Nothing About Us Without Us

Overseas adoptees shape the adoption laws of South Korea

Do you believe that access to medical information is important for all people, including adoptees and the children of adoptees? Are you a Korean adoptee who believes that you should have a say in the laws that Korea makes about the lives of existing adoptees and future adoptees? Would you like fair laws to govern the birthfamily search process? Do believe that unwed Korean mothers should have access to objective information and be supported in keeping their own children? If you said “yes” to any of these questions, you may be interested in what is happening this fall in Seoul with the revisions of Korea’s adoption laws.

South Korea’s “special adoption law” that governs international adoption has been amended nine times since its creation in 1961. It is this law, along with the laws governing domestic adoptions, that are now being prepared for their 10th revision. Although the adoptees were not originally planned to be included in the discussion, an outcry has arisen in Seoul from the adoptees: “Nothing about us without us.”

The coalition of TRACK (Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea) ASK (Adoptee Solidarity Korea) and KoRoot, along with TRACK’s legal advisors, the Gonggam Public Interest Lawyers, have been participating in the law revision process through various channels since last winter. This summer, a group of single mothers called Miss Mamma Mia, who are raising their own children, also joined our coalition. (Click to read the recent New York Times article on the moms).

The main point on which our bill differs from the goverment’s is on domestic adoption. Our coalition preferences support for single mothers over the government’s push to promote domestic adoption. However, we are also addressing domestic adoption because we now have a great opportunity to improve rights for domestic adoptees, most of whom don’t even know they are adopted.

Our main demands are:

1. Integrate the laws that govern domestic and international adoption, and bring the laws up to international standards.
2. Put children first.
3. Strengthen support for children’s’ original families.
4. Strengthen the rights of adoptees and children who will be adopted.
5. Install a government watchdog over the adoption agencies.

Our coalition has struggled for adoptee participation in the process by directly approaching lawmakers and ministry officials, writing letters, petitioning, using outdoor puppet and mask performances to draw attention to our cause and educate the public, and being actively involved in the powerful and influential South Korean media through TV broadcasts and newspaper and magazine articles. TRACK has also aggressively pushed for language access for adoptees at public hearings.

After prolonged struggle with the government, we won a major victory in August when our lawyer, So Rami, was appointed as one of the members of the government’s newly formed task force on adoption law revisions. This task force replaced an earlier research group led by Prof. Huh Nam-soon. The new task force seems to be a great improvement over the former research group, and will meet weekly for eight sessions from Sept. 3-Oct. 30.

The personnel on the task force are one government official, three professors in the fields of law and social work, and four experts in law and women’s issues. In addition, two guests will be invited to each meeting. The general goal of the government’s proposal is to promote domestic adoption and work toward ratifying the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, which also must involve the cooperation of the Ministry of Justice.

The third and last public hearing on the adoption law (date TBA) will center on the task force’s recommendations, which will be combined with the recommendations of Korean Women’s Development Institute and the combined recommendations of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family and the KCARE to make one government proposal. The government proposal will be submitted to the National Assembly for ratification into law in 2010.

The coalition of TRACK, ASK and KoRoot is taking a two-pronged approach to the law revisions. We are, as explained above, going through the government process as much as possible and have our representative on the task force. However, it is unlikely that our suggestions will all make it into the government’s bill. Therefore, we will also introduce our own draft bill to the National Assembly under sponsorship from a parlimentarian. TRACK has been developing its relationship with lawmakers for over one year, and the coalition started more aggressively lobbying multiple parties this September during the national audit.

The laws are being written by our lawyer in Korean, of course, so what you see in English is a translation. Our revisions are outlined below:

Integration of civil law adoption procedure and special (international) law adoption procedure

• It is necessary to set an objective of making laws that convert the old orphan special adoption law (no longer in existence) into the inheritance and adoption special law (in existence today).
• The civil law for adopting children domestically should be extended to all children, not just “children in need of protection.” (The purpose of this is to systematize domestic adoption.)
• The civil law should conform to and supplement international standards to form an advanced and complete adoption system that includes domestic processes for regular and relative adoption.

Provisions to put the human rights of the child at the heart of the adoption process

• The age at which a child can consent to his/her own adoption should be adjusted from 15 years to 12 years (Western age counting system).
• Parents have the right to proper counseling before sending a child for adoption. (For instance, the practice of offering original families information on raising their own children should be strengthened, while counseling by adoption agencies should be banned.)
• Deliberation time for relinquishment must be enforced. The criteria for agreement to adoption must be strengthened.
• Criteria for adoptive parents must be strengthened covering areas of criminal records, alcohol abuse, career. Adoptive parents have to be responsible for education to prepare them to adopt.
• The national organ should control the registration and permission procedures for adoption.

Strengthening of the child’s original family through country and administrative district (city, county, etc.) support

• Provision for single mothers who deliver and raise children to apply to government for support.

Strengthening the rights of adoptees and children who will be adopted

• Guarantee the adoptee’s right to access information.
• Strengthen the child’s opportunity to give their opinion on adoption.

Rearrangement and solidification of the relationship between the adoption agencies and KCARE

• It is the duty of the government to make specific laws that preference domestic adoption over international adoption.
• Before the baby is adopted, all the necessary papers should be in order.
• It is a duty to offer post-adoption service should be offered (right now they are offered only until 6 months after adoption).
• There should be a watchdog introduced to monitor the adoption fees.

This has been an intense, exhilarating, sometimes frustrating but always wonderful and educational struggle. We have many supporters who are Korean nationals and Korean Americans who have helped the adopted Koreans greatly. We are proud, blessed, and grateful to be part of a process that will benefit not only the internationally adopted Koreans, but also the domestically adopted Koreans, our 1.5 million Korean relatives still living in Korea, and vulnerable Korean families at risk of being separated. Overall, our work will add to the dignity and self-determination of the Korean people. We ask for your support as we take this struggle to the final stage this coming fall and in 2010.

Coalition Web sites

TRACK, KoRoot, ASK, Gonggam lawyers, Miss Mamma Mia

Jane Jeong Trenka was sent for adoption to Minnesota in 1972, and returned to live in Korea in 2004. She is the author of Fugitive Visions and The Language of Blood, and co-editor of Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption. She works at Yonhap News Agency in Seoul and is president of TRACK.

This article is reprinted with permission from Korean Quarterly.