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Korea passes law to change adoption policy 2011.07.01 |
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From Korea JoongAng Daily, July 01, 2011
 http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2938312
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Korea passes law to change adoption policy
Bill strengthens oversight, makes birth registration mandatory
“아이 포기 숙고하세요”…입양숙려제 도입
Korea has just passed historic legislation that is likely to change the way adoption in the country is practiced.
The bill to amend the country’s Special Act Relating to the Promotion and Procedure of Adoption, which was sponsored by Democratic Party Representative Choi Young-hee, passed Wednesday with 188 yeas, no nays and four abstentions.
The bill was drafted by a coalition of adoptees, single mothers and public interest groups, including Koroot, Dandelions, Adoptee Solidarity Korea, Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea, Gong-gam Public Interest Lawyers Group and the Unwed Mothers & Families Association.
Although Korea has revised its adoption law several times, this is the first time adoptees and single mothers have been included in the process.
The revised law is expected to shift adoption policy from “adoption promotion” to “family preservation.”
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the revised law will be renamed the Special Adoption Law, to remove the emphasis on promotion.
The new law will also expand rights for single mothers and adoptees. Under the law, adoptees will gain greater access to birth records and women will have a seven-day period to deliberate on whether to keep or relinquish their child. Korea currently has no such limitation.
The law also strengthens oversight of adoption procedures; makes birth registration mandatory, to guard against secret adoptions; and brings Korea into line with international standards for the care of children.
The bill’s passage puts Korea on a path to ratify the Hague Convention on intercountry adoption, which Korea has signed but not yet ratified. Opposition to the bill came from adoption agencies and prospective adoptive parents, who were concerned the law would discourage adoption.
Korea is one of the top five countries sending children for adoption, along with China, Ethiopia, Russia and Ukraine. More than 200,000 children have been adopted overseas since the 1950s, when Korea began sending children overseas in the aftermath of the Korean War. Today, around 90 percent of those adopted from Korea are the children of single mothers.
“The revised law focuses on children’s welfare and it is significant that adoptees participated in drafting the bill,” Choi said. “But this shouldn’t be the final step in reforming adoption policy in Korea. In order to decrease international adoption, the Ministry of Health and Welfare should take responsibility for mapping out a five-year plan.”
By Yim Seung-hye
[ sharon@joongang.co.kr]
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| LAST UPDATE: 2011.07.06 - 23:07 |
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