Archive

The Boston Globe
December 11, 2008
(plus two letters to the editor at the bottom)
The problem with saving the world's 'orphans'
By E.J. Graff
IT'S THE TIME of year when we are deluged with appeals to save the world's millions of orphans. On TV, in the newspaper, in our mailboxes, we see sad-eyed children who are starved for food, clothes, and affection. Surely only Ebenezer Scrooge (or his Seuss-ical incarnation, the Grinch) could turn away with a hard heart.
But when these appeals are combined with glamorous examples like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's world adoption tour, would-be humanitarians can arrive at a dangerous belief: Western families can - and should - help solve this "world orphan crisis" by adopting.

The Korea Times
12-07-2008
Adoption Abused for Enrollment in Schools at US Military Camp
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
An increasing number of Korean parents have their children adopted by Americans working for the U.S. military to enroll them at American schools on army bases, according to parents and school staff.
They say the number of adopted Korean students has recently risen at the Seoul American High School (SAHS), a Department of Defense (DoD) Dependent School at Yongsan Army Garrison in Seoul.

JoongAng Daily
Adopted from Russia with love to Korean home
December 06, 2008
Jang Su-in, 19, is like any other student at Chonnam Girls High School in Gwangju, South Jeolla, except for one thing - her appearance.
In Korea’s ethnically homogenous society, with her fair skin, high nose, deep double eyelids, brown eyes, long eyelashes and light-brown hair, this Russian teen certainly looks foreign in appearance, yet speaks Korean just as fluently as her classmates.
Jang was born to a Russian family and named Nastya Baskaeva, but since being adopted into a Korean family seven years ago, she has lived in Korea.
One of six siblings, Jang grew up with her birth parents in the remote village of Mosdok in southern Russia, so remote it takes a two-hour flight and then a two-hour drive to reach from Moscow. Due to the family’s poverty and with her father too old to work, Jang was not able to go to school

Digital Chosunilbo
2008.11.21
Celebrity Couple to Receive Philanthropy Award
Celebrity couple Cha In-pyo and Shin Ae-ra will be honored with the 20th Asan Special Award.
The Asan Foundation explained that the couple has contributed greatly to combating social prejudice by officially adopting two children, and devoting themselves to helping those in need by supporting 31 children across the world with continuous donations.
The couple said, "We never expected to receive the award, as there are so many people who are helping others in hidden places, but we are very delighted, because we can help more children with the prize."
They will be awarded a medal with 50 million won (US$1=W1,497) of prize money during a ceremony at Asan Education Institute in Seoul next Thursday.

Chosun Ilbo
2008.10.30
Cho Byung-kuk: Lifelong Guardian Angel of Adoptees
At the Holt Children’s Service Pediatric Clinic on the morning of October 20, Dr. Cho Byung-kuk, the clinic’s 75-year-old ex-director, was examining a nine-year-old girl who will be adopted into the U.S. soon. The gray-haired woman was shorter than 160cm and slightly hunched. However, she quickly and skillfully examined the girl. Having finished the examination, she gasped for breath, tapping her shoulder with one hand. Without respite, a staffer immediately brought another child in to her office.
Cho is the “godmother of adopted children.” She has checked the health of adoptees at the Holt Children’s Service Pediatric Clinic and the Holt Ilsan Center for five decades. She actually retired in 1993. But she couldn’t stop caring for children, so continued the job. She has treated more than 50,000 adoptees until now. Unfortunately, the severe pain in her shoulders will force her to abandon her stethoscope soon.
Cho first became involved with Holt Children’s Services in 1958 while working as a resident doctor at Yonsei University Severance Hospital. “There were a lot of abandoned children after the Korean War. Children with contagious diseases, children who became retarded because of malnutrition…,” she said.
When she saw ailing children get healthy only a month or two after she treated them, she decided to dedicate the rest of her life to them. “I did the job because I like children,” she noted. “I felt pity for abandoned kids and wanted to help them find new families.

Joongang Daily
11.26.2008

Loving message for a lost mother
Donald Gordon Bell, known only as A-20 when he was a child at a Seoul orphanage, has long sought his biological mother to give her a message. But this 56-year-old adoptee’s message is not one of resentment, as one with a stereotypical view of adoptees might assume.
Instead, it is to convey his gratitude for her decision to give him away. He said it comes from an understanding of the situation she found herself in. “I want her to know I don’t have any grudge against her,” said Bell, who grew up in Los Angeles after he was adopted at the age of four.

The Korea Herald
2008.11.25
Christmas fundraiser for orphanage
Just days before Christmas, Sam Dong Boys Town Orphanage will host a benefit party to make this holiday season a memorable one for almost 70 orphans.
Sam Dong Boys Town Orphanage, located in Seoul, currently houses 69 potential adoptees, some of whom are less than a year old.
Boys Town is also considered a historic orphanage because it was first established during the Korean War by the U.S. Armys 5th regimental combat team.
I hope that we can continue to recruit more volunteers to help out at this orphanage, said Thomas J. Fortunato, the main organizer for the benefit. If you are looking for a way to give back to the community, this is definitely a worthy cause.

The Korea Herald
2008.11.20
More babies adopted locally
The number of domestic adoptions exceeded the international adoption figure for the first time in Korea last year, according to data released by a research agency yesterday.
In a statistical report by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, the total number of children adopted locally increased from 1,332 in 2006 to 1,388 in 2007, while internationally adopted children decreased from 1,899 in 2006 to 1,264 last year.
In an overall view, the total number of adoptions is dropping but international adoption figures are falling at a faster pace, said Chang Young-sik, senior fellow at the statistics development team at the institute. This is partly because more people are now open to adoptions, a fact that was kept mum in the past.
This is an interesting finding due to the fact that, ever since 1953, foreign adoptions have been much more popular than domestic adoptions.

The Korea Herald
2008.11.26
Part II:Am I American or am I Korean?

Following is Part II of a three part series on growing up adopted. Part III will be in tomorrows Expat Living. To comment, e-mail [email protected]. Richard Spalding can be reached through his blog www.inmyseoul.com -- Ed.
From Part I
My mothers favorite childhood story about me was when I paraded around the house with an American flag, playing Bruce Springsteens Born in the USA on my Playskool cassette player, and singing along at the top of my lungs. Ironically, this song was my favorite while I was growing up. It is ironic because I was not born in the USA.

The Korea Herald
11.23.08
Am I American or am I Korean?
Following is Part I of a three part series on growing up adopted. Part II will be in tomorrows Expat Living. To comment, e-mail [email protected]. Richard Spalding can be reached through his blog www.inmyseoul.com - Ed.
My mothers favorite childhood story about me was when I paraded around the house with an American flag, playing Bruce Springsteens Born in the USA on my Playskool cassette player, and singing along at the top of my lungs. Ironically, this song was my favorite while I was growing up. It is ironic because I was not born in the USA.
I celebrate Oct. 20 as my birthday. I say celebrate because I do not know the exact date of my birth. The reason my parents dont know my birthday is because I was adopted from the Grace Orphanage in Daejeon, Korea, when I was about 5 years old. My adoptive parents had to assign a birthday to me for legal purposes, and they chose Oct. 20, 1980.
Yes, they even had to pick the year for my birthday.