Korean Adoption Irregularities

This is my list of personal accounts of adoption irregularities in the Korean adoption industry. I wish I had known about this when we were in process to adopt in Korea.  I would have asked many more questions than I did.

If you are a pre-adoptive parent, push both your domestic agency and your Korean agency to tell you what they know about similar problems in the past and any safeguards that have been put in place since then to prevent future problems. If they can’t give you a straight answer to the first question or a good answer to the second, I think you should consider long and hard whether it is ethical for you to proceed with your adoption.

Please visit the TRACK website for Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea for details on how the Korean government is being asked to investigate these claims.

Also see the 2005 KBS documentary on Korea’s adoption industry for insights into current practices.

If you know of any additional online accounts, please leave a link in the comments here or email me at livingincolor08 at gmail dot com

• Jane Jeong Trenka: Jane’s documentation declaring her an orphan was falsified.
• Kimette: Kimette was old enough to remember the process that brought her to the United States.   After losing her father on the streets of Seoul, she went to a police station to try to get help finding him or her home.  Even though she knew her address, she was adopted out to the United States.
• Margie: The first family information provided in the referral paperwork for one of Margie’s children was false.
• Kunya Scarborough Des Jardins: Information provided to her adoptive parents about the first family was false, and the adoption process was mis-represented to her first family.