“Six Korean adoptees filed an appeal with the Anti-corruption and Civil Rights Commission last year to request a probe into irregularities in their adoption documents and possible illegal procedures at local adoption agencies.
The Korean War Baby supports TRACK and ASK, in the spirit of finding Balance and correcting possible wrongs, in This Thing of Ours-Adoption. He believes that everything possible must be done to prevent abuse, kidnapping, falsifying of papers, etc. However, there are many sides to the issues, and all must be heard. Balance can come only after hearing all sides.
It is NOT always the fault of Adoption Agencies, for instance, in the past a child could be abandoned in a public place, kidnapped, ‘given up’ by another family member, and just ‘taken to a police station’. A police report could be made out and “viola”, a child is reported as abandoned. Were children abandoned like this by birthmother? YES. So the answer is a more stringent process of verifying that a child is Not missing. Korea should establish websites for parents to check if their child is missing. For one of the most “wired nations in the world this can be easily done” as the Chinese have just done.
The actual number of cases is low, but it is not important as it is the prevention of such irregularities, abuses, and possible illegal procedures from occurring again in the present and future. Korea signing the Hague Conventions on Adoption and Child Rights would be moves in the right direction.
“Adoptee rights and community groups as well as unwed mothers, the public interest law firm Gong-Gam and Democratic Party Representative Choi Young-hee have joined forces with the adoptees in an effort to convince lawmakers to revise the Special Law Relating to the Promotion and Procedure of Adoption.”
“The proposed bill starts with the idea that foreign, and even domestic, adoption is not the best option for children and that public assistance should be given to mothers to help them raise their children, a concept that follows international adoption practices. It also incorporates the notion that adoption processes need to be more strictly regulated to prevent possible abuses by adoption agencies.
Once more the KWB must point out that it is faulty processes in the past that may have permitted problems. Some cases, more than the six in the law suit of course, have been found to have irregularities. We must refrain from suggesting “All” Adoptions were “robbing babies from their mother”. The inconvenient truth is that due to Korean Society, religions, and strong conservative Family values, a woman is hard pressed to raise her child even in ‘modern times’.
It is “Social prejudices” that are similar in Western societies in the 1950 and ‘60s on many issues that WILL continue to change. Since Divorce became ‘easier and more excepted’ many women’s rights have had to be revised. Names on Family Registry being changed if a divorced woman remarries would have been unnecessary just ten years ago…women did not have the right to be head of household until recently. Child Care for Single Women will have to improve and will help Unwed mothers, who are small in number.
In the end, Laws must be changed, then slowly and hopefully Hearts and Minds of the Korean People will follow. As President Barrack H. Obama recently said, "Change is hard". Hmmm, for once the KWB agrees with his adoptive country's president. See, that is being openminded, seeking balance, and listening to Everyone.
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