Welcome to KUMSN Website

100706 One-third of babies born to unwed mothers in Australia

2010-07-23T16:39:12+09:00

One-third of babies born to unwed mothers in Australia
Indo-Asian News Service
Melbourne, July 06, 2010First Published: 19:25 IST(6/7/2010)

Last Updated: 19:27 IST(6/7/2010) Email

Over a third of babies (34.4 percent) born in Australia in 2008 were to mothers who were not married, registering a whopping rise in such births from 8.3 percent in 1970. "For many children it's been a good revolution, but it depends on the extent to which they are in safe and stable homes," said the director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies, Alan Hayes, after a study.

The big rise in ex-nuptial births was to cohabiting couples, he said. However, the proportion of babies born to single women on their own remained stable since the early 1990s, The Age reported.

"It's difficult to generalise about the effects on the children," Hayes said. "It depends on whether the cohabiting relationship is long-term and stable, whether it leads to marriage, or whether it is fragile and part of a series of relationships."

Rebecca Huntley, director of Ipsos Mackay Research, said for many members of the cohabiting young generation, the sign of commitment was the decision to have children and to buy a house together. But later, when they could afford it, the couple splashed out on a big, ostentatious wedding.

"They see the wedding as a party with 150 friends," she said. "For their parents' generation a wedding was the licence to buy a house and have the children."

The proportion of couples who have lived together before marrying reached 78 percent in 2008, compared with 23 percent in 1980.

The percentage of working parents has also increased, with 63 percent of mothers of dependent children in jobs (mostly part-time) compared with 43 percent in 1981.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/One-third-of-babies-born-to-unwed-mothers-in-Australia/Article1-568343.aspx

100710 opinion-Fathers: Demographic change

2010-07-23T16:15:04+09:00

Opinion

The e-mail address(es) that you supply to use this service will only be used to send the requested article.
July 10, 2010

Fathers: Demographic change
A record 41 percent of American babies now are born to single mothers, according to a new Pew Research Center study released last month. The ratio is highest for blacks (72 percent) and Hispanics (53 percent). The share of white babies born to single moms is 29 percent, and Asians 17 percent.
By
Advertiser

A record 41 percent of American babies now are born to single mothers, according to a new Pew Research Center study released last month. The ratio is highest for blacks (72 percent) and Hispanics (53 percent). The share of white babies born to single moms is 29 percent, and Asians 17 percent.

Many of these tots don't lack present fathers, because their parents are live-together unwed couples. (But such couples split at about twice the rate of married pairs.)

Still, it's a demographic fact that multitudes of U.S. kids -- a relentlessly growing number -- are being raised in one-parent homes. "Millions of children have little or no contact with their fathers," Cathy Young of Reason magazine wrote.

Further, it's a sad fact that such children are more at risk of flunking school, turning delinquent, using dope, being jobless, and winding up jailed or pregnant.

President Obama has launched a national Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative in hope of fostering stronger families with at-home fathers. He told a Washington assembly:

"My own father left my family when I was 2 years old. I was raised by a heroic mother and wonderful grandparents who provided the support, discipline and love that helped me get to where I am today, but I still felt the weight of that absence throughout my childhood. It's something that leaves a hole no government can fill. Studies show that children who grow up without their fathers around are more likely to drop out of high school, go to jail, or become teen fathers themselves."

In contrast, Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times told the remarkable story of his own father. He said his dad, a wealthy young Armenian, was imprisoned by Nazis during World War II, then his region was seized by Soviets after the war. The father escaped on horseback to Romania, which came under communist control. He swam across the Danube on a moonless night to escape, but was captured by Yugoslav communists and put into a concentration camp, an asbestos mine and a logging camp.

After two years, he escaped to France -- but was unwelcome, even though he spoke seven languages. So he rode a ship to America, learned English and earned a doctorate at the University of Chicago, where he married a fellow student. He became a professor, living on a farm with a 30,000-book library.

The son grew up working alongside his foreign-born dad and absorbing his deep feelings for needy people. The son copied one of his father's statements:

"War, want and concentration camps, exile from home and homeland, these have made me hate strife among men, but they have not made me lose faith in the future of mankind. ... If man has been able to create the arts, the sciences and the material civilization we know in America, why should he be judged powerless to create justice, fraternity and peace?"

The guidance of such a father is priceless to rising children. While most dads aren't so profound, all can give a valuable gift every day, simply by being part of their kids' lives. As Obama said:

"Our children don't need us to be superheros. They don't need us to be perfect. They do need us to be present. They need us to show up and give it our best shot."

Fatherhood is vital, even though it keeps slipping in America.

http://wvgazette.com/Opinion/201007090642

100620 The Art Installation in Korean

2010-06-23T13:32:30+09:00

The Art Installation in Korean

Posted on June 20, 2010 by jjtrenka

Hello TRACK fans,

Suki here. I’d just like you to know that my Korean friend Miwha has posted a great photo essay of the art installation on her DAUM blog.

above photos by Lee, Miwha

Please share this with your Korean-speaking friends and Korean national friends. Thanks!

A Collection of One

Posted on June 16, 2010 by jjtrenka

Here’s my post from my own blog, which will have to keep you at bay until Jane gets back from her honeymoon, at which time we hope to have processed this better and next month there will be a BBC radio documentary on Korea’s Lost Children, as well as a short documentary which I don’t know how will be distributed yet.

girl #4708,

a.k.a. Leanne or “Suki” Leith

photo by Jeanne Modderman

The art installation we’ve been working on the past month is to illustrate the relationship between the number 1 and 200,000. We lose sense of the impact of our actions when we allow ourselves to look at only the number right in front of us. The reality is that 200,000 is almost unfathomable. This is an attempt at showing what one looks like, 200,000 times. One adoptee at a time, processed in the perpetual motion machine that is international adoption.

Something resembling the speech I gave (was told to, “make short your speech” midway through, so much got cut) at the National Assembly reception for the art installation:

Over three years ago I left a full time position for a part time job, so I could have the time to pursue creating art. However, I failed. I was confused: I couldn’t express myself and had nothing to say. But because of a personal crisis, instead of creating art, I ended up using all that time thinking about how I ended up where I was in my life. For the first time ever, I began to think about international adoption and its impact on myself and everyone like me

Now that I’m in Korea, I find myself having too much to say. This piece is part of that.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about numbers. Well, actually I guess I’ve been thinking about numbers for all my life. Mostly about one number, by itself, which I think is very common among adoptees, as they must by default bear their losses on their own when they are sent to foreign countries – where no one in their families can understand what it is to look different, or to be disconnected from those that look like them, or have to explain their existence, or try to reconcile why they were given up. One is the number we adoptees know too well.

When I read statistics about the number of social orphans (children with living parents but called orphans) created each year I get so sad. When I am told to be happy because the numbers are decreasing, it doesn’t cheer me up because every social orphan created means one more child who must learn the meaning of one on a profound level. Being exiled from your mother, your mother country, and your mother tongue is a loneliness I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

These days, on average, approximately 3 children a day are sent out of Korea for adoption. During the peak year of international adoptions, 1985, the average was more like 10. They are both small numbers, yet they add up. In Korea’s case, they add up to almost 200,000. To me, 3 children a day are one lifetime + another lifetime + another lifetime. 3 is a huge number to me.

Here in Korea, I watch and listen and try to love this place. I try to understand why my country threw me away, and I think I can and I think I forgive. But I can’t understand why there are still 3 more children leaving every day. In a rich country without war or famine, there seems to be no valid reasons for creating orphans out of children with living parents. And as I learn about the excuses why 3 children continue to be thrown away every day, I sometimes think I am glad I was sent to America. Because in America, I was able to be a single mother and go to college and have a career, because my government helps take care of its citizens, and I know that I would have struggled twice as hard and been cruelly judged here in Korea. Thank goodness my children, the love of my life; my reason for being, weren’t born in Korea, or someone might have forced me to send them away for adoption.

Preserving family honor by eliminating an innocent person is not an honorable act. Hiding dark secrets is not an honorable act. Creating an industry out of disappearing children is not an honorable act. Preserving one family by destroying another is not an honorable act. No. This is the opposite of honor or family values. This is hypocrisy.

Penalizing women for indiscretions or unfortunate circumstances not only hurts the women and their children – but it also hurts Korea – in both potential citizen numbers and emotional trauma to society at large. These women are no disgrace to Korea: KOREA’S NEGLECT OF THEM is the real disgrace, and the resulting expulsion of their children abroad makes Korea look like a third world charity case. These women who choose to face their mistakes and bear their responsibilities indicate a true strength of character and maturity that is missing from the claims of many Koreans, typically their harshest critics. (We have a word for people who try to hide in shame: cowards. Cowards are threatened by those with integrity). Any woman who chooses to prevail in this harsh climate so she may raise and nurture the flesh and blood she brought into the world is brave and deserves all our support.

So instead of penalizing these women, we need to assist them. It is an investment in a stronger Korea, as every child lost to lack of social services equals a loss of human potential. (Well, not to the other countries who receive them, but certainly a loss of human potential for Korea) And the kind of potential that comes from difficult beginnings forges the strongest character, which is endangered in these soft times. That’s a huge loss for Korea if this country intends to persevere in the future.

As an ethnic Korean I want nothing more than to be proud of being Korean, but I can’t – because in the rest of the world Korea is still known as the best place to get unwanted babies, as a mean race that ostracizes and oppresses women, and as barbarians who eat their own pets. I believe Koreans want to be proud of Korea too, and so we should find real solutions which strengthen society instead of perpetuating practices which cause pain and literally diminish society.

Adoption has been the easiest solution for the government for the past 50+ years, but it does not solve social problems and, I would argue, cutting off children from their mothers is maiming Korean people and Korean society, because it forces all Koreans to live with the stain of being the kind of people who throw away their own children. Adoption has been the solution of choice because it’s easier to sign away one number with one signature than it is to acknowledge that each and every number is a human being that deserves a chance to live their lives as God and nature intended.

My prayer is that Korea comes to value all life and all families, both perfect and imperfect, so that no more one-way travel certificates out of Korea are forced upon little people. Let this congressional session show the world that Koreans are not barbarians but enlightened people, creating a civilized society that takes care of its own citizens

Girl #4708

June 15^th, 2010

With only one month’s ’round the clock organization, adoptees visiting or living in Korea have united as a community to make this idea a reality, getting assistance from Korean nationals and unwed moms.

June Photo by Jeanne Modderman

Over the course of two weeks, 90,000 price tags were stamped with an individual number representing one adoptee.

photos by Jeanne Modderman

Over 75 referral photos were sent in from all over the world.

photos by Jeanne Modderman

Over the course of the six day installation, approximately 60,000 tags were hung.

We fell far short of the 200,000 but had known all along that would be impossible.

photo by Jes

I’m exhausted but it feels wonderful to do purposeful work.

http://justicespeaking.wordpress.com/

100602 Britain's youngest mum: Girl who was pregnant at 11 says she will fight to see her daughter

2010-06-02T11:38:33+09:00

Britain's youngest mum: Girl who was pregnant at 11 says she will fight to see her daughter
By Maureen Culley

Last updated at 5:30 PM on 1st June 2010
Comments (198) Add to My Stories

Aged just 12 years old, this is Britain's youngest mother holding her newborn baby.
Still a child herself, the new parent's sunken, fearful eyes and inability to smile transform what should be a joyful moment into a desperately unsettling scene.
Tressa Middleton's pregnancy four years ago shocked the nation when she admitted having sex while drunk and spoke of her excitement at becoming a mother.
Now the Scot is 16 and fighting for the right to see her adopted daughter again, as the uneasy images of her holding her baby are shown for the first time.
She yesterday admitted spiralling into a deep depression and turning to alcohol and drugs after the baby was born, when she found herself battling to keep the infant.

Unsettling: Pictures taken of Tressa Middleton soon after the birth in 2006
Miss Middleton said she has quit drugs and alcohol and spoke of her regret at ever letting her baby go.

She told the Scottish Sun: 'I'm not a big drinker now and I don't smoke hash any more. In the past I've cut myself but I don't do that any more. I'm going to give myself a couple of years to get my life sorted, then I'm going to fight for access to my little girl.
When her daughter was born in 2006, the pair were taken into foster care. Eighteen months ago, a child psychologist decided it was in the best interests of the infant that she be adopted.
Miss Middleton signed papers handing over her daughter to an anonymous couple who, when the adoption became official, decided that they did not want to allow the birth mother any access.
Her only contact is now a letter from the child's new parents every six months, updating her on the little girl's progress.
Miss Middleton said yesterday: 'I got to meet her adoptive parents but I wasn't allowed to know their names. They were maybe mid-30s. They seemed lovely but it doesn't really matter who was taking her - I never wanted to let her go.
'After I'd signed the adoption papers, I went to court to fight for twice-a-year contact. I'd even tried to make a deal that if I signed the papers I would get to see her once a year, but the adoptive parents didn't want that. They don't want me to see her. They want to get on with their lives. It makes me hate them.

'At the end of the day, she's my wee girl and I'm doing them a favour. I wasn't asking for much, asking to see her once a year, but they thought I was.'

Heartache: Tressa, now 16, wants to see her child

When she became pregnant in 2005, the case prompted dismay from church and family groups, amid criticisms that a Scottish Executive campaign to cut teenage pregnancies had failed.

Concern over 'broken Britain' rose further when details of Miss Middleton's chaotic home life in Armadale, West Lothian,emerged.

She was one of six children - by four different fathers - to her then 34-year-old mother, who said she was 'proud' of her daughter for keeping the baby.
On the bleak streets where Miss Middleton was raised, petty crime is rife and drink and drugs are ever present. Boarded-up windows abound and gardens are strewn with bed frames, discarded mattresses and other rubbish.
Children gather on street corners and it is far from unusual to see young girls pushing prams.
Despite barely being out of primary school, Miss Middleton smoked up to 20 cigarettes a day, used cannabis and downed cocktails of Buckfast tonic wine and vodka.

Speaking under the cover of anonymity at the time, she disclosed that she had discovered the pregnancy weeks after having drunken sex in August 2005.
Drawing on a roll-up cigarette while heavily pregnant, she said: 'I slept with him because I was drunk and I wanted to. I don't regret it because if I didn't have sex with him I wouldn't have my baby. I knew straight away that I couldn't have an abortion because that's something I don't believe in.'
The girl was scared to tell her mother who, ironically, had given birth to her youngest child days before her daughter found that she was pregnant.
Miss Middleton admitted that she had an argument with her mother after breaking the news of her pregnancy.
'It was hard but it has brought me and my mum closer together,' she said. 'It's good to know I'll have my mum there to help me if I need her.'
Now 16 and legally an adult, she is able to speak openly about her experiences for the first time and has also allowed the images of those early moments after the birth to be published.
Miss Middleton, who believes she has 'turned a corner' in her life, hopes to join the Army and prove that she deserves to see her child again.
She spoke yesterday of the time when she first felt that she would lose her daughter.

This came before the adoption was even official, when the baby went to live with her foster family and the teenager was allowed to see the child only every three months at a family centre.

A child herself: Tressa with her newly-born daughter

The young mother said: 'My daughter sometimes called me "Mummy" then one day she called me by my first name and called her foster carer "Mum". It really hurt and I burst into tears. Then she wouldn't come to me. She refused and would start screaming. It felt like every time I saw her I was losing her more and more.
'The adoptive parents gave her their surname. They've kept her first name the same, but hearing that her name had changed was heartbreaking. It's like they're turning my wee girl into someone different. She was dressed different and her hair was different. It was hard to see someone else bringing up my wee girl.'
Miss Middleton is not allowed to know where her daughter is living or see photographs, although the latest progress letter, from March, described the three-year-old as 'a very happy, chatty, self-confident and together little girl.'
Miss Middleton said: 'When I read it I just started crying. It says she can read numbers 0-9 and count to 20. That's all the things I wanted to teach her as her mum. It's wee simple things like that which affect me.
'I get upset when I see wee girls walking past with their mums. I miss my wee girl every day. I've kept all her clothes from when she was a baby. I keep under my pillow a wee pink Babygro and hat from when she was born.'
Miss Middleton, who now has only limited contact with her own family and lives in Dumfries, admitted, however, that adoption was in her daughter's 'best interests'.
But she added: 'It was the hardest thing I've ever done. I don't think I can give my daughter the life she needs just now.
'When I'm older I want to build a relationship with my daughter. I'm concentrating on sorting myself out so that one day I'll hopefully see my wee girl again. I love her to bits.

Text from Mailonline

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1282994/Britains-youngest-mum-Tressa-Middleton-pregnant-11-says-fight-daughter.html#ixzz0peuHjngI

090514 A Smart Korean Child for 17,215 dollars

2010-05-26T15:01:26+09:00

A Smart Korean Child for 17,215 dollars

(This lady is the owner of the blog http://gyopo.wordpress.com/ HeeJung)

Cover Story – Holt International’s price of children
“adoption industry’ is the fault of the state that sits on the fence”

Her siblings hated Leanne. She had small eyes and black hair. Leanne was the only oriental in the small village in Detroit, Michigan. Three siblings of hers bullied her and her adoptive parents abused her. It was a different story, though, in December 1966 when Leanne was first received into the arms of her adoptive parents. They voluntarily adopted Leanne. They must’ve had sympathy for a baby from a poor country.

» Number of babies sent abroad for adoption by year

Bullying, Sexual abuse, Running Away from home and ‘return’
But Leanne adoptive mother began to treat her coldly. Later the mother attempted a suicide – she was a weak character, and was unable to give Leanne the motherly love that she was supposed to receive. The adoptive father sexually abused Leanne until she was 13. Leanne did not know what he was doing to her when she was little, and after she grew up and realized what it was, she had to remain silent. There was no other option because she did not want to be abandoned again. Around her were only white people like her adopter father. She ran away from home at 18. She got married before she reached 20, but got divorced five years later.

Is she unhappy? It’s too soon to tell. Leanne Leith (44) says that her life was “continuation of isolation,” but she still has a hope in her life – to meet her natural parents. For a year she has been requesting Holt International to let her see her records. Holt International USA replied that they do not have any records from Korea, and Holt Children’s Service in Korea said that they’d passed all the records to the States. Last February, she returned to Korea after 42 years.

The only record she managed to extract from adoption agency were a page of paperwork and a photograph of a two year-old baby who has no idea about her future. The photographed is labeled ‘#4708.’ That was the number given to the baby who was abandoned outside Wonju City hall, Gangwon province in March 1966. The photo must’ve been sent to the adopter father who sexually abused Leanne and the adoptive mother who suffered from depression. Now the photo is the key to meeting her natural parents. It’s been over three months since she arrived in Korea, but she has not had much success. Her tragedy is yet to finish.

Leanne is the future of over thousand Korean children that are being sent abroad for adoption every year. Not all of them would live tragic lives. However, there will be sadness and complications throughout their lives. The wrongs of adults are put on to the shoulders of children. And it’s all the state’s fault.
We cannot just brush it off as the story of the past. From the beginning of the 21st century to 2007, 16,790 Korean children have been sent abroad for adoption. The Orphan Adoption Act came into place in 1961 to deal with all those war orphans after the Korea war. Half a century there aren’t any war orphans in Korea, but overseas adoption nevertheless remains the same.

1,250 Korean children were sent abroad for adoption last year. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs data records 161,558 Korean children to have been sent abroad for adoption between 1958 and 2008. 108,222 were sent to the USA (67%), followed by 11,165 to France, 9,297 to Sweden and 8,702 to Denmark.

U.S. Census Bureau’s 2000 data shows that, of children adopted into the USA, Korean children accounted for the largest proportion (24%) followed by China and Russia. Since 2000, the number of Korean adoptees sent to the USA has declined by a small margin, taking the label ‘World’s greatest baby exporting nation’ from Korea. However, Korea was still placed 5th after Guatemala, China, Russia and Ethiopia. Korea still accounts for a significant proportion of adoptees sent to the USA.

There’s more. In 1993, the Hague Conference on Private International Law resulted in the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption. Korea, after 15 years since the creation of the Convention, is yet to sign it. The Hague Convention requires governments to install a central government agency to oversee adoption in order to prevent unlawful inter-country adoption. As of February 2009, 78 state parties to the Convention all have such agencies that manage international adoption.

» The Number of international adoptees living in the USA(2000)
Korea, China, Russia, Mexico, India, Guatemala, Colombia, The Philippines
Source: US Census Bureau

The UN Convention on the Rights of Child is also on hold

Eight countries such as the USA, Canada and Sweden receive Korean children for adoption. Those countries have joined the Hague Convention, and have central government agency in charge of adoption. In the USA, the Department of State oversees adoption. Sweden has the Swedish Intercountry Adoptions Authority (MIA), also a central government agency. Korea has no such agency that manages adoption.

Korea is a state party to the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of Child, but have postponed the enforcement of the three articles of the Convention relating to adoption. The Convention requires all adoption, whether domestic or international, to be authorized only by a state authority. It also states that international adoption is an alternative to domestic adoption, and international adoption should not yield financial gains to those involved. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea made a recommendation to sign the Hague Convention and stop postponing the full compliance with the Convention on the Rights of Child in 2005; there has been no such change.

In the past century, Korea managed to clear the remains of the Japanese imperial rule and of military dictatorship. But international adoption remains. In 1988 prior to the Seoul Olympic Games, foreign media such as New York Times criticized the ‘orphan exporting’ Korea. The government for the first time mentioned banning international adoption, but no action followed. President Kim Dae-jung officially apologized to Korean adoptees who returned to Korea as adults in 1998. He recognized that international adoption itself was the wrong of the state, but it meant little more than a symbolic gesture.

In 2005, Kim Geun-tae, then Minister of Health and Welfare under the Roh administration,, promised to put an end to international adoption within 4-5 years. That was also just words. The number of international adoption decreased from 2101 in 2005 to 1250 in 2008, but there’s still a long way to go until there’s no more international adoption. Even from an optimistic perspective on the rate of decrease, international adoption will continue for at least 10 years.

There is a reason why the state’s promise repeatedly falls null. In Korea, international adoption is not managed by the state, but left to the market. Holt International’s website lists the price that an American family should pay to adopt a Korean child. It’s $ 17,215. On this ‘adoption market,’ Korean babies are the most expensive because they are known to be smart and therefore popular among foreign adoptive parents-to-be. A Bulgarian baby costs $16,000, a Chinese baby $11,360, and a Nepalese baby $12,000. These prices should serve well as an index of how these states are blind to children’s rights. Registration fee, administration fee and escort fee are not included.

The money that adoptive parents pay are split between adoption agency in their country and the Korean adoption agency. Holt Children’s Service in Korea says, “About $6400-9600 out of the over $17,000 paid by adoptive parents come to us.” The rest goes to Holt International USA. This money is used to cover the cost of foster care and that of supporting unwed mothers until they give birth.

“Money back and forth proves the existence of adoption business”
June last year, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs carried out a special inspection on Holt Children’s Service and Social Welfare Society. The consequent report says, “the excessively high commission that adoption agencies receive from overseas necessitates an appropriate measure to be taken.” The inspection revealed that Social Welfare Society receives $16,000 from the USA, C$22,000 from Canada, €12,000 from Sweden per adoption; Holt Children’s Service was found to be receiving $11,000 from the USA and $17,000 from Europe per adoption.

Adoption agencies have their argument. Children need parents, and someone should find parents for children without parents. It would be good if domestic adoption would cover all needs, but the current social awareness means that a ‘second best’ is necessary. “Money received in the process is used to support unwed mothers or children than need care” said n official with an adoption agency in Korea, “we are actually so short of finance that we need to receive government subsidy.”

But NGOs that help international adoptees have the different side of the story. Pastor Kim Do-hyun of Koroot, a support group for adoptees, says, “the money changing hands in the process of international adoption itself proves that there is ‘adoption business.’” The state has the duty to provide adequate care for children born in Korea. If their parents are experiencing hardship, it is also the state’s duty to help them to live with their children. At the moment, overseas adoption is a convenient escape for the state that leaves the burden to its people, pushing the costs to foreign families and producing more international adoptees in the future.

Once it has been decided that a child should be sent abroad, the child’s destination is also determined by adoption agency. Different agencies have agreements with different countries. Currently Holt Children’s Service works with adoption agencies in the USA, Denmark, Norway, France and Luxemburg: Eastern Social Welfare Society works with the USA and Australia: Social Welfare Society with the USA, Sweden, Canada and Italy: and Korea Social Service with the USA.

The reality of Korean children sent to the USA in particular reveals market principle. Although the State Department authorizes adoption, private sector has the strongest influence on adoption in the USA out of all state parties to the Hague Convention. Private adoption agencies, authorized by the state, encourage American families to adopt foreign children. And these adoption agencies receive money from American parents that go for adoption. Hence the pricing of foreign children. It is no brainer that having the ‘more expensive’ children adopted would be good for the agencies.

Why, then, do American parents adopt Korean children instead of American children? Huh Nam-soon, professor of social welfare at Hallym University, explains; “For American parents to adopt an American child, the legal process could cost them over $10,000 just in lawyer fee. So whereas adopting an American child costs too much and a foreign child comes as a more difficult challenge to raise, it is widely thought that Korean children are the most cost-effective option.”

Kang Young-sil, the director of the unwed mothers’ home AeRanWon, says, “when adoption agencies in Korea and the USA sign agreements to set adoption fees, the US government does not intervene at all, and the Korean government has no legal grounds or manpower to control such process.”

And here lies the reason why a country that has no war or famine or a desperate need to recover trade deficit by exporting babies is still sending its children abroad. The inertia of private adoption agencies is very much still in action. There are people whose job and salary depends on the continuation of international adoption.

The photograph of 1966 when ‘#4708’ was born again as Leanne Leith. Leanne came to Korea to find the two years of life that she’d had before this photograph was taken.

International adoption increased when war orphans decreased in number.

There are four private organizations that handle international adoption in Korea. Since the creation of Orphan Adoption Act in 1961, Holt Children’s Service, Social Welfare Society, Korea Social Service, and Eastern Social Welfare Society received authorization from the government as international adoption agency between 1966 and 1972. Holt Children’s Service, the largest of them all, have 142 employees devoted to adoption work as of December 2004. Adoption administration is also handled by 11 regional offices.

Since war orphans have effectively ceased to exist after the 1970’s, international adoption has been directly related to the issue of unwed mothers. The four international adoption agencies in Korea run unwed mothers’ shelter. Of 25 unwed mothers’ shelters in Korea, 17 are run by international adoption agencies like Holt.

What is interesting is that the number of children sent abroad from Korea began to increase rapidly from the point when the number of war orphans began to decrease. The number of international adoption went from 7275 in the 1960s to 48,247 in the 1970s when adoption agencies began their work, and to 65,321 in the 1980s. Adoption agencies have effectively developed the market for adoption. Experts say that the increase in international adoption was not due to the increase in the number of unwed mothers, but due to the increase in the number of private adoption agencies that send children abroad. In other words, adoption agencies actively searched for babies to send abroad.

According to <The 50 Years of Holt Children’s Service>, “for 2005, 941 cases of international adoption to countries such as the USA and France have been planned, and by the third quarter, 668 cases have actualized to fulfill 70.2% of the initial plan.” It tells us that adoption agencies set target goals on international adoption and carried out internal assessment again such goals.

In Fall 2006, Choi Mi-eun (alias), aged 22, got pregnant. She had run away from home after the divorce of her parents and was always yearning for love and care. She easily opened herself to those whom she hung out with. The child was born at an unwed mothers’ shelter run by an international adoption agency. Even before the child was born, the shelter manager brought up the adoption agreement and suggested giving up custody. She was told that the baby would be better off in the USA, learning English and growing up in a better environment. Choi happily agreed to adoption. When a Korean family volunteered to take the baby for adoption, the adoption agency declined their offer saying that it had already been decided that the child should be sent to the USA. The principle which prioritizes domestic adoption was easily ignore. About a year after the birth, Choi’s baby was sent to the USA.

Choi only knows that her baby was sent to the USA. She knows nothing about the age, occupation, family relations or address of the adoptive parents. Whether the adoptive parents have any medical history or criminal records, or what kind of academic qualification they have, or whether they have sufficient financial means to support the baby – all unanswered questions for Choi. Adoption agency does not provide any information regarding the identity of adoptive parents.

It’s been two years since she sent the child to the USA, and Choi’s regretting her choice. She got married later and is raising her own child. And that experience made her see things differently. “I would’ve made a different choice had I given it more thought after childbirth,” she said. The adoption agency did not give her enough time to think.

At the shelter where Choi had her baby, 80 unwed mothers gave birth last year and 70% opted for adoption. A manager of the shelter said, “there’s practically no demand for boys in Korea, so most of them are sent abroad.” Half of eighty babies born last year were boys. That means at least half of babies born at the shelter were sent abroad.

Legal duty of confidentiality

International adoptees who leave Korea are then on their own to sort settle in with adoptive parents and into a new life. Hyun-deok Kim Skoglund, a psychologist who has been treating international adoptees in Sweden for 30 years, comments that adoptees are likely to suffer from psychological trouble. Of the most frequent are depression due to the lasting scare of separation, fear of abandonment, obsession with people’s perception, difficulties in relationship, and identity crisis.

There have been adoptees who took their own lives. Frederick, who was adopted to Sweden in 1974 when he was only six months olds, visited Korea when he was 19. He stayed in Korea for 8 months before returning to Sweden where he began to suffer from depression and killed himself in 2001. In June 1993, Ji Yuhn Engel, a Korean adoptee to Switzerland, threw herself into the Rhine leaving a note that said “I choose this path to meet my natural mother.” A Swedish research reported that the suicide rate among adoptees is four times higher than that among non-adoptees.

Taking one’s own life at least is a matter for grown-ups. If an adopted child is abandoned by adoptive parents, the child becomes homeless. In 2006, a Dutch diplomat couple canceled their adoption of a Korean child in Hong Kong, leaving the child with no one to care. Fortunately as the story hit the media, they were able to find new adoptive parents. However, it is not possible to know how many children are abandoned by their adoptive parents. Adding the cases of abusive family situation like that of Leanne Leith, the number of children who grow up ‘normally’ in their adoptive families is bound to be even smaller.

The reason international adoptees are so desperately looking for their roots is not unrelated to this. For them, it is a life’s mission to overcome the scar of separation. But in Korea, even that is not so easy. The records of international adoptees are in the hands of adoption agencies. Many adoptees visit Korea to find their natural parents, but not many succeed either because adoption agency refuses to release their records or because the records are not accurate. A Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs report records 76,646 adoptees to have returned to Korea to find their natural parents between 1995 and 2005; only 2,113 (2.7%) succeeded.

Some had no records at all, and some had their request for record rejected. Currently the adoption law stipulates that current and past employees of adoption agency are liable to the duty of confidentiality. Pastor Kim of KoRoot comments, “the excessively inclusive area of confidentiality makes it difficult not just to obtain the records of adoptees, but also to investigate any corruption within adoption agencies.” Dr. Tobias Huebinett, an adoptee to Sweden, argues in a research that “South Korea turned adoption programme into something like a national secret when North Korea criticized South Korea for exporting orphans in the early 1970s.”

Essentially, adoption work in the hands of private adoption agency is the cause of trouble. The story of a grown-up adoptee finding natural parents with the approval of court or government authority is only possible in countries that have signed the Hague convention. The Convention states that the right of adopted child to know about natural parents should be protected even when it contradicts the rights of natural parents or those of adoptive parents.

More of Leanne Leith cases

Last year, seven adoptees including Jung Kyung-ah, the author of autobiographical novel The Language of Blood, filed a formal complaint to Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission against four international adoption agencies that have failed to keep adequate records of adoption and refused to release records despite legal requests. Jung said, “During the process of my adoption to the USA in 1972, my original registration information, orphan register and records were different. Also, documents in Korean did not match with those in English.” There were even cases where adoption process was handled without the approval of the natural mother, or where a child was recorded as a missing child even though the child had parents. And there was no consistency in the release of the records of adoptees. The Commission replied to say that “the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs will reinforce the supervision and management of adoption agencies as well as moving to improve relevant legislations so as to prevent further failings in the future.” However, no such improvement has been made to this day.

For the last half a century, Korea sent nearly 200 thousand children abroad. Even if international adoption stops now, there will be second and third Leanne Leith who return to Korea to ask the same question. The reality is that there still are children leaving Korea with labeled photographs.

Treaties to protect the rights of international adoptees

Emphasis on the role of central government agency.

There are two international treaties that offer the protection for the rights of international adoptees; the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 1993 Hague Convention on th4e Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Interconutry Adoption. The Hague Convention so far has 78 member states. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is one of the most universal human rights treaty; Somalia and the USA are the only two UN member states that have not signed the Convention.

The Hague Convention recalls that “state should take, as a matter of priority, appropriate measures to enable the child to remain in the care of his or her family of origin.” Also, it says that “intercountry adoption may offer the advantage of a permanent family to a child for whom a suitable family cannot be found in his or her State of origin” Members states must cooperate to “to prevent the abduction, the sale of, or traffic in children.”

The main emphasis of the Convention lies on the role of central authority that handles international adption. According to the convention, adoption is to be managed by the central authority of the state of origin of children. Central authority should prevent any improper financial gains rising from adoption and prepare a report about the child’s identity, eligibility and suitability to adopt, background, family and medical history. The judgment that international adoption is in the best interests of the child should be made by that central authority, and it is up to the state to provide sufficient counseling to families and adopted children. Also, central authority should collect and store information about children and adoptive parents, as well as supervising the operation and finance of authorized adoption agencies.

There are articles on adoption in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Korea, however, when signing the Convention, considered itself not to be bound by the provisions of paragraph (a) of article 21 and sub-paragraph (b) (v) of paragraph 2 of article 40. Paragraph (a) of article 21 says “States Parties shall Ensure that the adoption of a child is authorized only by competent authorities who determine, in accordance with applicable law and procedures and on the basis of all pertinent and reliable information, that the adoption is permissible in view of the child's status concerning parents, relatives and legal guardians and that, if required, the persons concerned have given their informed consent to the adoption on the basis of such counselling as may be necessary.” Paragraph 3 of Article 9 says “States Parties shall respect the right of the child who is separated from one or both parents to maintain personal relations and direct contact with both parents on a regular basis, except if it is contrary to the child's best interests. 4. Where such separation results from any action initiated by a State Party, such as the detention, imprisonment, exile, deportation or death (including death arising from any cause while the person is in the custody of the State) of one or both parents or of the child, that State Party shall, upon request, provide the parents, the child or, if appropriate, another member of the family with the essential information concerning the whereabouts of the absent member(s) of the family unless the provision of the information would be detrimental to the well-being of the child. States Parties shall further ensure that the submission of such a request shall of itself entail no adverse consequences for the person(s) concerned.”

UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed its concern about Korea’s approach to adoption and the practice of cancelation of adoption in 1996 and in 2003, recommending ratification of the Hague Convention. In May 2005, National Human Rights Comission also recommend the withdrawal of reservations on some articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and ratification of the Hague Convention.

Lim Ji-sun, sun21@hani.co.kr

Is custody not an option for unwed mothers?
[Cover story] Social Welfare agencies are too quick to recommend adoption …
Low-income unwed mothers receive \50,000 per month – lower than adoption subsidy \100,000

“We give you one-month old baby.”
That’s what I heard when I approached an adoption agency for adoption. This agency said that they can offer an unwed mother’s baby that has not been registered. Another adoption agency also offered babies one to three months old, all without birth certificates. This is the reality of secret adoption in Korea.

» 1506 unwed mothers sent their children for domestic adoption last year. Adding 1114 who sent their children for international adoption, 2170 unwed mothers sent their children for adoption in total last year. <Hankyeoreh 21> Ryu Woo-jong

Marketing expenditure is larger than care expenditure...

In Korea, adoption is ‘heart-born love.’ Extensive marketing is being done, led by four adoption agencies. According to 2001 Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs research, 28% of expenditure that an adoption agency spends on a domestically adopted child is marketing cost. That is higher than care cost which accounts for 23%.

Hence the greatly improved public awareness of domestic adoption. Domestic adoption has now become an alternative to international adoption which has been criticized since the 1980s. Celebrities are working as adoption ambassadors, too. Many parents with good will have opted to adopt children. Since 2007, the government pays adoption commission of 2.2 million won that adoptive parents used to pay to adoption agency.

However, domestic adoption does not alleviate any of the problems with international adoption, from the essential fact that adoption separates natural mother from child to the issue of unwed mothers. There’s no after-care, and no plans for the cancellation of adoption.
Last year, 1,306 children were adopted domestically. Among their custodians, 518 were earning less than the urban monthly average. 1,506 were the children of unwed mothers, and 920 were adopted before they were three months old. Most of them had their birth registered under their adoptive parents because neither birth mother nor adoptive parents wanted to keep the record of adoption. Which is what makes it so difficult for adoptees to find their roots, or for birth mothers to find their children.

Whang, 50, adopted a Korean child five years ago, partly because she felt guilt about having sent her own child abroad for adoption 20 years ago. She knew what it feels like not being able to find one’s own children who were sent abroad for adoption. Two years after adopting a child, Whang asked the adoption agency to pass on her current address to the child’s birth mother so that she could visit her child whenever she wanted. However, the adoption agency strongly disagreed. They said it’s best for everyone that birth mother does not know where her child is, for she may want to take the child back. That made Whang feel a bit reluctant. She is now out of touch with the birth mother of her adoptive child.

Park, 26, opted for adoption and spent the past year in tears. In March 2008, she became an unwed mother and was supported at an unwed mothers’ shelter run by an adoption agency. Her counselor told her that she should agree to adoption and give up custody at their first counseling session. She signed the papers in the morning of the day she gave birth, and her daughter was taken away from her to a temporary care center of the adoption agency as soon as she was born in the afternoon.

But Park could not forget about her daughter. Only after three days, she asked the adoption agency to return her baby. But the adoption agency told her that, in order to take her baby back, she should state clearly her relationship with the baby’s father and the stance of the parents of both father and mother of the baby, on top of paying for the cost of childbirth and foster care. Baby ended up in the arms of adoptive parents before she was two months old.

4,896 cases of cancellation of adoption by civil law in six years

Park, finding it hard to give up, began to look for ways to raise her own baby with the baby’s father. She registered her marriage with her partner in last November and searched for the baby. She filed a civil case with the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs and wrote about her story on an on-line adoption community. After Hankyeoreh ran her story in March, the couple managed to have their baby back; the adoptive parents told them to have the baby back. It took less than a day do decide on adoption, but to undo it took nearly a year. However, the story is not over. On paper, the baby is a natural child of her adoptive parents. They have to file a civil law suit to have nullify the register, and Park couple is going ahead with the procedure.

The whole process scarred adoptive parents, too. They had to give up a baby for whom they’d spent a year with. Lack of counseling and consideration in the process of adoption scars both natural and adoptive parents. The Supreme Court statistics records 4,896 cases of cancellation of adoption by civil agreement (by declaration) between 2001 and 2006; there were 305 cases of cancelation of adoption by court action.

Park said, “my adoption agency only talked about adoption and said little about support to raise my own child. I would have chosen raising my own child had I know that I could get help.” There are 41 mother-and-child homes in the country where low-income mothers and their child can take shelter and prepare for independent living. These shelters offer job training and a grant of two million won when mothers leave them. Low-income mothers also receive 50,000 won per month as childcare support; but that is less than \100,00 given to adoptive parents as childcare subsidy.

See the sad eyes of mother

Experts agree that the society should support unwed mothers to raise their own children rather than sending them away for adoption. Sang-soon Han, the director of AeRanwon, said, “17 out of 25 unwed mothers’ homes are run by adoption agencies, and in many cases only those who have opted for adoption are admitted.” Hye-young Kim, a research at Korea Womens’ Development Institute, said, “there’s no reason why unwed mothers raising their own children should receive less in government subsidy than adoptive parents. We must have a comprehensive policy to help unwed mothers raise their own children and be economically and socially independent.”

Abortion begins from separating a family. The very basic that international conventions call for is to support the child to live with the child’s original family in their countries of origin. Richard Boas, an American ophthalmologist, was going to found a foundation for international adoption in the USA until he visited an unwed mothers’ home in Korea in 2006. He saw the sad eyes of unwed mothers who had already sent their babies away for adoption or were waiting to do so. He wrapped up his work to support international adoption, and instead created Korean Unwed Mothers Support Network in Korea. Seeing the sad eyes of mothers could be the beginning of solving this complex issue.

Ji-sun Lim, sun21@hani.co.kr

How to end Children’s Diaspora
[Cover Story] Adoption law to change at the strong request of adoptees’ organization …
Challenge is to change a vast array of civil laws

In 1961, Park Jung-hee administration enacted a Special Act for Orphan Adoption. That was to improve international adoption which was already being carried out. That was the time when mixed-race babies born between Korean women and American soldiers or war orphans were secretly sent abroad for adoption. At its birth, the Act was designed as a system to send abroad those children that the state could not take care of. That was the beginning of children’s Diaspora. The Act has since been amended nine times, but the legal perspective on adoption has not changed much. The Act pretty much gives children to whoever that wishes to take them – not too many questions asked.

» Members of Adoptees Solidarity Korea (ASK) and KoRoot are staging a performance on 5th May last year, calling for a day without adoption. Symbolizing the 200 thousand children that had been sent abroad in return for money in the past 50 years, they put 2,000 coins in a shape of a plane.

Will probably stay as integrated information management

The government is planning to amend the current Adoption Act in the September session of National Assembly. There was a public hearing in February. In bringing about this, the voice of adoptees who were sent abroad in the 1970s and 1980s and have since returned to Korea as adults played a big part. The beginning was the Global Overseas Adoptees Link (GOAL). While campaigning for the improvement of adoption system, they help returning adoptees settle in Korea and find their roots. In 2004, the more political Adoptees Solidarity Korea was founded to campaign for total abolition of international adoption.

In 2007, Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea (TRACK) was also created. This organization demands that the Korean government should investigate the whole issue of international adoption in the past. They argue that a committee for truth and reconciliation should be set up to carry out comprehensive investigation into how international adoption was carried out while the government sat on the fence.

So the recent moves to amend the law was pushed by the strong calls of international adoptees. The government finally has to show some effort. The process is a slow one, though. The government is taking some time to come up with a proposal for amendment. Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs has yet to come up with a government proposal. The Ministry has recently received a report that it had commissioned Professor Huh Nam-soon of Hallym University to write on how to improve adoption laws and systems. <Hankyeoreh 21> has obtained a copy of the report which recommends creation of an authoritative government body to co-ordinate domestic and international adoption work and operate an integrated system of adoptees’ information management. If the recommendation is put into practice, it’ll be a breakthrough.

However, the Ministry’s final proposal is likely to fall short of the full recommendation put forward by the research team. A ministry official said that it will reinforce government function on managing adoption, but there are difficulties in creating a government body that will meet the provisions of the Hague Convention. On trying for the ‘European standard’ where adoption is by government authorization, the official said, “it will be difficult to introduce adoption authorization system this time round since it will involve amending relevant civil laws.”

Hence it is likely that the new government proposal will only go as far as managing international adoptees’ information under an integrated system. This task is currently being handled by Adoption Information Center, which was co-founded by the four international adoption agencies in 1999, as a government commission. The change will be from the information management being funded by private organizations to it being funded by government budget. That would not be enough to put international adoption industry under the public control.

Various international adoptees’ organizations such as TRACK and the public lawyers’ group ‘Gong-gam’ are preparing their own proposal for amendment. They should have a final proposal by July. Here, the essence is to create a government body that will have legal say in every case of adoption.

Allow dual nationality until 18

Current adoption law requires a certain set of documents to be submitted to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs for approval. And the definition of approval in this process is a loose one, since the process itself often is little more than a formality. Many, including Gong-gam, say that a government body should be in charge of adoption process and that the final approval should be granted by a judiciary such as family court. They argue that having such process will; make the state support families to raise their own children; prioritize domestic adoption as the best alternative; minimize international adoption.

Reinforcing government intervention in the works of private adoption agency is another important point. The level of adoption commission and government subsidy should be set strictly so that adopt agencies will not incur financial gains. Also, it is being proposed to have adoption agencies provide adoptees with information about their natural parents through a due process.

They also argue that it is necessary to allow dual nationality until an adoptee reaches 18. The current law allows all citizens to have dual nationality until that age, but adoption law makes an exception and takes away Korean citizenship from babies that are sent abroad for adoption. Rami Soh, a lawyer with Gong-gam, said, “by allowing dual nationality, should an adoption be cancelled or should the child’s rights be violated, we can provide legal grounds for government intervention or for the child returning to Korea.”

For domestic adoption, suitability criteria for prospective adoptive parents need to be reinforced. Under the current law, 1)parents over age of 25 2) mentally and physically fit family 3) financial capacity to afford childcare costs are the conditions for adoption. Generally speaking, anyone over 25 are able to adopt a child. However, Gong-gam says that suitability assessment should be reinforced to make sure that those with history of domestic violence and child abuse are not allowed to adopt a child.

Gong-gam also argues that the expression ‘child in need of care’ used to define adoption eligibility by the current law. Rami Soh said, “the adoption law was created to ‘impose’ adoption on war orphans or children abandoned by their parents. Limiting adoption eligibility to children in need of care shows that the wrong perspective on adoption has carried on from the past.” Argument here is that adoption should be discussed in terms of children’s right to be cared for by adequate parents, making all children eligible to be adopted. Currently, children suffering from child abuse or domestic violence cannot be adopted to another family unless their natural parents agree to adoption. The child’s right to grow up in a stable home environment is being stopped by the imposition of the rights of natural parents.

There’s also an issue about cancellation of abortion. The current civil law only stipulates adoption process by agreement between two couples, but makes no provisions for how to protect children’s rights when adoptions are cancelled. In such cases, adopted children can be abandoned not only from adoptive parents, but also from natural parents.

Government assessment of adoptive parents

Professor Kim Sang-yong of Jungang University will present a paper on this issue at a forum hosted by Korean Legal Aid Centre for Family Relations on 13th May. He argues that a system should be introduced to: have a government authority scanning adoptive parents; make it possible to offer adoption as an option to children in need even without the approval of their natural parents; and protect the rights of children even in the case of cancellation of adoption.

However, as the government is struggling even to bring the adoption law to meet the international standard, it is a huge challenge to amend all the related civil laws. It was the state that made the law which drove adoption to what it is today, so the state should correct the wrongs; there’s just too much to do, and the state is still blind to the reality. The wound of adoption is not getting any better.

Soo-chan Ahn, ahn@hani.co.kr

Support Natural Mothers with the Money to buy babies
[Cover Story] The State looks after unwed mothers in Europe where there is no adoption…
The best solution is to let children stay with their blood relatives

Kyung-ah Jung, (Jane Jeong Trenka) was adopted into an American family with her four year-old sister when she was only six months old. She is now back in Korea, working as a researcher for Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea (TRACK). She is also a novelist and in 2003 her autobiographical novel The Blood of Language was published in the USA and subsequently in Korea. Here is a translated version of her column calling for a change in the perspective on adoption.

Adoption is a business, not a charity.
At the heart of adoption is the exchange of a human being for money. The cost for an American couple to adopt baby through Holt is about $25,525 or 32,762,613 won. If adoption were really a charity, the money aspect would be removed and the adoptions would be run by the state, for free, as a public social welfare service for the people. International adoption continues today at the rate of over 1,000 Korean children sent overseas per year in part because it is a lucrative business. People earn their salaries by facilitating international adoptions.

International adoption is a misuse of money.
International law states that keeping children with mothers is the best thing for children, and that international adoption should be a last resort. But although American adoptive parents have the financial power to keep Korean children with their own mothers, they take children from Korea instead.

American adoptive parents pay 32,762,613 won to adopt a Korean child. If that 32,762,613 won were distributed to the same child's mother at 50,000 a month (the amount of money given to Korean single mothers by the Korean government per month) the mother and her child could be supported for over 30 years. However, because 50,000 per month is not adequate, let us calculate differently: If same sum of money were used to support the mother and child over the first 5 critical years, the mother could have 546,043 per month in support to take care of her own child. Certainly that amount of support that could keep families together.

Baby farms are unethical.
The adoption agencies have relationships with unwed mothers' homes so babies can go straight from the unwed mothers' home to adoptive homes. The baby can even be legally relinquished while still in the womb. This kind of operation is called a "baby farm." This is a situation similar to what existed in the U.S. about 40-60 years ago. It is now recognized as a highly unethical and coercive system that robbed mothers of their children.

Sending Korean children to the U.S. is not fair to American children.
Sending Korean children to the U.S. to adoptive families is not fair to American children who need adoptive families. The Child Welfare League of America reports that 109,316 American children under the age of 16 are waiting to be adopted. Their average wait for a family is almost 4 years. (In contrast, Korean adoption agencies are allowed to send children overseas if they are not adopted domestically within 5 months.) There are 8,174 children living in orphanages in the U.S. Every American adoptive home that a Korean child takes is one less for an American child.

There are more poor people in the U.S. than in Korea.
At one time, Korean people who knew little about the U.S. sent children to Americans for adoption thinking that the U.S. was a place of unlimited wealth. But is it really? The OECD reports that the overall poverty rate of the U.S. is higher than that of South Korea (17.1% vs. 14.6%). It also reports that child poverty is higher in the U.S. than in South Korea (20.6% vs. 10.7%).

International adoption is from a pre-human rights era.
Korea has been through much trauma in the 20th century, from colonization to dictatorship, to rapid industrialization and globalization. During those times, it is said that the rights of children were placed below the rights of adults. However, times have changed and Korea is no longer the war-torn and impoverished country it used to be. The world's expectations of South Korea have risen accordingly with is economic and democratic status. In a benevolent and advanced society, the human rights of all people, whether adults or children, must be respected. After all, every adult is a former child.

Adoption can cause medical problems.
When the adoptee is not allowed to know their genetic history, simple questions at the hospital about family medical history are impossible for adoptees to answer. In addition, adoptees have died from diseases like leukemia because they are unable to locate a suitable match for a bone marrow donor. In rare cases in Western countries, not knowing one's true identity has resulted in the tragedy of siblings falling in love and then finding out at the time of the blood test conducted before marriage that in fact they are siblings. The children of women born through anonymous artificial insemination also run this risk. In addition, adoptees are at high risk for "attachment disorder," which is a psychological problem with lifetime effects caused by separating the child from its mother at an early age.

1 Child +1 Mother = 1 Family

Korea has not had war orphans for a very long time. All the children going for adoption today already belong to a family, even if that family only consists of a mother and a child.

In advanced European countries, there are almost no adoptions at all because mothers are supported by the government and encouraged to keep their children. Discrimination against mothers simply on the basis of marital status is unthinkable.

Although adoption can be a loving action, we must remember that every adoption first begins with the separation of a mother and her precious baby. International institutions agree that the best solution is to keep children with their mothers in the first place. In addition to keeping the child with the mother, incentivizing open adoption and foster care (caring for the child without erasing its identity) and kinship care (financially supporting extended family members like aunts, uncles, and grandparents to care for children) are better options than international adoption or secret domestic adoption.

Leaders all over the world, of all religions, have said that the measure of a society is how it treats its weakest members. Keeping children with their mothers is the very best and most dignified solution for a modern country like ours.

091129 In South Korea, abortion foes gain ground

2010-05-26T14:49:22+09:00

In South Korea, abortion foes gain ground

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-fg-korea-abortion29-2009nov29,0,3213831,full.story

Though they're technically illegal, abortions are prevalent and rarely discussed in the political sphere. One doctor has become the face of a movement to change that.
South Korea

Dr. Shim Sang-duk is an obstetrician who changed his mind about performing abortions. (Jean Chung / For The Times / November 20, 2009)

Reporting from Seoul - For nearly two decades, obstetrician Shim Sang-duk aborted as many babies as he delivered -- on average, one a day, month after month.

"Over time, I became emotionless," the physician said. "I came to see the results of my work as just a chunk of blood. During the operation, I felt the same as though I was treating scars or curing diseases."

Shim, 42, eventually came to despise himself, despite the money he earned from the procedures. So, two months ago, he founded an activist group of physicians who refuse to perform abortions and advocate prosecution for doctors who continue to do so.

The group's stand has brought a tidal wave of criticism from the Korean Assn. of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which represents more than 4,000 physicians in this country where abortions, although technically illegal, are so prevalent it has been tagged as "the Abortion Republic."

Unlike in America, where doctors have been threatened and even killed for performing abortions, Shim says he's received death threats for deciding to stop performing them.

The controversy illustrates the stark differences between South Korea's attitude toward abortion and that of many Western nations. While often couched elsewhere as a battle between religious activists and those defending a woman's right to choose, the issue here carries no such emotional freight.

"Western societies see abortion as one of benchmark battles between conservatives and liberals -- while here there has not been even any academic discussion," said Lee Na-young, a sociology professor at Seoul's Chung-Ang University.

In South Korea, religious groups and women's rights advocates have remained largely silent on the issue, analysts say.

"During church sermons, we barely talk about abortion, which is considered an individual matter," said Hwang Pil-gyu, a minister on the life and ethics committee of the National Council of Churches in Korea. "Many churches have put this issue on the back burner."

Shim has critics even outside the medical field. Some say he's grandstanding. Others criticize his emphasis on the financial incentive of performing abortions.

"The whole discussion seems to be about his giving up profits from the abortions he doesn't do," Lee said. "This isn't the issue."

But Shim's campaign has triggered a rare public debate on abortion. Lawmakers now call for tougher enforcement of existing laws, and are asking parents to reassess the cultural value of childbirth.

Beginning in the 1970s, officials advocated fewer births as a way to fuel economic productivity. The policy was perhaps too successful: Birthrates in South Korea plummeted. A decade ago, officials reversed their stand, calling for residents to have more babies.

Yet the declining fertility trend has proved difficult to reverse. The country's birthrate is now among the lowest worldwide, with just 1.19 live births per woman.

Meanwhile, abortion rates have kept their pace, many say. Every year, 450,000 babies are born here; Health Ministry officials estimate that 350,000 abortions are performed each year. One politician says the number of abortions is actually four times higher -- nearly 1.5 million.

Now there are calls to strengthen a 1973 mother-child protection law, long criticized for containing loopholes and for being rarely enforced. Some lawmakers want to prosecute more physicians for performing abortions and close down underground clinics where the procedures cost as little as $70.

For the first six months of 2009, only three of 29 abortion-related cases were prosecuted, said Chang Yoon-seok, a member of the ruling Grand National Party, who supports tougher sanctions.

"Even though illegal abortions are widespread . . . it is true that everyone keeps quiet and does not say anything about it," the politician said in a statement.

Dressed in his white lab coat, the bespectacled Shim embodies a new public consciousness against abortion.

In the lobby of his Ion clinic, a sign explains his new philosophy. "Abortions, which abandon the valuable life of a fetus, are the very misery for the nation and society as well as pregnant women, families and ob-gyn doctors," it reads.

For years, Shim rarely, if ever, even used the word "abortion." Rather, he said, he sought to "erase" or "prevent" the fetus.

"I bought into the government's argument that it was OK to do this," he said. "It was good for the country. It boosted the economy."

Still, Shim was often baffled by his patients' behavior: After receiving their abortions, he said, most women cried.

"Many patients cry when they give birth," he said, "but these were a different kind of tears."

Although Shim's clinic made one-quarter of its profits from performing abortions, he tried harder to dissuade patients from choosing the option.

He started a website where he was contacted by other physicians. Although he claims support from 700 doctors, he acknowledges that only 30 have stopped performing the procedure.

Many others have withdrawn their support under pressure from peers. But for Shim, the benefits were immediate. "I feel like a young doctor again," he said.

The decision was difficult financially. His clinic has lost so many patients that Shim says he may soon be forced to close.

But Shim won't reconsider. The physician recalled his final abortion.

He had already sworn off the procedure when a longtime patient called him, distraught. He met with the mother of two for hours and begged her to go home and reconsider.

The following morning, she still wanted the abortion. So Shim relented. After the procedure, he said, she cried.

john.glionna@latimes.com

Ju-min Park of The Times' Seoul Bureau contributed to this report.

091111 More State Support for Single Moms Planned

2010-05-26T14:46:27+09:00

More State Support for Single Moms Planned

By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter

The government is moving to offer more support to single mothers as part of efforts to encourage them to keep their own babies, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) said Thursday.

The body also plans to help adoptees find their biological parents by improving systems and documentation, a spokesman said.

"Once the recommendations are accepted, more single mothers can keep their children through subsidies," he said.

The commission advised related ministries, including the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Justice, to offer subsidies so that single parents can find a place to raise their babies.

The revisions are subject to the approval of the National Assembly.

So far, single mothers have received no state benefits. They can seek help from private or government-subsidized facilities but they have to leave the centers a few months after delivery.

Many single parents tend to give up their infants for that reason, leading to an increasing number of domestic and overseas adoptions.

As of 2008, 80.9 percent of 1,306 children adopted here and 89.1 percent of 1,250 adopted abroad were born to single mothers.

The agency also proposed that women giving birth to a child alone be given more time to consider whether or not to let a baby go with the help of professional consultants, as well as the chance to cancel their decision.

As part of efforts to encourage domestic adoptions, especially of disabled children, the commission suggested increasing allowances for adopting families.

Currently, those adopting a child aged 13 or younger are given 100,000 won (about $85) per month and families adopting disabled children receive 551,000 won every month and an additional 2.5 million won for medical treatment per year.

The ACRC also proposed establishing a governmental organization to manage adoption and computerize related documents in a more systematic way.

People adopted abroad have had difficulty finding their biological parents because many private adoption agencies do not keep birth certificates and adoption-related documents.

Between 1982 and 2007, a total of 46,043 overseas adoptees visited their motherland to find their biological parents and learn Korean culture.

In 2007, 1,618 people requested that the government and adoption agencies find their biological parents but only 404 of them met long-lost ones.

Korea was once disgracefully nicknamed as the world's biggest baby-exporting country because more than 200,000 babies had been adopted abroad by 2000.

The number of overseas adoptions has gone down but still more than 1,000 children are sent to foreign countries every year, according to government statistics.

ksy@koreatimes.co.kr

091030 Real Support for Unwed Moms

2010-05-26T14:38:38+09:00

Real Support for Unwed Moms

By Jennifer Kwon Dobbs

In today's adoption world, South Korea is no longer the largest sending country. Yet, why does it remain the world's oldest sending country in modern adoption history?

To address this undesirable legacy, the South Korean government has attempted to promote domestic adoption with mixed results.

Though domestic adoption statistically surpassed overseas adoption in 2007, the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs has reported problems with disrupted domestic placements where adoptive parents have returned children to the system.

More significantly, domestic adoption is not a valid solution primarily because it ignores an unwed mother's human right to give birth to and to raise her child.

Surf the web in Korea for unwed mothers' assistance. The top links connect you to adoption agency sponsored sites that promise help. Yet what is the quality of this help when there's a conflict of interest?

Seventeen of South Korea's 25 unwed mothers' maternity homes are adoption agency owned and operated. As reported by Choe Sang-hun for the New York Times, ``Nearly 90 percent of the 1,250 South Korean children adopted abroad last year, most of them by American couples, were born to unmarried women."

Current adoption agency practices encourage mothers to surrender their children.

News Trace 60 Minutes (Chujeok 60), a weekly news show of the state-run KBS TV, reports that adoption agencies cover expecting mothers' medical expenses and typically bring paperwork for a mother to sign relinquishing her child while still in the hospital bed.

A hospital discharge usually occurs 72 hours after delivery. A social worker will arrive at the maternity ward during this window to take the child.

Consequently, many children are unregistered to their mothers and lack identifying paperwork, therefore preventing future attempts for family search and reunion.

In response to instances where mothers have changed their minds and wanted to keep their children, agencies have charged mothers for the cost of their hospital stays. However, agencies receive government subsidies that offset these and other operating costs.

It is also a common agency practice to bill mothers for foster care provided between a child's birth and placement in an adoptive home. Many mothers, however, cannot pay and end up surrendering their children. The children of unwed mothers are not orphans, nor are they unwanted.

In my interviews with expecting mothers at Doori Home, a maternity home operated by the Salvation Army in Seoul, I learned that each mother who intended to surrender her child did not fully know her options nor have realistic expectations even though Doori Home, which has one of the highest rates of child-rearing motherhood, had provided counseling.

Each mother had named her child. Mothers who chose overseas adoption expected that their children would learn English, become globally and economically mobile, and find and return to them.

This assumption motivated mothers to prefer overseas adoption. However, reunion is the exceptional, not the usual outcome. From 1995-2005, the ministry reported that only 2.7 percent of 78,000 overseas adoptees who initiated a birth search successfully reunited with their families.

Nor did the mothers understand that relinquishment means irrevocably terminating parental rights. When asked about this, the mothers repeatedly said that they were their children's mothers although others would provide child-rearing care because they could not.

The mothers did not realize that overseas adoption cut their children off from Korean culture. For example, they were unaware that their children, more than likely, would be unable to speak Korean with them should they be reunited in the future.

All of the mothers with whom I spoke mentioned a lack of emotional family support foremost affecting their choice to surrender or rear their children. Their own mothers as well as their partners' mothers primarily exerted pressure or threatened to take the child to the adoption agency.

The intimate cultural stigma and socioeconomic impediments these mothers face reveal the discriminatory side of South Korea's economic miracle.

South Korea's inability to imagine support for unwed mothers separate from domestic or overseas adoption shows just how deeply entrenched adoption, a once privatized postwar solution, has become in the country's welfare system.

Promoting adoption instead of protecting unwed mothers' rights to their own children shows that South Korea does not view them and their children as real families. Whether one is for or against adoption misses the point that the vast majority of children placed for adoption today have loving families that South Korea prefers to break up.

Addressing unwed mothers' human rights requires multiple approaches to end a national culture of shame and secrecy. Foremost, South Korea must build a culture that promotes mothers and must provide real opportunities for them to care for their children.

Instead of punishing unwed mothers, South Korea should value and work with them to invest in future generations that can make our country stronger and more prosperous.

Jennifer Kwon Dobbs is an assistant professor at the English department, St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. She can be reached at www.jkwondobbs.com.

091125 Single moms: In South Korea, adoption remains priority, but attitudes are shifting

2010-05-26T14:35:31+09:00

Single moms: In South Korea, adoption remains priority, but attitudes are shifting

In South Korea, societal pressure still leads most unwed mothers to give up their children for adoption. But more are keeping their kids, sparking a debate about how to offer support.
By Ben Hancock | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Seoul, South Korea - When Kim Ji-hye rides the bus with her 7-month-old daughter, she often draws stares and overt expressions of concern for the child.

That's because Kim is only 18 – and looks it. Being a young unwed mother in South Korea means defying a set of values instilled in this society over the course of centuries.

Kim, who asked that her real name not be used, became pregnant in her senior year in high school. Instead of having the abortion her parents demanded, she and the child's father ran away. Still, she says, "I wondered if it was going to be like everyone was saying, that after I gave birth I would have to live on the street like a bum."

The reality has not been so bleak, thanks in large part to Aeranwon, a private center that offers pre- and postnatal support and educational services. But Kim's future is uncertain. She lives with her daughter's father, but has been cut off from her family and does not qualify for state support because she is still a minor.

Slow to change attitudes

Her plight is familiar to Korea's unwed mothers, who are slowly becoming more visible and demanding more rights. In 2007, there were nearly 8,000 births out of wedlock. About 2,300 of those children were put up for international or domestic adoption, while nearly 2,500 stayed with their mother – a sharp rise from the 472 who stayed with their mother in 1991, which saw a similar number of out-of-wedlock births.

Yet cases like Kim's are also at the heart of a debate over how best to offer support. Advocacy groups say the government should give more financial aid to allow unwed mothers to keep their children, thrive, and drive social change. But officials and adoption groups say the priority should be finding homes for kids.

One area of disagreement is just how much attitudes have changed.

Kwon Hee-jung, of the Korean Unwed Mothers Support Network, says the 1968 movie "Love Me Once Again" indicated attitudes at the time. It depicts an affair between an unmarried woman and a wealthy married man, and ends with her giving up her illegitimate son to the father's family. "Everyone cried but understood," Ms. Kwon says, "They said, 'It has to be like that. How can a woman raise a child alone?' "

In recent decades, greater individualism has shifted Korea's Confucian value system, she says, leading to a slow change in the way unwed mothers are viewed and how they view themselves. Still, Kwon acknowledges that a stigma remains.

An opinion study early this year by the state-funded Korean Women's Development Institute revealed mixed feelings. The majority of Koreans felt unwed mothers showed poor judgment. Most were also against childbirth outside wedlock, but even more were opposed to abortion. "Right now it's changing slowly," says Kwon. "[T]he social welfare structure is not friendly. There are a lot of women who want to raise their children, but because ... discrimination is so extreme, they end up giving their child away."

Low domestic adoption rates

Adoptee Stephen Morrison, who founded a group promoting domestic adoption in Korea, paints a different picture. "More often than not," he says, "it's the mothers themselves who cannot live with the shame."

According to a government survey in 2005, about 38 percent of women who sent their child for adoption said they would not have done so under better financial circumstances.

The government is seeking to expand the number of state-run, single-parent support centers to 16 nationwide from the current six. But it has gotten flak for its perceived emphasis on domestic adoption.

Adoptive parents receive about $86 per month. Unwed mothers can receive only half that, depending on income level and only if they are not already on state welfare.

Paik Soo-hyeon, an official at the Welfare Ministry, says the government is trying to provide incentives for people to raise those children that unwed mothers cannot support. Korea has one of the world's lowest birthrates, and domestic adoption has long been shunned here due to a strong emphasis on bloodlines and stigmas surrounding infertility.

South Korea has sent more than 162,000 children overseas since 1953, when the Korean War ended. Even after 1991, when it was clearly a developed democracy, the number of kids adopted domestically did not surpass those put up for international adoption until 2007 – 1,388 and 1,264 children, respectively.

Social pressures on mothers

Unwed-mothers advocacy groups allege that adoption agencies sometimes pressure women into giving up their children by citing social stigma, and perpetuate it in the process.

Jane Jeong Trenka, a Korean-American adoptee who has pushed for a clear record of Korea's adoption history, says women are often coerced in counseling offered by adoption agencies. Kim, the mother, says she experienced such pressure.

Adoption agencies and advocates vehemently deny such accusations.

Susan Soon-keum Cox, spokeswoman for Holt, the world's largest international adoption agency, says it's key that birth mothers understand "that they have options."

Mr. Morrison says he has "never heard of a case" of coercion.

Mr. Paik, the Welfare Ministry official, stresses that social change cannot be made through policy alone: "Asking which direction change should come from is like debating the question of the chicken or the egg. Both society and the government need to move together."

Han Sang-soo, head of the Aeranwon unwed mothers shelter, says that attitudes will only really begin to shift when people see unwed mothers can be successful.

Kim is working toward her high school diploma equivalent and hopes to become a nurse. "They don't need to worry. I have a good life," she says.

Source_ http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1125/p09s09-woap.html

091211 Support for Unwed Moms Suggested

2010-05-26T14:32:31+09:00

Support for Unwed Moms Suggested

Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter

A group of pro-life activists called on policymakers Thursday to support single mothers, saying that discrimination and bias against them leads some to opt for abortion.

They recommended that the government set up funds and other supportive measures for single moms in order to reduce the number of abortions.

A 2005 survey conducted by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs found that 96 percent of unwed women who chose abortion did so due to social discrimination and monetary reasons.

Choi An-na, an obstetrician and gynecologist representing a group of concerned doctors, said now was the time for the government to intervene in the widespread practice of abortion, pointing out that around 1,000 abortions are being carried out daily.

"Korea is a nation with a high pregnancy rate but, at the same time, the lowest birthrate among OECD nations. About 30 out of 1,000 women here aged between 15 and 44 underwent abortion procedures in 2005," she said.

Choi made the remarks during a seminar to discuss ways of controlling abortion, held at the National Assembly.

In Western society, pro-choice activists hold the view that women should have control of their pregnancies and the choice to continue or terminate them.

In Korea, experts say the country's pro-choice tendency has largely been driven by policy.

They pointed out that the nation's highest abortion rate among OECD nations was the consequence of the government's birth control policy in the 1960s and 1970s, when it was striving to achieve high economic growth.

Chang Seok-il, vice chairman of the Korean Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, concurred with them, saying abortion was widely accepted by society because of birth control policy.

"About 10 years ago or so, families were not entitled to get medical insurance benefits when they had a third child. This shows that the society implicitly motivated women to opt for abortions during third pregnancies," he said.

The vast majority of abortions (88 percent) were among women in their 20s and 30s, with teenage abortion accounting for 3 percent.

Earlier, lawmakers including Park Sun-young of the Liberty Forward Party, called on the health ministry to consider linking pro-life measures to those to increase the country's birthrate.

Experts, however, warned of the danger of such measures, saying banning abortion in order to boost the birthrate would invite a variety of negative social results.

Kim Tae-woo, a prosecutor, said linking abortion to the birthrate may help fight the falling birthrate but would result in the government facing growing social problems such as poverty.

In response to calls to ban abortion, Kim said policymakers' hands are tied as individuals are making the choice on their own.

hkang@koreatimes.co.kr

Original source_http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/12/113_56623.html

090514 A fight to change adoption law

2010-05-26T12:59:59+09:00

A group of expats in Seoul are driving a movement to create a major shift in how the country deals with adoptions. With Democratic Party Representative Choi Young-hee, the coalition presented its bill to revise the current Special Act Relating to Adoption Promotion and Procedure law at a National Assembly public hearing on Nov. 10.

[Photo by Marc Champod]

Leveraging the help of a group of lawyers and a Korean unwed mothers' organization, a group of expats in Seoul are driving a movement to create a major shift in how the country deals with adoptions.

With the support of Democratic Party Representative Choi Young-hee, this coalition presented its bill to revise the current Special Act Relating to Adoption Promotion and Procedure law at a National Assembly public hearing on Nov. 10.

The coalition has been working together for over a year to draw up a proposal for a new adoption law. Involved are three adoption-related groups - Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoptee Community of Korea (TRACK), Adoptee Solidarity Korea, KoRoot - an unwed mothers group, Miss Mama Mia, and the Gonggam Public Interest Lawyers Group.

What initially began last year as a request to the Anti-corruption and Civil Rights Commission for a probe into cases of allegedly inaccurate or falsified adoption records has expanded into a movement that could change the course of Korea's adoption program.

So Ra Mi, the Gonggam lawyers' group representative, said that while the probe failed to "correct the wrongdoings of the past," she wanted to "help change the present and future" of Korean adoption.

Korea has a long history of international adoption. According to the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family Affairs, since 1958 over 160,000 children have been sent abroad for adoption. Other estimates put the figure closer to 200,000, due to the many unrecorded adoptions performed in the years before 1958. Inter-country adoption began in Korea during the 1950s after the Korean War, initiated as an effort to help children orphaned by the war and children born to Korean mothers and U.N. coalition fathers.

The adoption program, however, quickly became what critics now say has been a substitute for any real government-level social welfare programs for children.

Adoption rates steadily grew throughout the 1980s, long after war orphans ceased needing homes. It wasn't until the 1988 Olympics in Korea that adoption rates fell, due to a wave of international media dubbing Korea a "baby exporting nation." This stigmatized reputation still holds today, as does Korea's inter-country adoption program that last year sent more than 1,000 children overseas.

Now those who were adopted abroad have returned to change the very program that sent them away.

Although Korea ranks as the fifth-largest "sending" country of international adoption - behind China, Guatemala, Russia, and Ethiopia - it has never ratified the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, nor does it meet the international standards of the U.N. Convention of the Rights of the Child.

The government has been maneuvering in what seems like steps address the issue. In recent years, task forces were created to research and propose revisions to adoption laws. But critics point out that these government task forces didn't originally include any adoptee organizations or single mothers groups, the groups that would be intimately affected by such changes.

TRACK president Jane Jeong Trenka believes that these groups are a valuable voice in the discussion. "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," said Trenka.

Focus on families, unwed mothers

One of the biggest differences in the new bill that the coalition hopes to make into law is taking the focus away from promoting adoption. Instead, more emphasis would be placed on the preservation and support of original families.

According to Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family Affairs statistics on adoption, 90 percent of children who are adopted, both internationally and domestically, are children of single mothers. This is indicative of the strong social stigma that unwed mothers face, as well as the lack of financial support from the government should they choose to keep their children.

Currently, single mothers who apply for government assistance can receive only 50,000 won per month ($43), based on whether or not they meet low-income stipulations. During the open floor portion of this week's public hearing, a member from the unwed mothers group Miss Mama Mia questioned the seemingly preferential treatment for adoptive families over single mothers. She raised the point that families who adopt domestically within Korea are able to receive 100,000 won per month in government assistance, with no low-income stipulations, versus the 50,000 won that is provided to unwed mothers.

The discrepancy points to a clear case of institutionalized discrimination against unwed mothers, says the group.

The central government's concern over the plummeting birth rate, and its policies on adoption and social spending for women and children, seems contradictory. Because Korea's birth rate is the lowest of all Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, the government has taken great strides to promote an increase in the birth rate; there are government incentives for families with multiple children, supporting childcare, and education subsidies.

Skeptics say it seems counterproductive, then, that the government is doing little to keep children already here, born to single mothers, in the country. When interviewed about her reasons for spearheading the adoptee coalition's bill, Rep. Choi told Expat Living that more needs to be done to support unwed mothers.

"The government is urging people to have children, but on the other hand, isn't supporting the children of unwed mothers ... it shouldn't just be about encouraging more babies but to also raise well the babies already born ... the most important thing is these babies are not just the children of single mothers, but they are all of our children," she said.

There is a general consensus that giving more adequate support to single mothers would go a long way in both stemming the country's low birth rate and creating a more ethical environment in adoption procedures.

Park, Min-ji, a representative from Miss Mama Mia, spoke during the hearing and gave examples of policies in other advanced countries, such as France, Sweden, Germany and the United States, that have increased the birthrate and helped single mothers keep their children. "In reality, unwed mothers are forced to choose adoption, for lack of another option. Therefore, I think there should be policy measures created to support single mothers," she said.

Her thoughts were echoed by Yang Jung-ja, director of the Korea Family Legal Service Center. Yang spoke above France's success in increasing their birthrate though government support for single mothers or unmarried couples. "In the past, France had the lowest birthrate in the world, but now it has the highest rate in Europe ... 52 percent of its children are born out-of-wedlock but they still get government support."

Miss Mama Mia representative Park also indicated a need for government-sponsored counseling for single mothers during and after their pregnancies. "Adoption agencies pressure you to give up your child ... they don't offer counseling on how to raise your child ... I believe that the goal is to get the mother to give up the baby.

"(Adoption) agencies should not be the first and only ones to provide counseling; there should be a neutral government agency," Park said.

These cases bring up obvious red flags over the questionable ties between unwed mothers' homes and adoption agencies. All four of the major adoption agencies in Korea operate their own unwed mothers' homes, a practice critics have labeled "baby farming."

Park said she was pressured to relinquish her son for adoption within six hours of giving birth. She later retracted her decision to relinquish and had to go through great measures to get her son back. Other mothers like her, she recounted, were forced to pay fees to the agencies for each day that the child stayed in their facilities in order to get their children back.

Park says it's not right that agencies ask mothers to make a decision about adoption so soon after giving birth. "This is not a time when a mother is able to make an informed decision."

In Korea, there are currently no regulations on the timeline of a mother's consent to adoption. The coalition's revisions would include a stipulation that consent from a mother is not valid until 30 days after the birth of the child, giving the mother ample time to get counseling about parenting resources and to understand the all of the implications of such a weighty decision. It also would include an extension on the time period that mothers are able to retract their decision.

Bringing the time period to 30 days would bring Korea up to international standards.

Ethical adoption procedures

International adoption standards aside, there is also a lack of clear national regulations, which can create questions of ethics in adoption agencies' procedures. Adoption agencies here run essentially as private organizations with little to no interference from the government. It is a troubling fact, given that their line of work deals with the welfare of the country's most vulnerable citizens - children.

According to the new bill, agencies would be required to keep accurate records during the entire adoption process. Some of the most common complaints of returning adoptees include a lack of access to adoption records and discrepancies between the adoption records that they are given and the records that are kept at agencies. In the past, these discrepancies have occurred due to a lack of administrative standards or intentional falsification. In her speech, Trenka gave a list of eight types of these abuses, documented by TRACK in real-life cases.

One of these, for example, is a falsified "orphan hojuk." According to the adoption laws of many of the countries where children are sent, the child must be an orphan to be adopted. In order to create the illusion that the child was in fact an orphan - even in cases where children did have families and may have even appeared on their family hojuk (registry) - agencies created "orphan hojuks" to indicate that the child had no family, which is a falsification of a legal document. Trenka says her own case shows multiple examples of these abuses by adoption agencies.

Trenka states that while adoptions may look legal on paper, falsification of records to facilitate adoptions is what prof. David Smolin, an academic expert on international adoption, calls, "child laundering," where children are obtained or sent under false pretenses, but processed to have "legal" adoption papers.

When adoptees come searching for their personal information, these fragmented or inaccurate records make it nearly impossible to track down biological family; the current rate of success is a mere 2.7 percent. Adoption agencies often use the privacy rights of the parent as a reason why information may not be disclosed, but unethical practices in the past may be another motivation to keep adoptees in the dark. The new adoption law proposed by the coalition would require the agencies to surrender all information, excluding any identifying personal information of the parent. In order to enforce the accuracy of adoption records and access to them, the new adoption law proposal stipulates that a central authority should be run by the government. This central authority would house all adoption records, give assistance to adoptees in birth-family searches, and be a watchdog of adoption agencies.

Other parts of the proposal include lowering the age that a child can give their consent to an adoption from 15 to 13 years of age, granting adoptees the right to keep their Korean citizenship, parenting education for prospective adoptive parents to prevent disrupted adoptions, and mandatory birth registration regulations to prevent child trafficking and secret domestic adoptions.

Currently Korea has no law regarding birth registration, so 97 percent of domestic adoption is done in secret, with adoptive parents listing the child as their biological child.

In an interview, Eun Sung-ho, the dire

ctor of the Family Support Division in the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family Affairs emphasized the government's commitment to revamping the country's adoption laws, stating continued talks and plans for another public hearing on the subject by the end of this year. He said it was a priority for his department to promote a bill that makes the adoption procedures more transparent and fair, while preventing cases of disrupted adoptions. "We have to make it a priority to raise Korean children in Korea."

Rep. Choi said that she anticipates some opposition to the bill, which could hit the floor of the National Assembly next year, from proponents of international adoption, such as adoption agencies and prospective adoptive parents, and from those who think that making birth registration mandatory will discourage domestic adoption.

This is Rep. Choi's first time working with a foreign community group, but said that she appreciates when foreign groups want to work to make positive changes in Korean society. She encourages foreign groups who are compelled to activism. "If there is a problem that can affect the relationship between Korea and other countries, it's important to work together to make changes ... not everything can be changed by laws, but when we change laws, we began to change society."

ASK representative Kim Stoker said it's important that expats speak up. "As a foreigner, people might wonder why I'd be interested in changing legislation in Korea. Well, I am a foreigner ... (and) even though I don't hold Korean citizenship, I have lived in this country for more than 10 years. Once I heard that the Special Adoption Law in Korea was going to be revised ... I knew that we as a community living here in Korea had to be involved. Our voices needed to be heard."

For more information, visit the groups' websites: www.adoptionjustice.com or www.adopteesolidarity.org

For non-Koreans who are interested in other forms of social activism, the Seoul Global Center offers free legal counsel Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 2-5 p.m. You can also visit the website http://global.seoul.go.kr or call the hotline at 02-1688-0120.

(shannon.sgc@gmail.com)

By Shannon Heit

Original Resource_http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/11/13/200911130051.asp

100514 Unwed and unbothered: Single motherhood carries little stigma today

2010-05-19T17:26:04+09:00

Unwed and unbothered: Single motherhood carries little stigma today
By Kristi L. Nelson
Posted March 14, 2010 at midnight

ccontent from knoxnews.com

.Photo by Amy Smotherman Burgess // Buy this photo

(left to right) Child & Family Tennessee assistant nursery supervisor Sherry Clower, director of client operations Rebecca Kelly, nursery supervisor Anna Hendricks and executive director Kate O'Day look over playground equipment at the Great Starts Nursery on March 4, 2010. The nursery is one of the services in the Great Starts program which offers addicted mothers and their children the opportunity of holistic treatment and healing together as a family.

[Related.Database: Demographics on unwed mothers in Tennessee

Learn more from the CDC about unmarried childbearing ]

Nearly two in five babies born in the United States have unmarried mothers, according to the latest count.

Just a few decades ago, that number would have shocked most of society. Unwed mothers were a scandal then. Most of them were shamed teenagers, not the women in their 20s and 30s who most often have out-of-wedlock babies today.

Now, when an unmarried woman sports a belly bulge - by accident, or by choice - society shrugs. The stigma is largely a thing of the past.

Could this account for the dramatic spike in nonmarital births that statistician Stephanie Ventura laid out last May in a data brief for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics?

Ventura's "Changing Patterns of Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States," using 2007 data, made headlines when it pointed out that births to unmarried women rose 26 percent in just five years - higher for women in their 20s or older.

In 2007, some 60 percent of births to women 20-24 were nonmarital, as were almost a third of births to women 25-29. Meanwhile, over the same time period, the teen pregnancy rate changed little or even declined, accounting for only 23 percent of nonmarital births.

In 1970, half of all unmarried women having babies were teenagers.

"Nonmarital births are at a higher risk of having adverse birth outcomes such as lower birth weight, preterm birth and infant mortality than are children born to married women. Children born to single mothers typically have more limited social and financial resources."
Stephanie Ventura, Statistician

Tennessee's nonmarital birth rates experienced a more gradual increase, but the percentage of babies born to unmarried mothers is even higher than the national average: 44 percent. Knox County's rate, 35 percent, isn't far behind, and surrounding counties average close to 40 percent.

The impact is far-reaching. Sociologists, public health providers and policymakers have their eyes on the nonmarital birth rate as a predictor for everything from prematurity rates to future welfare costs.

Single parent implications

The argument that children do better in two-parent homes isn't a new one, and there is research that seems to bear it out.

"Nonmarital births are at a higher risk of having adverse birth outcomes such as lower birth weight, preterm birth and infant mortality than are children born to married women," Ventura said. "Children born to single mothers typically have more limited social and financial resources."

Yet, it's not completely clear whether that's the cause or the outcome of unmarried childbirth. While the percentage of children with social, behavioral and emotional challenges are higher in unmarried parent homes than with married couples, the majority of children raised by single parents don't experience these problems, a number of studies over the last decade in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand have found.

Researchers are trying to pinpoint how much outcomes are influenced by the other factors - poverty, lack of education, late or no prenatal care, younger parents, drug and alcohol problems and lack of stability in relationships - that are more likely to occur with unmarried parents.

Photo by Amy Smotherman Burgess

University of Tennessee professor in the College of Social Work, Terri Combs Orme (cq)

poses for a portrait at the Blackbird Coffeehouse on March 4, 2010.

Terri Combs-Orme, a professor in the University of Tennessee's College of Social Work, has spent more than 30 years researching disadvantaged children and families.

When looking at research, Combs-Orme said, "there are lots of implications for single parenting."

Combs-Orme thinks the single most important factor in a child's upbringing is having someone "devoted" to the child. When children are raised without their fathers, "it cuts in half the number of people who are utterly devoted to that child," she said.

But not far behind in importance, she said, is the financial situation a child is brought into.

Statistically, unmarried mothers are much more likely to lack financial resources, which can affect every area of parenting Combs-Orme said.

There's ample evidence that the amount of stress a mother is under has a marked effect on her children. Lack of finances is a leading cause of stress in all families.

Lack of resources "can be a huge barrier," Combs-Orme said. "Poor children suffer disadvantages compared to their more advantaged peers in virtually every area, including health, cognitive development, social development, mental and emotional health, and school achievement. Moreover, the effects of poverty are long-lasting - higher rates of delinquency, school drop-out and adolescent pregnancy clearly place poor children at a disadvantage with regard to achievement and quality of life as they enter adulthood."

Far-reaching costs

In Knox County in 2007, 63 percent of babies born to women with an annual income of $24,999 or less were born to unmarried women, a rate three times higher than in the $25,000-49,999 income range and six times higher than in the $50,000-99,999 income range. Seventy-two percent of new mothers who had not graduated high school were unmarried.

Photo by Amy Smotherman Burgess

(left to right) Child & Family Tennessee assistant nursery supervisor Sherry Clower,

director of client operations Rebecca Kelly, nursery supervisor Anna Hendricks

and executive director Kate O'Day look over playground equipment at the Great Starts Nursery on March 4, 2010.

Kate O'Day, director of Child and Family Tennessee, which provides "safety net" services to vulnerable children, said "up to 80 percent" of its client base is composed of single-parent families.

Initially, "I was shocked" by those numbers, O'Day said - but they make sense.

"When we work with these families, we find that they're very stressed" and often suffer from depression brought about by being the sole parent, she said.

Combs-Orme said research suggests fathers perform specific functions in a child's upbringing, notably physical play and rough-housing, and the development of self-esteem and empathy.

But with the right resources, "a single mother could probably provide much of the same parenting" if she's aware of what would be lacking and makes sure the child gets it somewhere, Combs-Orme said.

Public policies are often focused on the idea that a decrease in nonmarital childbearing would mean better outcomes for both children and for the country's budget. A widely reported research paper presented in 2008 in Chicago pegged the annual public cost of births to unmarried teens alone at $7.6 billion, including the lower taxes that the mothers, who are usually impoverished, contribute and the extra social services they require. Conservative groups have estimated the cost of nonmarital childbearing at $112 billion a year or higher, citing both lost taxes and increased taxpayer expenses for programs and services.

Nobel Memorial Prize winner and noted economist James J. Heckman, a professor at the University of Chicago, cites a longer-ranging cost.

His "Heckman equation" says investing in educational and development resources for disadvantaged families, nurturing early development of cognitive and social skills in children from birth to age 5, and sustaining early development with effective education through to adulthood would yield "a more capable, productive and valuable work force that pays dividends to America for generations to come."

And he has numbers to back that up. Heckman did a value analysis of comprehensive early childhood development programs and concluded that "investing in early childhood development for disadvantaged children provides a 10 percent per annum return to society through increased personal achievement and social productivity.

So helping these children is more than "a question of fairness or social justice," he believes; it's a good financial investment.

"Substantial evidence shows that these children are more likely to commit crime, have out-of-wedlock births and drop out of school," Heckman said.

O'Day said the effect on children who don't have enough resources or enough parenting "really is quite serious."

"It's a cost every step of the way," she said. Children who underperform at school as a result of their home situation consume more resources and are at risk for more serious failings down the road. Children who are taken into state custody not only cost the government money for their care, but when they age out, O'Day said, they have a one in four chance of being homeless, a "very high risk" for serious mental illness, addiction issues and unemployment, and a propensity for lower earnings across their whole lives.

Photo by Amy Smotherman Burgess

Child & Family Tennessee Executive Director Kate O'Day visits with Markesha Smith

and her eight month old son Daveion at the Great Starts Nursery on March 4, 2010.

Great Starts offers addicted mothers and their children the opportunity of holistic treatment and healing together as a family.

Reversing a trend

One solution, O'Day believes, would be to provide programs to support single mothers when children are very young, at a critical stage of brain development. A national pilot program - not tested in Knox County - that sends a nurse to visit new mothers at home for the first two years resulted in a lower arrest rate among those mothers and, ultimately, their children, she said.

"It's easy to identify the damage done to these kids and scapegoat the parents," O'Day said, "but in fact, (nonmarital birth is) a very significant social trend, and beating up the parent isn't going to make … the situation any better."

"I think it weighs heavily on the public health system … to support these mothers," said Quannah Washington, a public health educator with the Knox County Health Department. "When you have children and you're already in poverty, it does not help the situation."

Those families are more likely to get in trouble with the law, less likely to seek preventive health care (costing more when they end up in hospital emergency rooms with problems that could have been treated more cheaply early), Washington said. They may be working multiple jobs to make ends meet. They may start a cycle of "hopelessness," where young women whose mothers had them at an early age think they're destined to do the same.

And don't forget, she said, that women who have unplanned pregnancies usually are having unprotected sex, which raises the rates of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV transmission, which also costs society money.

Children in bad environments whose parents aren't able to be involved enough need other role models, Washington said.

"We need to show our young people that there is a different way to do things, that you don't have to go along with the status quo," she said."

Combs-Orme said that when parents can't provide certain things that would help children succeed, "and there are millions of reasons for that," communities should step up.

"There is so much criticism of single parents, so much judgment," she said. "There are not enough of us saying it's in the long-term interest of society for us to make up some of that."

The cost isn't going down, O'Day said.

"We really have decoupled marriage and childbearing, for better or for worse, and it is leaving a lot of kids at risk," she said.

But "even though it's a trend, it's a trend that can be reversed" to the benefit of society, Washington said. "And it's not going to be one person or one group who solves the problem. We all have to work together."

Kristi L. Nelson may be reached at 865-342-6434.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/mar/14/unwed-and-unbothered-single-motherhood-carries-lit/

100512 Adoption System Overhaul

2010-05-12T08:46:05+09:00

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2920309

Joongang Daily May 12, 2010

Adoption system overhaul

Many Koreans adopted to foreign countries return to Korea every year and are pleasantly surprised to see the development of their mother country. But the pain they feel at losing family, language and culture is difficult to overcome, regardless of the environment in which they were raised.

One young girl adopted by a white family in the United States even said, “I was almost going mad because I was not what I was. Though I have an Asian face, I was not an Asian person. Even though I was raised to be white, I am not white either.” That’s why Korean adoptees and their biological parents, brothers and sisters have been urging the government to overhaul our adoption system.

Even after Korea became a proud member of the G-20, the shameful practice of sending babies overseas, which began over 50 years ago with the Korean War (1950-53), still continues. Every year more than 1,000 children leave their homeland for an unfamiliar country shortly after their birth. Over 95 percent of these children are the children of unwed single mothers. Simply put, our deep-rooted prejudice and social discrimination forces them from their mothers.

The shameless practices of the related agencies also contribute to the situation, because they pressure women with nowhere to go to send their babies overseas in return for assisting them with their delivery. It goes beyond common sense to think that the agencies are coercing these women to sign on a form relinquishing their babies even before the babies are born, and refusing to return the babies without some form of payment if the mother changes her mind.

To curb this malpractice, we need to thoroughly separate unwed mother care centers from adoption agencies. We should also provide women with as much information about raising their children as is given about adoption. And we should listen to what adoptive father Dr. Richard Boas has been saying for many years: “The best solution to this problem is to create an environment in which unwed single mothers are able to raise their children themselves.” After meeting a group of unwed Korean mothers, he devoted his life to advocating for their rights.

The Korean people must also make an effort to get rid of their prejudices of Korean families who adopt. Domestic adoption is undoubtedly better than overseas adoption. But the number of domestic adoptions has been at a standstill for years, in part due to the emphasis on blood ties in our society. Therefore, a new perspective on families should take root here. Building a country that considers both single-mother families and adoptive families as legitimate would be the best way to remove the stigma that brands us as a country that exports its children.

100505 Unlocking their secrets

2010-05-05T12:43:34+09:00

Unlocking their secrets

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, May 5, 2010

By Lynn Arditi

Journal Staff Writer

A photo and the first Mother’s Day card given to Nancy Horgan in 1989 by her first-born son, Kurt Smith.

The photo was taken shortly after they first met.

The Providence Journal / Mary Murphy

Nancy Horgan was 17 when she gave up her first son for adoption.

It was 1968. Her father and mother, a school principal and a teacher, had sent her to a home for unwed mothers. After she gave birth at St. Joseph’s Hospital, in Providence, she was “shamed” into surrendering her child.

For years, the birth remained a secret — not only in her family, but in the eyes of the state.

A Rhode Island law that dates to 1944 seals all birth records of adopted children. Their birth histories remained locked in seven metal filing cabinets at the state Department of Health’s office of vital statistics.

Now, state lawmakers are considering legislation which would unlock the birth records for many — though not all — adults born in Rhode Island who were adopted.

The legislation follows more than a decade of emotional pleas by a vocal group of adoptees and their supporters for access to their original birth records — a gateway to their familial and genetic origins.

But opponents, including some state lawmakers with adopted children, have argued that birth records of adoptees should remain sealed to protect the privacy of birth mothers and adoptive families.

This year, state lawmakers say, could be different.

When Nancy Horgan was a teenager, babies born to unwed mothers were “illegitimate children.” The state did not send birth notices of children born out of wedlock to the mother’s hometown registrar or even to the mother herself, unless she specifically requested it, “to avoid embarrassment to [the] mother and disclosure of an illegitimate birth,” according to a 1960 report by the Rhode Island Council of Community Services. The only certificate of birth that a child born out of wedlock could obtain was a “short form” which excluded the parents’ names.

Since 1944, only a judge can grant an order to access the birth records of an adoptee, for “good cause.” And, historically, in adoption records cases, the state courts have tended to favor preserving confidentiality.

When a child is adopted, the state’s office of vital records issues a new birth certificate. There is no way to tell that the parents named on the certificate are not the child’s biological parents. The original birth records are sealed.

The day Horgan was discharged from the hospital she was wheeled past the nursery window for a glimpse of her baby. Her parents, the family’s minister and a social worker all insisted that giving up her baby was best for both of them. They told her to try to forget about it.

She went to college, married and bore two more children. But she never forgot.

In 1988, Horgan read a story in The Sunday Journal about a woman’s successful search for her daughter. She joined the Parents and Adoptees Liberty Movement of Rhode Island and began lobbying to change the state’s adoption laws. In 1989, four bills were introduced in the General Assembly to change the adoption laws, but all of them died. That same year, her first-born son was about to turn 21. She contacted the adoption agency.

It turned out that his adoptive parents had placed a letter on file years earlier saying they were willing to be contacted. As soon as Horgan called, someone from the adoption agency contacted the family and gave her phone number to her son, Kurt Smith.

In 1993, under pressure from adoptees seeking information about their birth parents, the General Assembly passed a law to create a voluntary adoption reunion registry to help adoptees who are 21 or older find their biological parents — if their biological parents have given the registry permission to be contacted. To date, 736 people have contacted the registry, though the number of “matches” is estimated at fewer than 100.

Over the following seven years, adoptees have pressed for access to their birth records. During one State House rally, a group of adoptees marched to the office of vital statistics and demanded to see their birth records. The request, as expected, was denied.

Christine A. Lachapelle-Miller, an adoptee and member of The Rhode Island Adoption Coalition for Equality (TRACE), was among the protestors. A mother of four children, she’d found her birth mother in 1997 after doing her own detective work and digging through high school year books. The reconnection only fueled her determination to change the state law.

“It’s about human rights,” she said. “It’s about identity.”

Last year, legislation to grant adoptees unrestricted access to their birth records won unanimous approval in the House, but was never voted out of a Senate committee. One of the key opponents was Sen. J. Michael Lenihan, D-East Greenwich, the father of an adopted daughter.

“Many of the birth mothers gave up their children for adoptions under assurance that their identity would remain confidential,” Lenihan said. “The problem I’ve had with the approach they’ve taken up until now is it tends to ignore three parties of interest: the birth parents, the adoptive parents and, most importantly, the adoptee. Whatever you do, the interests of all three of those parties have to be taken into account.”

Lenihan said he supports an amended version of last year’s legislation that is now pending in the General Assembly which would allow adoptees, when they turn 18, to get copies of their original birth certificates as long as their birth parents have not filed a “no release” form with the state registry. (If their birth parents are deceased or incompetent, the parent’s adult sibling or parent can request the information remain sealed.)

The bill, introduced by Sen. Rhoda E. Perry, D-Providence, is scheduled to be debated Wednesday in the Senate Health & Human Services Committee, of which Perry is the chairwoman. An identical bill has been introduced in the House by Rep. Mary Ann Shallcross Smith, D-Lincoln.

Eight states — including Maine and New Hampshire — have laws allowing adoptees access to their original birth certificates. (The others are Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Kansas, Tennessee and Oregon.)

Massachusetts allows access to adoptees who are 18 or older and born prior to 1974 to obtain their original birth certificates.

Nancy Horgan is now 59; the son she gave up for adoption is 41.

It’s been two decades since she and her biological son, Kurt Smith, reunited on the beach in Narragansett on his 21st birthday. Since then, they have shared regular family meals and, for three years in the early 1990s, even ran a fabric business together.

She now runs her own upholstery business in Charlestown; he and a partner own an antique furniture-refinishing business in Hudson, N.Y. They text each other and talk on the phone regularly, and when he’s in town, they have lunch.

His 74-year-old adoptive mother, Marge Smith, of Middletown, has also supported his relationship with his birth mother. She even spoke on a panel about adoption at the Rhode Island Convention Center a few years ago. She thinks all adopted adults should have unrestricted access to their birth records.

“I hate secrecy,” she said. “I think it adds to the problems.”

Kurt Smith considers himself lucky. Back when he was growing up, society tried to “preserve this illusion” that adoptees were born into their adopted families. His family, though, wanted him to know the truth.

But even if they didn’t, he said, it shouldn’t matter. As an adult, he said, he has a right to know.

larditi@projo.com

content from the Providence Journal

http://www.projo.com/news/content/ADOPTION_SECRETS_05-05-10_T6IBHI7_v369.4298779.html

100426 Report: Almost half of babies here are born to unmarried mothers

2010-04-28T14:26:57+09:00

Report: Almost half of babies here are born to unmarried mothers

By AMY NEFF ROTH
Observer-Dispatch
Posted Apr 26, 2010 @ 07:00 AM

Single women give birth to almost half of the babies in Oneida County.
Although births to single mothers have been increasing across the county and the state, the percentage of births to single women in Oneida County – 48.1 percent in 2006 – puts Oneida County ahead of the state (40 percent) and the country (38.5 percent), according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 1990, only 28.6 percent of births in Oneida County were to unwed mothers and 33 percent of births in the state.
Hamilton College sociology professor Jennifer Irons sees two major reasons for the increase in single mothers: more couples living together before or instead of marrying; and a growing social acceptance of single mothers.
National, local trends
Nationally, births to single mothers shot up from 18 percent of all births in 1980 to 39.7 percent in 2007, according to the CDC. The majority of these births are to women in their 20s.
The Oneida County 2010-2013 Community Health Assessment, released in March, shows that Oneida County ranks in the quarter of New York counties with the highest percentage of single mothers. The assessment looked at the percentage of births from 2004 through 2006 to unmarried women – 45.9 percent in Oneida County, compared to 40 percent in the state and 35 percent in the state excluding New York City.
The trend is not without adverse consequences. In a report on the growing numbers of unmarried mothers, the CDC noted that these babies face a greater risk of being born prematurely, being low-birth weight, dying in infancy and living in poverty.
Babies’ welfare
Most studies do show that children tend to do better if raised in two-parent households, Irons said.
“Parenting is generally going to be easier when you have someone to share the costs – emotional and financial,” she said.
But the mother’s status probably also plays a part in her baby’s welfare, Irons noted.
Single mothers may be: women who live with their babies’ fathers; single women with stable finances; and single women who aren’t financially stable. The 2002 National Survey of Family Growth found that about 40 percent of unmarried mothers cohabitate.
“For financially stable women, the decision to give birth outside of a relationship may mean they have decided not to wait any longer on a partner, and they are likely to be able to provide their child with adequate resources, although they will certainly encounter additional stresses as a single parent,” Irons said.
“For poor women, the situation is somewhat different, although they, too, are just as likely to decide not to wait on the right partner.”
There are few stable, well-paying jobs for men of little education, meaning these women lack a pool of men who could help support a family, Irons said. Marriage for them doesn’t pay off, she said.

Content from UTICAOD.COM

http://www.uticaod.com/health/x932353311/Report-Almost-half-of-babies-here-are-born-to-unmarried-mothers