Adoptions from Korea

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Since the end of the Korean War (1950–1953), more than 150,000 children from Korea have been officially adopted abroad ; the number of unofficially adopted children is not documented, but is usually assumed to be more than 50,000.

history

After the Korean War , there were comparatively many war orphans and children from connections between American soldiers and Korean women.

Some American missionaries tried to improve the children's situation. The married couple Harry and Bertha Holt from Oregon, USA, were Christian fundamentalists and adopted eight Korean children in 1955; of these, seven had a foreign parent. Their aim was to give the Korean children a Christian environment. The adoption agency Holt Children Services, Inc. emerged from Harry Holt's initiative and is still working in Korea and many other countries today. Even today, like the other three state-recognized Korean adoption agencies (SWS, KSS, ECWS), it is very Christian in color.

In the late 1960s, the South Korean government decided to rely on adoption agencies rather than building welfare. According to this, a particularly large number of children left Korea as a result of adoption.

It was not until the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988 that there was more criticism of the adoptions, especially from foreign journalists. As a result, the number of adoptions abroad was limited for the first time. With the IMF crisis in Asia, the number of children in orphanages in Korea also increased. Many parents who were unable to make enough money saw no alternative but to give up their children. Since then, the number of children sent abroad has remained relatively constant.

With the drastic changes in the social area (rising divorce rate, falling birth rate), the government is forced to take further measures to reduce the number of international adoptions or even to end them.

In 2006, the Korean government officially introduced Adoption Day, which is celebrated in May each year. The government has launched a campaign within Korea in an effort to increase domestic adoptions. In 2007, for the first time in Korean adoptions, the number of domestic adoptions exceeded the number of international adoptions. In addition to domestic adoptions, the state has taken other measures to increase the birth rate again.

Since December 2008, the state has been providing research grants with the aim of adapting adoption-related laws to the Hague Convention on International Adoption. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs and the Ministry of Justice operate independently research projects. The current goal is to be able to ratify the Hague Convention in 2010. Until then, all laws will have to be adapted accordingly, and the central authority to handle international adoptions has yet to be set up.

statistics

Adoptions from South Korea from 1953 to 2005 (Source: Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare)

country number
United States 104,718
France 11,124
Sweden 9,051
Denmark 8,617
Norway 6.160
Netherlands 4,099
Belgium 3,697
Australia 3,243
Germany 2,352
Canada 1.939
Switzerland 1,111
Luxembourg 518
Italy 382
England 72
Other countries 66
Total 157.149

In 2000, adoptions were still arranged in the following countries:

  • United States
  • Denmark
  • France
  • Sweden
  • Norway
  • Netherlands
  • Australia
  • Canada
  • Luxembourg

Reason for adoptions

Children are put up for adoption for a variety of reasons. A study by Daniel Meyer already documented the so-called adoption trains from the east coast of America to the west in the age of the Wild West. Many farmers received cheap labor in this way. In Korea, of course, the main reason in the 1950s was the Korean War, which ruined the country. Many families were torn apart and many of the family members were lost to armed conflict. The ideological warfare between the communist north and the capitalist south also led to many divisions within large family clans. The orphans were evacuated relatively quickly after the war. However, children of single mothers were also given up, and the socio-economic status of many families also led to adoptions abroad. It was also often thought at the time that the United States was a very rich country and that children were not short of material things. This idea has become quite firmly imprinted on the minds of the Korean population, so that even today many families still dream of emigrating to the USA. In the 1970s, there were still very many families who were forced to give up their children out of poverty. In addition, in many cases one of the parents had died and at that time there was practically no chance in society alone. The picture has changed since the 1980s and since then it has practically only been children of single mothers. Korean society still does not accept single mothers and therefore a change in mentality has to take place before one can think about it.

Adoption Organizations

Since the end of the 1980s, adoptees from Korea have also organized country by country. The first such organization was the AKF in Sweden, which was founded in 1987. After that, other sister organizations soon followed in countries such as Norway, Denmark, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany. Across the Atlantic, there were mainly clubs on the east or west coast, with the exception of Minnesota, where there are very many adoptees.

The clubs often dealt with Korea first, trying to teach the culture and language to their members. Later, other topics came up that were very preoccupying for the adopted at the time. Identity formation, racism and asoption-related topics determined the agenda of the clubs. Depending on the number of adoptees per country, the clubs were more active or at least smaller. These associations are still very active today and the first international networks are being formed to organize the adopted people around the world.

With Korea, the situation has changed too. Before 1999, adoptees were only able to stay in Korea with F1 or F2 (family or sponsor visas) visas. Thanks to GOA'L (Global Overseas Adoptees' Link), the Adoptees were included in the category of foreign Koreans in 1999 with the law for foreign Koreans and have since benefited from this status. Thanks to this law, the adoptees from Korea can now receive an F4 visa, which allows them to stay in Korea for two years at a time. The visa is also a general work permit, so that adopters can apply anywhere (with the exception of dangerous, dirty or immoral work). Compared to the E2 visa for foreigners, this has the advantage that you are not tied to an institution or company. In addition, the F4 visa can be extended for a further two years without having to leave the country. A comparable law also allows adoptees from India to stay in India for longer periods of time.

Problems of adoption

psyche

The beginning of every adoption also represents the loss of a family, namely the loss of the biological family to the child who is adopted. Unfortunately, this is often forgotten in an adoption. For adoptive parents, adoption is a 'nice' affair because it allows them to expand their families. For this reason, it is important that the child you adopt is given enough space for the biological family. The child should also be able to mourn the loss or express the loss verbally or non-verbally. A loss that is suppressed will sooner or later show up on the surface again. The later you process this loss, the longer and more difficult this process becomes. Many adoptees also struggle with feelings of 'abandonment'. This can later also be expressed in the ability to form relationships. For example, an adoptee who has never dealt with this 'being abandoned' looks for a partner at a time but leaves him before he can 'leave' her. For this reason, she can always control the situation in such a way that it is never 'left'. However, this scheme in itself is again unsatisfactory, so that she looks for a new partner again and the whole game repeats itself. Depending on the situation before the adoption, the adoptee may have suffered other harm. Many problems are known, such as FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome), RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder), PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), PI children (Postinstitutionalized Children), which also require different forms of therapy.

racism

Racism can be divided into different forms. Subtle racism is the form that can be encountered far more frequently than openly presented racism. Many are not even aware that there are racist incidents. In most cases, the adoptive parents belong to the majority of the population, while the adopters each belong to a minority. If an adopted child reports a racist incident to the adoptive parents, it can lead to a lack of understanding. Since the parents are in the majority, they never learn what racism means. It is important that the child is treated with understanding, even if you have no personal experience with it. There are also courses, some of which are run by adoption agencies or other organizations that fight racism. It is best for adoptive parents to attend such courses before they even begin the adoption process.

identity

The behavior of the adoptive parents has an influence on the identity of their adopted children. The more open and understanding the parents are with regard to the racial identity of their children, the more successful the social adaptation to the new environment can be. It is also shown that the result improves even further if there is another sibling from Korea. This means that it is important that at least one other person in the family finds himself in the same situation. This plays an important role because the child is not in an isolated situation, but can at least identify with one other person.

Studies on the topic of international adoption

In recent years, more and more researchers have addressed the issue of international adoption. Many adoptees are now also dealing with this topic. However, there are still few interdisciplinary studies; H. most studies deal with exactly one aspect of international adoption, depending on the subject. Tobias Hübinette from Sweden is one of the most articulate opponents of the international adoption system. On the other hand, of course, the adoption agencies are also promoting the continued existence of the system.

List of adoptive organizations

(in alphabetic order)

  • AAAW, Washington State
  • AKA, San Francisco
  • AKA Southern California
  • AK Connection, Minnesota
  • AKF, Sweden (1987-present)
  • alsoknownas, inc, new york
  • Arierang, Netherlands
  • Dogil Hodori, Germany (1995 – approx. 1998)
  • Dongari, Switzerland (1994-present)
  • FKA, Norway
  • Global Overseas Adoptees' Link, Korea
  • Kimchi, Switzerland
  • Kobel, Belgium
  • Korea Klubben, Denmark
  • Racines Coréennes, France

credentials

  1. ^ History of Adoption in Korea - KOREA ADOPTION SERVICES. Retrieved April 13, 2018 (Korean).
  2. ↑ Herman, Ellen; Department of History, University of Oregon The Adoption History Project: Bertha and Harry Holt
  3. ^ Rothschild, Matthew, "Babies for sale. South Koreans make them, Americans buy them ”, The Progressive 52: 1 (1988)
  4. ↑ Dong Pil Yoon, Intercountry Adoption: The Importance of Ethnic Socialization and Subjective Well-Being for Korean-Born Adopted Children, Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, Vol. 13 (2) 2004

See also

literature

  • International Korean Adoptee Resource Book, Overseas Koreans Foundation, 2006.
  • Korean Adoptees and the Global Family of Korea: Wedding Citizenship and Culture, Eleana Kim, 2003 (Social Text 74, Vol. 21, No. 1, Spring 2003: Duke University Press)
  • Klingenberg, Doris: Wong, little brother from Korea. Protocol of an adoption. Zurich 1977

Web links