[The Korea Times]                                                                                           November 24^th, 2011

[Opinion]Stigma of baby 'exporter'

New culture needed to solve the problem

It is a shame that the nation is still stigmatized as one of the world’s biggest “exporters” of babies despite its rapid economic growth. The dishonor is evident in the U.S. State Department’s 2011 Annual Adoption Report to Congress that lists South Korea as the No. 1 source of inter-country adoptions for American families.

According to the report, American foster parents adopted 734 Korean children between October 2010 and September this year. The number of adoptees from other countries stood at 216 from the Philippines, 196 from Uganda and 168 from India.

Korea sent 1,013 children overseas to join their new parents in 2010, accounting for 40 percent of the country’s total adoptees. It is urgent to promote domestic adoptions in order to reduce the number of inter-country adoptions. The nation’s birthrate has nosedived to 1.23, but why has it continued to have its orphans leave the country?

In the past, poverty had driven parents to give up their own children. But these days, young unwed moms are accountable for over 90 percent of total adoptions. The best way to solve the problem is to let such moms raise their children by themselves.

There are serious challenges: deep-rooted prejudice and discrimination against unmarried mothers. Korea is traditionally a Confucian society, and its members have put a stress on blood ties, making it difficult to adopt children here. That’s why domestic adoption has been in the doldrums. Koreans have recently begun to change due to rapid socioeconomic transformations. But it still has a long way to go before having a better awareness about adoption.

What’s important is to create a new culture that can change Koreans’ attitude. The nation needs to create a society that puts more value on family and children. Most of all, all members of society should get rid of discrimination against unmarried mothers.

It is true that unmarried mothers are still treated as “sinners.” People have tried to have the “scarlet letter” engraved into the heart of women bearing a child out of wedlock. They should no longer be hypocrites. Now they must embrace unwed mothers as their neighbors to live together.

It is also required to provide better sex education to schoolchildren in order to help them avoid unwanted pregnancies. Educational authorities and the community should better protect the rights of unmarried teenage mothers so that they can raise their children and study simultaneously.

Needless to say, children are our future. We should let them fully enjoy their basic human rights whoever they are ― adopted or not. We must remember the preamble of the Hague Adoption Convention that reads: “Recognizing that the child … should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding.”

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2011/11/202_99479.html