Archive

JoongAng Daily
October 29, 2008
Searching for the holy grail amid the ruins of war
[Perspective]
With the won’s tailspin causing much expat distress these days, and with the “worst of the panic” clearly not over (despite what you may have read in my last column), I decided to stick to a good, old-fashioned inspirational story this week.
As such, it was very lucky that I happened to meet Misty Ann Edgecomb, a journalist from Maine in the United States. She came here in late September on a Fulbright grant to research just such a story - an account of what she says is the first international adoption of a Korean child by a single parent.
It begins when Edgecomb’s then 24-year-old grandfather-in-law, Paul Raynor, arrives in Seoul during the Korean War as a U.S. soldier.

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.

Aired on KBS Thursday May 15, 2008
Link to Kim Sunee's KBS documentary:
http://www.kimsunee.com/video.html
- go to #3: KBS Documentary of Kim's Trip to Korea
Kim Sunee is the author of the memoir "Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home" published in January 2008. This documentary follows her from Birmingham to Korea.
www.kimsunee.com

Information, Danish newspaper
Lørdag 24. maj 2008 (2008.5.24)
MED ANDRE ØJNE
Red en voksen, køb en spæd kineser
Den lave fertilitetsrate i de vestlige lande er i dag den primære grund til, at nogle vælger at adoptere. Det danske adoptionsselskab AC Børnehjælp kunne i virkeligheden lige så godt hedde AC Voksenhjælp, siger Maja Lee Langvad, der selv er adopteret - og i øvrigt lesbisk
22. maj 2008
Af: KRISTINA NYA GLAFFEY

Information, Danish newspaper
16. juni 2008
Af: MAJA LEE LANGVAD
ADOPTION
International adoptioner en industri
Forskellen på adoptionsbranchen og andre brancher er, at der i adoptionsbranchen handles med mennesker. Men i og med, at det er en industri, har adoptionsselskaberne også en interesse i at fokusere på de gode historier
Information bragte den 23. maj en kronik af Anders Christensen (formand for adoptionsselskabet AC Børnehjælp) (AC) og Gitte Cordes (næstformand for AC Børnehjælp) (GC), som er bekymrede over den stigende kriminalitet i international adoption. AC og GC tegner et forsimplet billede, og deres forklaringer er kun overfladiske. Man må grave et spadestik dybere for at forstå dynamikken i international adoption og dermed også den voksende kriminalitet.

The New York Times
Published: October 8, 2008
Korea Aims to End Stigma of Adoption and Stop ‘Exporting’ Babies

By NORIMITSU ONISHI
SEOUL, South Korea — Daunted by the stigma surrounding adoption here, Cho Joong-bae and Kim In-soon delayed expanding their family for years. When they finally did six years ago, Mr. Cho chose to tell his elderly parents that the child was the result of an affair, rather than admit she was adopted.

New York Times
Published: May 27, 2008
De-emphasis on Race in Adoption Is Criticized
By RON NIXON
WASHINGTON — Minority children in foster care are being ill-served by a federal law that plays down race and culture in adoptions, a report released on Tuesday said.
The report, based on an examination of the law's impact over a decade, said that minority children adopted into white households face special challenges and that white parents need preparation and training for what might lie ahead.
But it found that social workers and state agencies fear litigation and stiff penalties under the law for even discussing race with adopting couples. As a result, families often do not get the counseling they need. It also found that states have ignored an aspect of the law that requires diligent recruitment of black parents.

Oh My News
2008.08.21
사회
20만명 ‘고아수출’, 그 진실을 밝힌다
‘진실과 화해를 위한 해외입양인 모임’ 21일 창립, 국가에 조사 요구

국가 차원의 한국인 해외입양 역사 재정립을 요구하는 비영리 민간단체가 출범했다. 한국전쟁 뒤 시작된 이른바 ‘고아수출’로 서구인도 아니고 한국인도 아닌 정체성의 혼란 속에 살고 있는 20여만명의 고통과 한을 풀어낼 수 있을지 관심을 끈다.

JoongAng Daily
July 23, 2008
Marriage on the rocks
Wedding dresses at an exhibition in Busan on July 1 hosted by an association of wedding-related companies called the Korea Wedding Union.[JoongAng Ilbo]
ASAN In response to the dropping fertility rate in Korea, an unlikely bunch of matchmakers is rolling up sleeves to play Cupid.
Officials of regional governments are running “speed meetings” for single men and women who want to get married. While speed dating is not new in Korea, mass blind dates set up by local government officials are.
“The Bible says, ‘Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you,’” said Kang Hee-bok, the mayor of the city of Asan, two hours south of Seoul in South Chungcheong.

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.