More South Korean adoptees demand probes into their cases

Nearly 400 South Koreans adopted as children by families in the West have requested South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigate their adoptions through Friday’s application deadline, as Seoul faces growing pressure to reckon with a child export frenzy driven by dictatorships that ruled the country until the 1980s.

The commission on Thursday said it decided to investigate 34 cases among the 51 adoptees who first submitted their applications in August, which could possibly develop into the country’s most far-reaching inquiry into foreign adoptions yet.

A total of 63 adoptees from the United States, Europe and Australia submitted applications to the commission on Friday, claiming their adoptions were marred by falsified documents that laundered child statuses or identities as agencies raced to send thousands of children abroad each year.

The adoptees accused agencies of fabricating documents to ensure their adoptability, such as falsely registering them as orphans when they had living relatives or switching their identities with other children, which have resulted in lost connections or false reunions with birth relatives.

My sister and BIL adopted a girl and 2 years later a boy from South Korea in the 1980's. Both were a few months old when they were adopted. After the girl graduated from college, she was diagnosed with Lupus. She died a few years ago at age 35. The boy has a learning disability, used drugs, and was a thief. He stabbed his Dad (my BIL) about ten years ago and was a ward of the state for a few years. He has never been able to live independently and support himself.

Is this a surprise to anyone???

Giving a child for adoption, especially so in Asia, is always done under very difficult, often tragic circumstances. Every human vice, frailty and weakeness is often involved.

People want to imagine these are Disney stories, but it is never such.

Don't take it as a criticism. These American parents have taken tragedy, and have turned these childrens' stories into great blessings.

I know several families that adopted Korean infants in the 80’s. All of them, very successful adults. Two of them (from different families) married each other and the woman is a doctor and her husband is a fireman/emt.

My sister and her at the time husband adopted identical twins who were 5 at the time. They were the best children. Smart, hard-working, always knew what they wanted and always did it together. They started their own gardening business as youngsters and worked in nursing homes in high school. Saved their money and had a goal. They went to high school and completed two years of college at the same time. They went to university and graduated in two years with no debt and then to graduate school. One became an architect and worked for the firm who designed the new World Trade Center and one became an accountant.
My sister encouraged them to stay in touch with their birth mother, who says she just couldn’t afford to keep them, had too many mouths to feed. The twins have been to Korea more than once and met their birth mother. And other relatives and they have had their mother to New York City to meet my sister at Thanksgiving. They buy my sister first class tickets to go where she wants and say that they will take care of her in her old age. Neither one has married and they live in the same apartment together in New York City.

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