Book review: Tracing the history of intercountry adoption and Korea's major role in it

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By Hwang Dong-hee

"The Global Orphan Adoption System," published on Nov. 30, by KoRoot

Some might think Korea is no longer a "child exporting country" ― with its shining economic success and growing diplomatic and cultural influence, Korea must have found solutions for the issue a long time ago. But no. Hundreds of Korean children are still sent overseas through adoption each year, according to the Global Statistics for Intercountry Adoption (HCCH).

Since the end of the Korean War (1950-53), the country has been actively involved the adoption of babies by families overseas. The number peaked in 1985, when it reached 8,800 ― a whopping 1.3 percent of all babies born here that year. Over the past 70 years, the total number of such babies is estimated to be more than 200,000.

Given the number of people and countries involved, intercountry adoption of children is a major international issue. Yet, little research has been done to find out how intercountry adoption has affected the people and the countries involved, especially Korea, the largest market for adoptees in history.

Lee Kyung-eun's newly published book, "The Global Orphan Adoption System," explains how the country systematically supported intercountry adoption, by tracing the development of its adoption law and systems.

Author Lee Kyung-eun / Courtesy of KoRoot

"The total number of adoptees is estimated to be over 200,000 in 70 years of adoption history, sending children abroad for the longest period in the world. The number is also the largest," Lee, director of Human Rights Beyond Borders, an organization working for adoptees' "right to origin," told The Korea Times.

"We are no longer a poor country, the war has been over since many years ago, but why is Korea still considered a major sending country? My research started from this question, 'Why can't Korea stop sending children born here overseas for adoption?'" said Lee during a book talk with readers, Nov. 30.

Intercountry adoption, she wrote, largely stems from a gap in the level of child protection between the receiving and sending countries. While the receiving countries have applied double standards to facilitate easier adoption processes, the sending countries have correspondingly amended their laws to accommodate adoption by foreign families.

Whether a country decides to engage in intercountry adoption is not a passive act; it is part of active policy making and legislative actions by both the countries.

"There are many international treaties to protect child rights, but they seem to be ineffective in Korea," Lee said.

Korea has either avoided ratifying intercountry adoption legislation, such as the Hague Adoption Convention, or circumvented relevant adoption provisions, by claiming "interpretation" issues, according to the book.

Furthermore, the government has neglected its responsibility while developing an "efficient" adoption system that is dependent on private organizations, which, as a result, has weakened the efforts for legislative reform in accordance with international norms.

Reviewing Korea's history and development of adoption law, which has provided a prototype for the system's legal framework, the book may provide insights on identifying vulnerable areas of the systems in 80 other sending countries.

Lee Kyung-eun, facing the audience, right, speaks about her newly published book at an event organized by the publisher, KoRoot, Nov. 30. Courtesy of KoRoot

Exploring sending countries' perspectives

The publication of the book is timely, considering that there have been recent studies conducted by receiving countries, mainly in Northern Europe.

In February, the Netherlands temporarily stopped all new international adoptions, after an investigation discovered that the government had failed to take measures against known acts of wrongdoing, including child trafficking, between 1967 and 1998.

Sweden announced in October that it would launch an official investigation into all intercountry adoption cases since the 1950s.

"But there hasn't been much study on the sending countries' perspectives," Lee said.

She explained that intercountry adoption is a reciprocal action between the receiving and the sending countries. Thus, both parties should participate in the international adoption discourse.

This situation is one of the reasons why she translated her original doctoral thesis (from her Ph.D. work at Seoul National University) into this English-language book.

"I finished my thesis in Korean, in 2017. But many people ― foreign adoptees, researchers, and rights advocates ― requested an English version. I also felt it was necessary to translate it because it would be unfair for the adoptees if they could not read the stories about their own lives."

She hopes that the book reaches a wider readership, including not only adoptees, but also policy makers, researchers and people working in the field in both sides of the adoption process, to start a conversation, however uncomfortable it may be.

The book calls for the urgent need to reshape the legislative system on intercountry adoption and for international cooperation to protect the rights and interests of children, whose lives have been forever changed ― for better or worse ― as a result of the lack of them.