Post Adoption Services Holt International
The Korean War Baby will be looking at Post Adoption Services sections of all four of the major government approved Adoption Agencies- Holt Korea; Social Welfare Society SWS; Eastern Social Welfare Society ESWS; Korean Social Service KSS.
It must be remembered that Holt INTERNATIONAL is a separate entity and Holt KOREA since the early 1970’s has been completely run by Korean leadership. Even Ms. Molly Holt was only recently made a Board of Director member, the Holt Intl. does not have ‘control’ over the policies and actions of Holt Korea.
*Request Information will take you to this online form.
Several things to note for the Korean Adoptee who is thinking about finding out more about your life. REMEMBER that some files are written in Hangul in your Holt Korea files.
**YOU WILL NOT be given all documents though, for instance the personal data of the birth parents cannot be given until contact is made and they sign willingness to make contact. They DO have the right to chose NOT to make contact. Sorry about that, but most women may have married and have not told about their secrets. It is not like the Western countries, majority of Korean Society would be ashamed of revealing that a child was ‘given away/relinquished’ for adoption. KWB
The four agencies process adoptions both Domestic and Overseas, (SURPRISED? Domestic adoptions may be 3-4 times the Overseas numbers) and took care of children after they were sent from other ORPHANAGES throughout Korea. Many orphanages have closed and sometimes files from them are limited or lost.
Some files might be in an orphanage founder’s home, and there is a CHANCE that some information is contained there THAT WAS NOT PASSED ON. This is not an attempt at hiding, it just was not deemed ‘important’ to pass on, it is just noted that the child was relinquished. FOR INSTANCE the Korean War Baby discovered that a document roughly translated “Reason for Relinquishment” was in an adoptee’s file at the orphanage but not sent along to the processing agency. This “Reason for Relinquishment” gave a clue to why the two siblings were ‘given up’. Somehow this was NOT included in the files.
As time went on and under different circumstances, such as double abandonment (29,950 cases were left with no name, not even family name) or Disabled child (37,276 cases where most also had no name given). We must understand though that the parents or mothers were faced with HUGE pressures from their own family, society, lack of government support (which may NOT have been considered necessary since only 3% of Disabled children ARE ADOPTED within country).
* NOTE: We must accept these reasons, deal with HURT, PAIN, HATE, LOSS, ETC. and try to find forgiveness for our mothers/fathers/siblings. As adults we must WORK THROUGH this and even secular professionals tell us that FORGIVENESS is the key to HEALING. I personally think trying to forgive others can only come when one has discovered FORGIVENESS FROM A HIGHER POWER.
Also, in the case of say American Adoption Agencies they have usually only the ENGLISH language files, as the Korean Hangul documents were translated but copies of the original DO CONTAIN some facts such as Chinese characters for the name have different meanings.
“YONG” is written in Hangul as 용 but in Chinese there are many HanJa (Chinese characters) that are translated into “Yong”. In the KWB’s name “Yong Soo” the character for Yong is 容 – it means “Face” but other characters might mean “dragon”. Korean PASSPORTS may or may not have Chinese characters.
If the BIRTH MOTHER NAMED her child, not ABANDONING it at a public place, then chances are it had Chinese characters as well as Hangul (Korean written language). Abandoned in public places or even with ‘written relinquishment forms’ was commonly used.
It is hoped that Korean media would continue to remind “those who gave up their children” to contact the orphanage or adoption agencies, even KCARE to inquire about the well being of their child. Most birth parents DO NOT know if their child was adopted IN-COUNTRY OR OVERSEAS. Imagine a birth parent seeing a child that looks like them on the streets of Seoul. The chances of meeting a “Half-sibling” may also be a reason to NOT GET MARRIED TO “IB Yang in” persons. You might marry a relative!!!
Again, so-called Domestic Adoptions DO NOT COUNT the also secret but LEGAL CIVIL CODE LAW adoptions allowed outside of the “domestic adoptions processed through the four adoption agencies”. See here for Korean Women’s Development Institutes reports.
May2009_IssuesUnwedMothers_CivilCodeLawAdoptions
“There have been two tracks of laws for adopting children within Korea: Civil Code and Special Act relating to Promotion and Procedures of Adoption (hereafter SAPPA)…
The adoption practices by Civil Code are very different from SAPPA. Traditional motivation for adoption is to continue patriarchal family lineage. Family without a son used to adopt a child of relatives. The adopted child keeps maintaining relationship with and rights to inherit from biological parents…According to Civil Code, adoption contract is made by mutual agreement of adoptee and adoptive parents…Adoption based on Civil Code is far behind in protecting the welfare of adoptee children.”
The 1961 Act was abolished and renamed as 1976 Special Adoption Act to cover both intercountry and domestic adoption. In 1995, it is renamed as SAPPA to strengthen the welfare of adopted children and to promote domestic adoption. Under the influence of Confucian tradition, family bond and lineage have been strongly emphasized in Korea, which consequently affect adoption law and practices. Despite the new special act for adoption, many are not ready to adopt abandoned and relinquished children even when they want adoption. High proportion of domestic adoption is presumed to be done secretly. Many adoptive parents report their adopted child as their birth child to administrative office.
KWB notes this has become possible since Hojeok, the Family Registry system has been changed to Individual Registry recently. Previously Adoptive Parents were forced to include the birth parents on the Hoju-Father's Family Registry. The estimate is 97% are SECRET.
According to 2008 adoption statistics issued by Office of Court Administration, only 49 out of total 1,306 cases based on SAPPA are reported to Court. It means that parents reported them as their own birth child rather than adopted child.do not want to have their friends and relatives know their child adopted. Adoptive parents Most domestic adoption cases collected by Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family are not reported to Court as adoption. It means they are adopted secretly.
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Don’t trust ME, read the whole damn report, fact check and see for yourself. Isn’t it a wonder that those who want to “JUST STOP INTERCOUNTRY Adoptions” KNOW ALL THESE FACTS!! Yet they ignore the facts because their agenda is “Woe is me, I was adopted into a rich white family and I are lost my culture, language, name’ oh, boo hoo…”.
HEY Suck it up, GET OVER IT. Work through your wounds, there is help out there.
Stop whining and learn ALL the facts. Nobody stole you from your country or mother, even TRACK has SIX, yes a whopping 6 cases that they have documented with IRREGULARITIES. Celebrated cases of “KIDNAPPED” KAD’s were Kidnapped by their mother’s FAMILY. As in the cases of Sunny Jo and “Resilience” the film (now showing in film festivals all over) these are EXCEPTIONS not the rule. Dr. Kim Su Rasmussen- can you dispute these FACTS? Please respond to the KWB. As for you who falsely claim that most of us were ‘stolen from our birth mothers/fathers, families, country, culture, etc. etc. WEEEEELLL,
HELLO??!! What GREAT BULL CRAP! MIGHT AS WELL FACE IT BOYS AND GIRLS…MOST OF US WERE GIVEN UP.
Undocumented, unwanted, abandoned, rejected by family, birth father, birth mother, society…The reasons are many, but the damage is done, hopefully YOUR Adoptive Parents and siblings, extended family, were able to help you adjust. Now you may be curious about your past, GOOD, talk to your Adoptive Family members about it, let them know you LOVE THEM, but want more answers if possible.
As an individual though YOU NEED TO DEAL WITH LIFE. Try to find out but read many stories or other adoptees journeys. Compare Pro and Con blogs not just the “whiney ones”. You a guy? Grow a PAIR, you a girl, well you need to grow a different pair, all have to be adults. There are many books and online sources, find a counselor who really understands This Thing of Ours-Adoption. A broad reading will help you sort through it all. Good luck, God Bless, you on your journey.
The Korean War Baby
July 2010
