South Korea bans private adoptions after landmark probe
South Korea Revamps Adoption System After Over 140,000 Children Adoted Abroad
Background: A Legacy of International Adoption
- Historical Context: The Korean War sparked a wave of international adoption aimed at removing mixed-race children from a society that prized ethnic homogeneity.
- Economic Boom: From the 1970s to the 1980s, adoption agencies became a lucrative industry, earning millions as South Korea accelerated its post-war development.
- Systemic Failures: A truth commission in March 2024 exposed irregularities such as fraudulent orphan registrations, identity tampering, and insufficient vetting of adoptive parents.
Truth Commission Findings
- Legal Consent Violations: Birth parents were often left without proper legal procedures, leading to lost children being placed for overseas adoption.
- Human Rights Violations: The commission labeled the adoption era a “shameful part of South Korea’s history” and blamed the government for failures to regulate adoption fees.
- Official Apology: The commission called for a formal apology and reparations for the tens of thousands of Koreans sent abroad.
New Public Adoption System
- State Takeover: On Saturday, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced a “newly restructured public adoption system” in which the state and local governments assume full responsibility for the entire adoption process.
- Best Interests of the Child: Key procedures, such as assessing prospective adoptive parents and matching them with children, will be deliberated by a ministry committee following the “best interests of the child” principle.
- Safety and Rights Assurance: Kim Sang-hee, director of population and child policy, emphasized that the state now “takes full responsibility for ensuring the safety and rights of all adopted children.”
Activists’ Perspective
- Call for Closure of Private Agencies: Lisa Wool-Rim Sjoblom, a Korean adoptee who grew up in Sweden, argued that closing all private adoption agencies is essential.
- Reparations Urged: Sjoblom demanded that the government “acknowledge all the human rights violations” it facilitated, encourage, and systematically participated in, and “begin reparations as soon as possible.”
- Implementation of Truth Commission Findings: Activists insisted that the government should prioritize implementing the commission’s findings and issuing an official apology.
Conclusion: A Significant Step Toward Reform
The restructured public adoption system marks a “significant step towards ensuring the safety and promoting the rights of adopted children,” the Ministry of Health and Welfare added. However, activists emphasize that this measure should be seen as a starting point, not a final solution.
