Church works to legalize 'baby boxes' for abandoned tots

By Chyung Eun-ju

A "baby box" in JSR Church / Korea Times file

• Published Dec 14, 2017 9:37 AM KST
• Updated Dec 14, 2017 9:37 AM KST

Jusarang Community Church (JSR Church) in Gwanak-gu is working toward making “baby boxes” for abandoned infants legal, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Tuesday.

Baby boxes have been used around the world as a safe alternative to abandoning children in the streets. But baby boxes operate in a legal gray area in Korea.

The Special Adoption Act of Aug. 2012 required parents to register newborns if they wanted to give them up. But the JSR Church has allowed parents to give up their babies anonymously through baby boxes since 2009.

According to the Child Welfare Act, it is illegal to raise a child that has not been registered.

The law was aimed at making adoption more transparent but sparked complaints when the number of undocumented babies increased after the law took effect, as mothers did not want to leave a paper trail to avoid social stigma.

Gwanak-gu said it would recognize the facility if the church changed its operations into a baby room instead of a baby box to protect the babies.

Lee Jong-rak, a pastor who operated the baby boxes at the church, told Reuters in 2012: “If you look at the letters that mothers leave with their babies, they say they have nowhere to go, and it’s because of the new law.” He had said that the number of abandoned babies increased from an average of five a month to 10 in August and 14 in September.

The National Assembly Research Service (NARS) submitted an analysis report regarding the Special Adoption Act on Monday that said: “The press reported that the decrease in adoption and the increase in abandoned babies in baby boxes were a side effect of the law,” but it was an exaggeration to say the law caused the increase.

According to the report, the number of abandoned babies was steeply increasing before the law came into force ― in 2010 there were four abandoned babies in baby boxes, 37 in 2011, 79 in 2012, 252 in 2013 and 280 in 2014.