Recent investigation by the Associated Press is revealing the story of the South Koreans adopted into the Western countries that paint a very disturbing picture of international adoption. It seems from the research conducted children were kidnapped, their birth records were forged, and families separated just so they could be put up for adoption.
The adopted kids which took ages for the study included babies that had been stolen and bought from the streets of South Korea for adoption in western countries. Often parents were informed that their newborns had died or were in critical condition and the child was sent overseas without the knowledge of the parent.
Another shocking thing which was observed in this case was the fact that the fraud involved preparing forgeries to support the above-mentioned unlawful adoption procedures. Identity cards, birth certificates, medical reports as well as other important documents that could reveal the truth about the adoption were extensively forged in order to support a legal adoption process. Not only were adoptive families misled but also it became impossible for an adoptee to find his or her roots or perhaps search for their biological parents after they grew up.
The number of children in the country who have been victims of the scam could run into thousands over the years. These adoptees, mostly grown up, have moved from one agency to the other in their quest to get any clue about their identity and families but have been let down by fake birth records and the agencies’ lack of proper records of their births.
The revelations as well as the stories both of these children have elicited anger and demands for responsibility among the South Koreans and adoptive countries. Adoption fraud survivor organizations are calling for strong independent inquiries into past adoption practices and helping victims. Many people are pressuring the South Korean government to assume some of the blame for the fact that these practices were even possible in the first place, let alone continued for so long.
The consequences of this case embrace not only every adoptee and his/her family but also the society and state as a whole. They are an eye opener regarding the safety and morality of adoption across borders especially to families of children. The issues of identity, cultural and social belonging, and cultural identity that this case established are challenging phenomena that many intercountry adoptees have to confront throughout life.
To the adoptees themselves, the exposure of this fraud has on the one hand been catastrophically demoralising, on the other it has been empowering. Their feeling have for long been that there were one or many exploitations in their adoptions but the requisite proof has always been wanting. The AP investigation brings evidence that Multiple mortgage frauds occurred, finally giving closure to some while reopening the case to others.
The study has also provided historical antecedents that give context to these adoptions as described in the following section. At the time of Korean War, South Korea started to provide thousands of children to western countries for international adoptios. Although most of these adoptions were genuine and some children got adopted by loving parents, the AP’s investigations confirmed that cruelty in adoption was rampant and went on for years.
The fraud that took place at the adoption centers is gradually being discovered and this has prompted demands for compensation and assistance for the affected adoptees. Some want access to more funds to trace their birth parents, others – counseling and therapy to come to terms with the truth – to have children of their own.
The case has also raised the questions of ethicality of international adoption and the topic of increased government regulation. Adoption agencies, government and official authorities, organizations which are involved in such activities all over the world are expected to provide stronger measures in order to avoid such cases in the future.
This is the world’s biggest fraud and its repercussions will run for generations as the world begins to register the impacts. Adoptees and their biological and adoptive families will have a difficult and elongated path toward reconciliation. But for those adopted, they were subjected to various vices which were in the past; but the revelation of these vices gives hope that the future adoption procedures are being practiced and implemented moderately, ethically and solely for the benefit of the children to be adopted.
