

Something about the photo—the eyes, the ears, an uneasy feeling deep in her gut—confirmed what the Korean adoptee had long suspected: This baby wasn’t her. And the stories she had been told about herself were lies. But then who was she? Who IS she?

Thousands of South Korean adoptees seek to satisfy a raw, compelling need that much of the world takes for granted: the search for identity. Like many of them, Kimmel stumbled upon a web of reverse photos, made-up stories and fake documents, all designed to erase the very identity she desperately wants to regain.

These adoptees are living with the consequences of a tacit partnership between the South Korean government, Western countries and adoption agencies that provided some 200,000 children to parents overseas, despite warnings of widespread fraud.

After a long search full of twists and turns, Kimmel still doesn’t know who she is. But in doing so, she organized a reunion between a biological father and his twin daughters, separated for decades.

Here are some steps Korean adoptees could take to learn more about their past:

Adoptees can first request information from their adoption agencies. If they don’t get results from the agencies, they can then contact the South Korean government’s National Center for Children’s Rights.

Birth searches can take months and are not always successful. Fewer than a fifth of the 15,000 adoptees who have sought government help searching for their families since 2012 have been successful in reuniting with their loved ones, according to data obtained by AP. Failures are often caused by inaccurate records or the practice of describing children as abandoned even when they knew their parents.

Many adoptees also criticize the reunion consent process. Adoption agencies and the NCRC can only use traditional mail, and only up to three times per search, to contact birth parents to obtain their consent to provide personal information to adoptees and to meet with them. Privacy laws prevent agency and NCRC workers from accessing biological parents’ phone numbers. Yet Korean-language adoption documents maintained by South Korean agencies often contain more basic information than translated files sent to Western adoptive parents. When they don’t get results, adoptees can request another search after a year.

When unable to locate their biological parents, the NCRC may recommend adoptees to register their DNA with South Korean police or diplomatic offices, or help them publish their stories in South Korean media.

Frustrated by the failure of research and the unreliability of records, many Korean adoptees have tried in recent years to reconnect with their biological families using DNA. Adoptees can register their DNA with a South Korean embassy or consulate in the country where they live. They can also register their DNA with a local police station if they travel to South Korea.

DNA testing is not common in South Korea, and the process usually depends on whether the biological family has also attempted to trace the adoptee through DNA. Once collected at diplomatic or police offices, adoptees’ genetic information is cross-referenced with South Korea’s national DNA database for missing persons. When there is a match, the adoption agency or NCRC takes steps to arrange a meeting.

Previously, Korean police and diplomatic offices had limited DNA testing to adoptees they suspected of being missing children. This frustrated many adoptees, especially those whose documents mentioned any form of parental consent, no matter how vague, because they were denied testing. But the policy has changed, and even adoptees whose documents show parental consent can undergo DNA testing if authorities cannot locate their birth parents.

Some adoptees have also found biological parents through commercial DNA tests popular in the West. Nonprofit group 325 Kamra helps South Korean adoptees and their birth families reunite through DNA, by allowing adoptees to upload their commercial test results to a database or providing them with kits test.

There are various Facebook groups – some open, others closed only to adoptees – where adoptees talk about their lives and their interactions with adoption agencies.

One of the most active pages is run by Banet, a volunteer group named after the Korean word for newborn clothing. The group helps adoptees search for their birth families, connects them with government and police and provides translation during meetings with Korean relatives.

Some websites are geared toward adoptees sharing the same agency, like Paperslip, where Kimmel is a key contributor. The website helps adoptees placed by the Korean Social Service with their birth family searches and applications for adoption documents.

The Seoul-based nonprofit Global Overseas Adoptees’ Link helps adoptees find their birth families, as well as with language teaching, social events and obtaining visas for employment in South Korea. KoRoot, another Seoul-based civic group, also helps adoptees research their families and backgrounds and runs advocacy programs.

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This story is part of an ongoing investigation by The Associated Press in collaboration with FRONTLINE (PBS). The investigation includes an interactive documentary, South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning.

Contact AP’s global investigations team at [email protected].