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Sat, September 23, 2023 | 09:15

The systematization of 'child exports' for economic and political aims

The systematization of 'child exports' for economic and political aims

If, as the dominant narrative claims, transnational adoption is about rescuing war orphans, then the surge in inter-country adoption in the 1960s unravels such assertions. So let us drop the pretext of war orphans as an impetus. What about “economic” or “social” orphans? Then we must ask how poor is poor enough to warrant casting children from their own country on a massive s...

2021-08-29 09:12

Political decisions behind Korea's adoption curve

Political decisions behind Korea's adoption curve

History is the sum of the choices that we, as a nation, have made thus far. This graph shows the number of children who were born in this country but left shortly after birth (more than 90 percent were under the age of one) to become the sons and daughters of families in Western countries. Each dot on the graph represents human beings cast out of the protection of this nation.

2021-08-22 09:09

Rewriting the adoption narrative

Rewriting the adoption narrative

Born in 1967 to a Korean mother and an American soldier father, I was one of the first generation of inter-country adoptees. Indeed, inter-country adoption began because of mixed-race children like me. We were considered as a blight upon the blood-line, unworthy of being Korean.

2021-08-15 08:40

I've been searching since I was lost

I've been searching since I was lost

“What are you searching for?” We are all searching for that “one more” that will bring us happiness, that will make us complete. Maybe yours is secular success, savings, finding your life partner or something possibly simpler like the perfect accessory. As a child, I can remember expressing my desire to find my “real” family, as I cuttingly phrased it back then. This desire h...

2021-08-01 08:25

'Proxy adoption,' the IR-4 visa and US citizenship for adoptees from Korea

'Proxy adoption,' the IR-4 visa and US citizenship for adoptees from Korea

The scale and persistence with which Korea has historically exported its children remain unmatched by any other country in the world to this day. Over nearly seven decades, this country has sent away over 200,000 children. One major means that enabled such a large-scale phenomenon was the use of “proxy adoption.”

2021-07-24 09:47

The truth about our 'abandonment' and reclaiming our Korean identity

The truth about our 'abandonment' and reclaiming our Korean identity

The Korean Nationality Act Article 12 states: "Any national of the Republic of Korea who falls under one of the following subparagraphs shall lose his or her nationality (1948-present Art. 15) … A person who has been adopted by an alien and has acquired the parent's nationality..."

2021-07-17 09:32

Adoptees' nationality of state of origin and negligence of duty of protection

Adoptees' nationality of state of origin and negligence of duty of protection

From early 2000, Korea witnessed the permanent return of children it had once sent to the U.S. for adoption. Unlike adoptees visiting on motherland tours, these individuals had been deported by the U.S. after committing petty crimes. Despite having grown up in the U.S., they had never acquired American citizenship and therefore were regarded as foreign criminals since their K...

2021-07-10 14:12

How falsified adoption papers make it even more difficult to search for my origin

How falsified adoption papers make it even more difficult to search for my origin

"In the beginning was the word,” but in my case, the word was false. My adoption paperwork states that I was found with a “paper-slip” and that the information about my birth parents was unknown. What was actually unknown to me for years was that this information was a copy-and-paste lie, one that's disturbingly common in Korean adoption paperwork.

2021-07-03 09:51

Korean adoption system must not be allowed to be profit-driven

Korean adoption system must not be allowed to be profit-driven

Privatization has been one of the most powerful and worst legacies of the Korean adoption system, continuing to affect the lives of adoptees in the present.

2021-06-27 08:12

An adoptee's missing family

An adoptee's missing family

These days, when their daughters are getting married, fathers often say: “We are not losing a daughter, we are gaining a son-in-law.” When I got married to my husband, I of course also gained a whole new family. His parents became my parents-in-law and his siblings became my sisters-in-law and brother-in-law. I got very lucky. My husband's parents accept me wholeheartedly and...

2021-06-19 10:35

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