Adoptions must stay in Korea, no Hollywood trend adoptions please.

Ever felt a little uncomfortable or weird when you see these types of pictures circulating in Hollywood? it seems rather too frequent that these western  celebrities have sudden decided to show off their new Asian babies.

Although we could never quite put the finger on it but if you were suspicious enough then perhaps your instincts could be enough to show that you care. The answer is YES it;s likely something is 'fishy' going on.

There is a possibility that these kids should not have been placed in their hands to begin with.

From a westerners perspective they are starting the "Happy Family with the odd Asian baby trend" or the stereotypical " I-Know-whats-good-for -Asian-people". While they parade around showing of their Asian babies these celebrities could just as well be quite ignorant. Sure at a glance some would say 'Oh they look so nice together' but in reality these kids were probably possessed through adoption exploits and scandals.

Just like the other problems that still exists in our present day society we still have problems that origianlly derived form poverty such as Asian mail order brides, human trafficking, continuous Immigrant exploitation etc this is just another one to include in the same heap.

Firstly, we need to consider that the International adoption could be rather ill-economical and damaging to that nation, basically we are taking away these children from their native land, removing that child's right of identity and well-being, removing the capacity of that individual to contribute to the nation.

The underlying problems within in that society do not get addressed and the government is not put under enough pressure to act since they do not have visible representation of the growing numbers of orphaned children.

Extensively this may also contribute to existing illegal adoption markets for children. 

On Nov. 10, 2009, a coalition of adopted Koreans, unwed Korean mothers, and our allies will go to the South Korean parliament and confirm that yes, abuses have occurred, and are still occurring.

Our bill written to change the laws that have allowed these abuses to occur is sponsored by Rep. Choi Young-Hee (Democratic Party) and will be introduced in the public hearing. We will reveal both what is wrong with the current law, and how we propose to fix it.

The following is the text of my speech that I will give to lawmakers, Korean citizens, and concerned parties living and operating in Korea on the human rights abuses that have occurred as a result of the adoption law.  While workers in adoption agencies have certainly voiced their opinions to the Korean government before, I believe it is significant that our bill has been written by a coalition of concerned Korean citizens and diasporic Koreans, international adoptees, and single Korean mothers who will reap absolutely no economic, professional, or social benefit from continuing the adoption system as it has been practiced in the past. Instead, we look forward to meeting international standards of human rights and justice. We seek to create a system of child welfare in Korea that can be a source of not shame and guilt, but pride and self-sufficiency, for all Koreans.

Today I will give a brief critique on the current law and the problems it has caused for adoptees and their families. I hope these criticisms will be heard by parliament members and the countries influenced by Korean adoption as the result of many lifetimes worth of experience and our sincerest efforts to understand the laws that have profoundly and permanently affected our individual lives, as well as the modern history and society of South Korea. I speak in English, but my wish is for the parliament members to hear the adoptees not as foreigners, but people whose mothers spoke to us in Korean while they carried us in their wombs, and who were born as Korean citizens, but whose families were abandoned by the state.

The Korean government’s expediting and preferencing of adoption over the preservation of the child’s original family is a major flaw that has led to the construction of the country’s international adoption program that has now notoriously sent up to 200,000 children overseas.

While many adoptions appear to have been processed completely legally on paper, many returning adoptees have found that in reality there were abuses that occurred in order to facilitate their adoptions. The American scholar Dr. David Smolin calls this “child laundering,” a reference to money laundering or processing something that is illegal in a way to make it look legal on the surface.

Documented Abuses

1. Unclear relinquishment – TRACK has found cases where the parent did not relinquish under real name, a person other than the parent relinquished, only one parent relinquished, the child was relinquished for domestic but NOT international adoption, or the signature on the relinquishment form appears to be forged. The current law holds agencies responsible for locating children’s parents in order to make sure they can be sent for adoption, which is a conflict of interest.

2. Kidnappings within the family, particularly by paternal relatives and grandmothers have been documented by TRACK. The mothers’ custody rights were and still are too weak under the law.

3. Misrepresentation cases are rampant in the adoption community. On paper, the children are misrepresented to adoptive parents and Western adoption agencies by changing information such as age, social history, medical history, or marital status of the mother.

4. Contradictions in the adoption file of the same child have been documented by TRACK. Contradictions may be found going from Korean-language record to Korean-language record (from police to orphanage to agency, or intra-agency), or going from Korean-language record to English-language record (or other Western language).

5. Kidnapping by the orphanage is another oft-repeated story, such as in cases like Toby Dawson. The Korean parent came looking and they were told that the child was not there, or had died. Older children may have known their identities and home addresses and wished to go home, but were kept inside the orphanage.

6. Hojuk forgery. All correctly processed international adoptions used an orphan hojuk to expedite the adoption, but in the case of older children who had already been registered on their family’s hojuk, that means an orphan hojuk had to have been made in order to process the adoption. This is a falsification of a legal document.

7. Citizenship forgery. The child was recorded as having been sent to a different adoptive country than they really were, and were recorded as having gained the citizenship of the wrong country.

8. Identity forgery. In cases such as that famously recorded by Deann Borshay in First Person Plural, the child was switched for another child who was not able to be sent at the time the adoption was scheduled.]

 

Adoptees should not be stripped of their Korean citizenship.

By law, the Korean government strips all adoptees of their Korean citizenship when they gain the citizenship of their host country. Adoptees should be able to hold dual citizenship throughout childhood and determine their own citizenship for themselves at the age of majority in order to make the paperwork and legal identity continuous. This will also make emigrations through adoption more like other emigrations.

It is truly in South Korea’s national interest to help single mothers raise their children, and not just because it will make the country look better. Forty years from now, who will grow and cook our food, drive our trains, and work in Korea’s companies? Would it be alright with you if the person who takes care of you in the hospital when you are old is an educated and skilled doctor who happens to have been born the child of a single mother? Taking care of single mothers and their children not only makes sense as an investment in the future labor force of Korea. It is just the right thing to do.

But as of this year, our law has yet to be passed, the overseas adoptions still continue at the rate of over 1,000 a year, and single mothers are still not getting any meaningful assistance from the government. The only way for South Korea to save face on the global stage is to quickly and decisively solve its own problems domestically. We need not just economic leadership, but also ethical leadership. We have the golden opportunity this fall do exactly that. I urge all the lawmakers here to work with Rep. Choi Young-hee to help us achieve our vision for a just and abundant future for all Koreans. Thank you so much for your listening.

Source: CChronicle

So next time you see these pictures at the magazine stand at your local supermarket with celebrities holding up their newly adopted Asian babies, you will have an the better picture. It may not be such a good thing.. 

Video - The Mystery of #4709 - Who Am I?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmrNP1lgTsg 
 

Stars want adoptions to stay in Korea

Korea is no longer a struggling poor developing country where the young and innocent are sent off to countries around the world for the hopes of a better life. Now, the Korean government is campaigning to keep adoptions within the motherland.

And this year, top stars Lee Mi-yeon, Yun Eun-hye, Joo Ji-hoon, Kim Jung-Eun, Jang Hyuk, Park Jung-a, Lee Seung-ki, Wondergirls, Suh Kyeong-suk participated in a special photo shoot by photographer Cho Sei-hon.

The “Letter from the angels No. 5″ campaign started in 2003 to encourage adoptions within the country.

The star studded black n’ white photos will be displayed at the Insa Art Center (Gana Art Gallery) in Insa-dong, Seoul from December 12 to 19th, 2007. Or, you can view more pictures at lovefund.or.kr (in Korean).

Source: PopSeoul