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The Korea Herald
2009.10.02
PIFF film 'Resilience' looks at often-ignored mothers of adoption
By Matthew Lamers and Shannon Heit
Behind the glamour of adoption, new beginnings and happy reunions, there is another, darker side of loss and separation for birth mothers, birth families, and adoptees that is often left out of the discussion.
Popular culture mostly fails to take up the issue from the perspective of the birth mother. What factors forced the decision to give up her child? Were there other options? How has she coped since?
Filmmaker Tammy Chu asks those questions, but also considers the feeling of separation from the side of the adoptee and the sometimes life-long journey to find identity and belonging.

The Hankyoreh
“입양없는 세상 왔으면…”
김봉규 기자
» “입양없는 세상 왔으면…”
‘국외입양인연대’와 ‘뿌리의 집’ 회원들이 5일 오전 서울 합정동 한강시민공원에서 ‘입양없는 하루’를 촉구하는 행사를 열어, 비행기 모형 위에 동전 2천개를 쌓는 퍼포먼스를 통해 지금까지 20여만명을 외국에 입양시킨 우리나라의 현실을 고발하고 있다.
김봉규 기자 bong9@hani.co.kr
http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/society/society_general/285909.html

The Hankyoreh
English Edition

A Day Without Adoption
Members of Adoptee Solidarity Korea, an adoptee-led organization based in Seoul, place coins around an airplane displayed at the Han River Park in western Seoul on Children’s Day, May 5.
ASK, which aims to raise awareness to issues related to intercountry adoption and advocate for change in South Korea’s social welfare system, celebrated Children’s Day by calling for A Day Without Adoption, a day on which no children are sent abroad for adoption. Instead, the group advocates for providing single mothers and underprivileged families with the opportunity to stay together.
The campaign featured the construction of an approximately 4-by-4-meter airplane, around the edges of which were placed 2,000 100-won coins symbolizing the exchange of young Korean children for various currencies both tangible and intangible.

"입양기관 '아동 세탁' 근절해야"
국회 입양특례법 개정 공청회
(연합뉴스)
기사 입력시간 : 2009-11-10 오전 9:20:53
입양 아동의 친부모 정보를 없애기 위한 이른바 '아동 세탁'을 근절하는 등 입양 관리·감독을 강화해야 한다는 지적이 제기됐다.
국회 보건복지가족위원회 최영희 의원(민주당)이 10일 의원회관에서 개최한 '입양촉진 및 절차에 관한 특례법 개정을 위한 공청회'에 참가한 입양인들은 "입양기관이 아동 신상서류를 조작하는 등 '아동세탁(child laundering)'이 벌어지고 있다"고 폭로했다.
이날 발제자로 참석한 해외 입양인 제인 정 트렌카(Jane Jeong Trenka)씨는 "해외 입양인들 중 상당수는 입양 당시 이미 호적이 있는데도 입양기관이 고아호적을 새로 만들어 양부모에게 보냈다는 사실을 확인했다"며 "이 과정에서 아동의 신상정보가 사라져 입양인 중 가족을 상봉하는 비율이 2.7%에 불과하다"고 지적했다.

JoongAng Daily
Adoptee to U.S. seeks roots in Korea, views overseas adoption as a last resort
‘I have always felt like my birth mother may have abandoned me physically, but that spiritually, she never cut the umbilical cord.’
October 03, 2007

Beth Lo (center) with her husband (left) and their six children. Provided by Beth Lo
Seoul’s population thinned out early last week when many of its 10 million residents, except for foreigners and natives of the capital city, hit the road for their ancestral home towns elsewhere in the country for Chuseok.

The Hankyoreh
2008.5.06
입양아 떠나보낸 ‘비행기’ 고국 땅에 날립니다
국외입양인연대, 5일 ‘20만명 매매입양’ 비판 퍼포먼스
김정효 기자
» 나경자(35・미국명 제니 툴・사진)씨
“그 비행기가 한국 아이들이 더 이상 돈에 팔려가지 않게 막아주었으면 좋겠어요.”

International Herald Tribune
Published: September 17, 2007
With faith, an American adoptee's search for his father ends on death row
By Choe Sang-Hun

SEOUL: Aaron Bates, growing up a happy child in the American family that adopted him when he was 5, always wondered who his biological parents were and whether they were alive. After two decades, his search has led him to a prisoner on death row in South Korea.
Sung Nak Joo, 58, who says he is Bates's birth father (and is accepted as such by Bates despite genetic data suggesting otherwise) is one of the longest-serving death row inmates in South Korea. If the country resumes hanging condemned prisoners - the last executions took place in 1997 - he probably will be among the first to be executed.

Donga Ilbo, October 8th, 2007
Increased Number of Unwed Mothers Raising the Child on their Own
by Woo Jungyeol
According to Korea Women’s Development Institute(KWDI) the rate for single moms hoping to raise the child on their own increased up to 31.7% from 12.1% in 1998 and 5.8% in 1984. Ae Ran Won’s director Han Sangsoon says the number of mothers choosing to bring up over adoption has increased by more than 10 % during the past 5 years.
The decrease in the number of adoptees and single-parented children among these adoptees also shows the increase in the mothers’ efforts to bring up their own children. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare(MOHW), the number of adoptees both domestic and overseas is consistently going down, from 4,600 in 1990, 4,046 in 2000, 3,899 in 2004, and 3,562 in 2006. Among these adoptees the percentage of single-parented children has also gone down to 80% in 1990 to 60% after 2000.
Those who raise up the children tend to be more educated and older, compared to those who send their children to institutions or for adoption. Last year’s research by the Ministry of Women and Family(MOWF) shows that among 65 women who joined a group home, 78.4% have graduated from high schools and 21.6% either graduated or still in colleges. On the other hand those who send the children for adoption had 71.4% high school graduates and 28.6% in college. The average age of those raising children is 24.5, which is three years older than that of overall single moms.
Most of these women are planning to continue their studies and be financially independent in the future. Despite the difficulties they may face, many of them agree that the life ahead is important for the both of them.

The New York Times
November 7, 2007
A History of Neglect
In Foster Care Review, Vows of Help and Vigilance
By LESLIE KAUFAM and BENJAMIN WEISER
John B. Mattingly became New York City’s child welfare commissioner aiming to bring accountability to the dozens of private agencies the city paid hundreds of millions of dollars each year to care for foster children.
Mr. Mattingly also brought to the job a long history as an ardent supporter of the idea that endangered children would fare best if the people in the neighborhoods they came from were involved in their care and protection.

http://www.travel.state.gov/family/adoption/convention/convention_3852.html
U.S. on Track to Join the Hague Adoption Convention in December
A message from the U.S. Department of State
The U.S. Department of State, Office of Children’s Issues, is pleased to announce that the President signed the U.S. instrument of ratification of the Hague Adoption Convention on November 16. The legal requirements for ratification of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention) have been completed, and we plan to join with our deposit the instrument of ratification on December 12, 2007! The Department will announce the official date the Convention will go into force for the United States—projected to be April 1, 2008—in the Federal Register. The Hague Adoption Convention protects children and their families against the risks of unregulated adoptions abroad and ensures that intercountry adoptions are made in the best interests of children. The Convention also serves to prevent the abduction of, sale of, or traffic in children.
Once the treaty is in force, the new processing requirements for Hague adoption cases will take effect for adoptions between the United States and more than 70 Convention members. The new process protects the rights of children, birth parents, and adoptive parents while promoting transparency, accountability, and ethical practices among adoption service providers.

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