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More babies abandoned by immigrant mothers
The number of undocumented babies abandoned by immigrant mothers is increasing. These babies are often left vulnerable and calls for the government action are on the rise. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Kim Se-jeong
By Kim Se-jeong
The number of undocumented babies abandoned by immigrant women is on the rise.
Most of these mothers are single and stay in Korea without proper documentation. While calls for government support for these babies are rising as the immigrant population increases, the public is still uncertain about how much help can be given from taxpayers’ money.
The story of Tang Thi Ngoc Mai, 23, from Vietnam offers a prime example of the difficulties immigrant mothers face. Last Wednesday in Seoul, she gave a birth to a daughter whose father was deported to Vietnam last year when Mai was still pregnant. She and the father were living together but were not legally married. She had a Korean husband before, but he was very abusive, so she ran away from him only two months after arriving in Korea.
Now, she is undocumented, with a baby whom she has not named yet. Mai is staying at the Support Center for Migrant Women in Seoul, a private facility run by church-affiliated non-profit Global Sarang. She wants the center to take care of the baby so she can start a new life. However, the organization’s President, Kim Hae-sung, is trying to convince her to keep the baby.
The center, which opened last month, is the only place that offers support for children of immigrant women in need. As of Thursday, the center welcomed four babies and their mothers and is getting full quickly. Korean facilities for single mothers and orphans say they have to reject immigrant women and children because they are not Koreans.
Kim said Mai’s baby is but one of many.
Although no official statistics are available, Kim believes the number of such children is rising, given the growing number of phone calls he receives from individuals, single mother support centers and court judges asking for help.
“One of the calls was from a judge. He was asking if I could take care of a child until the mother’s trial was over,” Kim said. The mother had been charged with attempting to abandon the baby. Kim received a couple of other similar requests.
The day he spoke to The Korea Times, he welcomed two individuals asking about room availability. Kim said he would not reject any request for accommodation in the seven-story center.
Another baby arrived at the center two weeks ago. She was born to a Kenyan mother who is now a refugee in Korea. The mother requested that she and her baby not be named for this article. The mother was raped by her husband’s political enemy in Kenya and gave birth to a baby as a result. She fled Kenya with the baby in 2013. In Korea, she and the baby were sent to the support center by a refugee detention center after she attempted to abandon the baby in a taxi.
What is driving up the number of abandoned babies in immigrant mothers?
Inadequate living conditions are one. Undocumented single mothers have no way of supporting themselves and resort to abandoning their babies, either at the support center or somewhere else. They all come to the center because other centers do not take them because of their status.
Women like Mai, who immigrate to Korea through marriage and who ran away from abusive husbands, face another problem. Some women discover they are pregnant after running away from or divorcing their husbands, while others get pregnant after entering a new relationship, often with a man who is also undocumented.
Kim said the number of abandoned babies will continue to grow as the number of immigrant population grows. The number of foreign residents in Korea hovers at 2 million, with Chinese immigrants topping the list, followed by Vietnamese and Filipino. In Korea, a baby has to have one Korean parent to become a Korean citizen.
Because Korea is a signatory to the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Child, undocumented babies in Korea have access to limited but critical services, such as emergency medical care and education up to high school. However, in reality, they don’t get these services, according to Kim, because schools and hospitals refuse them.
The government is aware of the growing number of undocumented babies and services that fall short. “We know that the policies don’t cover all that are in need,” an official from the welfare ministry, which handles child care, said.
The official also said the fact that the parents violated the law makes it hard for the government to act. “The government, in principle, can’t help those who are here illegally. The government services are basically for Koreans.”
Kim said although he understands the principle, the government should be more flexible. He believes discriminating on the basis of nationality is a short-sighted approach and the government should instead take a more holistic and humanitarian approach.
“Also, imagine there’s a respiratory disease, and the government chooses not to give them medical care because they’re not Korean. What will happen is obvious,” Kim said.
The support center is not qualified to receive any support from the government because there is no law supporting NGOs helping undocumented women, so it relies only on individual donations to run the center. For those who want to help, call (02) 863-6610.