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Investigation reveals Korean, western adoption fraud



 

Slide text


Slide one:

On Sept. 19, The Associated Press published an investigation detailing adoption fraud committed by the Korean government and how it’s affecting Korean adoptees and birth families. According to the AP, western adoption agencies and the Korean government worked in tandem to supply about 200,000 Korean children to adoptive families internationally. Now, several adoptees are learning their backstories were modified or falsified, and hundreds of adoptees have submitted their cases to the Korean government for review. 


Slide two: Details

In some interviews published by the AP, birth parents say their child was stolen, said to be deceased or needed an operation. However, adoptive parents were told they’re adopting a child who was abandoned, surrendered or orphaned — themes that heavily lean on the adoption savior complex. The AP highlights Holt International, an adoption agency, as being a key supplier of Korean children. Anonymous sources from the AP say agency workers submitted children for adoption with different backstories until the child was approved or substituted babies’ identities. 

Sources: 

“Widespread adoption fraud separated generations of Korean children from their families, AP finds,” Associated Press, 2024.


Slide three: More details

Some adoptees who’ve learned their true backstories are pressuring the governments of the western countries to take accountability, saying these country’s governments knew about Korea’s adoption fraud and continued to pressure Korea to keep sending over children. Adoptees’ stories have shed light on the adoption industry (“industry,” as a form of revenue). Some European countries have launched investigations and halted international adoptions, and the South Korean government has opened a fact-finding commission under pressure from adoptees.

Sources: 

“Widespread adoption fraud separated generations of Korean children from their families, AP finds,” Associated Press, 2024.

“Western nations were desperate for Korean babies. Now many adoptees believe they were stolen,” Associated Press, 2024.


Slide four: Context

Korean adoption as an industry developed during the Korean war in the 1950s, when westerners took in biracial children of Korean women and Western soldiers (children who weren’t wanted in Korea). Post-war, Korea continued to rely on the revenue of the adoption industry and services of private adoption agencies involved. This system allowed Korea to bring millions of dollars into their economy and never establish a child welfare program. Simultaneously, in western countries, the birth rates of adoptable babies dropped due to the increased access to birth control and abortion.  

Sources: 

“Widespread adoption fraud separated generations of Korean children from their families, AP finds,” Associated Press, 2024.


Slide five: A note from Girls Adoption Connect

This news might bring a range of emotions about our adoptions and the validity of our own backstories. Reading the AP’s articles when they first published, I felt so many emotions, even as a Chinese adoptee. As adoptees, we’ve grown up being told specific facts about our identities, and then we spend years unpacking what this means to us. As this investigation unfolds and more adoptees continue to learn their backstories, I urge us to take time to process what’s happening, connect with each other in solidarity, and to know that our feelings and experiences are all valid and deserve to be heard if we want them to be. 

— Téa Tamburo, Girls Adoption Connect founder

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