Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.
More babies waiting to be adopted
By Kwon Mee-yoo
As rules for adoption become more stringent, more children are left waiting to be adopted.
A growing number of babies born by unwed mothers are up for adoption, but the number of people who want to take the children is falling, creating a widening gap.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Korea Central Adoption Resources, the number of applicants who applied to adopt children was roughly 1,760 last year, down from 2,652 in 2007.
The number of children adopted overseas fell to 1,125 in 2009 from 1,250 in 2008, while domestic adoption edged up to 1,314 in 2009 from 1,306 in 2008.
Hong Mi-kyung of Holt Children’s Services said the growth in domestic adoption is nearly immaterial compared to the increase of the waiting babies¬ .
“More children in orphanage facilities or foster families are waiting to be adopted. Some of them spend three to four years in a foster home,” Hong said.
The adoption agency said there are fewer families who can afford to raise another child due to extreme inflation and difficult economic conditions.
“In Korea, foster parents are becoming more specific when deciding to adopt. They prefer girls and check the biological parents’ backgrounds and levels of education,” Hong added.
Currently, the adoption approval system is only applied in international adoptions. The system requires the court or the ministry’s approval prior to a child being taken out of Korea.
The government is seeking the renewal of the Act on Special cases Concerning the Promotion and Procedure of Adoption and it includes the adoption approval system for domestic cases as well.
Hong said that it is too early to expand the adoption approval system in Korea.
“Overall Koreans still have a negative image regarding adoption and those willing are insufficient to cover the domestic orphans waiting for parents. We have to consider that the children who cannot find adoptive parents have no choice but to end up in an orphanage,” she said. “Most of the internal adoptions are closed adoptions and people would avoid revealing all documents in the courts to adopt a child.”