Jours sans adoption

ASK a demandé à quatre agences d'adoption de mettre un terme à l'envoi des enfants à l'étranger pour une seule journée, le 11 mai afin de "montrer publiquement qu'ils sont d'accord que l'adoption internationale n'est pas la meilleure option pour les enfants d'aujourd'hui en Corée, mais les quatre agences ont refusé de le faire parce que "ce n'était pas le bon moment". Le 11 mai coïncidait avec la campagne Journée d'adoption du gouvernement coréen, qui encourage chaque famille coréenne à adopter un enfant. La Journée d'adoption a été désignée en 2006.

De 1953 à 2006, un total de 160 242 enfants ont été adoptés à l'étranger. Si ceux qui ont été adoptés sans dossier convenable sont inclus, le chiffre devrait être à plus de 200 000.

L'an passé, pour la première fois dans l'histoire de l'adoption en Corée les adoptions domestiques (1 388) ont dépassé les adoptions internationales (1 264) a déclaré Kim, en citant le ministère de la Santé, du Bien-être et de la famille.

Au premier coup d'œil, cela semble être une indication de l'évolution des idées sur ce que signifie être une famille, à savoir la volonté des Coréens d'élever les enfants qui ne sont pas liés à eux par le sang. Mais ce que cela montre en réalité est que les agences d'adoption ont été plus actives dans le placement des enfants pour l'adoption domestique à cause du système de quota".

Dans le cadre du système de quota, plus l'agence fait de placements d'enfants en adoption domestique, plus l'agence est autorisée à faire des placements d'enfants en adoption internationale, a dit Kim. Elle a également noté que les agences sont réticentes à arrêter l'adoption internationale parce les frais sont près de quatre fois supérieurs à ceux de l'adoption domestique.

Faisant observer que la grande majorité des enfants disponibles pour l'adoption ces jours-ci sont de mères célibataires, elle a dit que tant que l'adoption existe en tant que business privé et rentable en l'absence d'un système de protection sociale gouvernement, les mères célibataires, qui luttent déjà contre la pauvreté et la stigmatisation sociale, n'auront d'autre choix que d'abandonner leurs enfants.

Les gens le savent mieux quand ils l'ont vécu de première main. Je me demande si le gouvernement a inclus un adopté pour nommer la Journée d'adoption. J'espère que le gouvernement sera à l'écoute de ce que les membres d'ASK ont à dire quant à l'avenir des politiques sur l'adoption. Si nécessaire, la Journée d'adoption devrait être remplacée par de nombreuses journées sans adoption. 

Days Without Adoption

By Kim Heung-sook

May 22, 2009. The Korea Times

``It's yours," a Korean adoption agency official beamed as she handed a baby wrapped in white cloth to an American lady. Without saying a word, the latter received the baby carefully, revealing her love and welcome only through her gleaming eyes. From her tears brimming, I could tell that she had come through a lot of troubles to become a mother.

While I tried to feel happy for the little one, I couldn't resist a certain pang of sadness for some inexplicable reason. Was it because I didn't like the way the official called the baby? It is grammatically right to call a baby by the pronoun of ``it" when you don't know ``its" sex, but the word disturbed me somehow. When you are giving a book or anything away, you say ``It's yours," too, I momentarily thought.

While my admiration for adoptive parents grew ever greater over the past three decades, I recently had a moment to reconsider my long-held view on adoption owing to a group of members of Adoptee Solidarity Korea (ASK), who, as children, were adopted by foreign families. They were calling for an end to adoption, whether international or domestic.

``ASK looks at inter-country adoption out of Korea from a broad social and political perspective and as a human rights issue. We believe that the current practice of inter-country adoption from Korea is no longer necessary; its continued practice indicates a need for alternative forms of social support for Korea's underprivileged class," an ASK statement read. ASK was founded in March 2004.

During a symposium on ``Alternatives to Adoption: Building a Movement for Change" held at the Korea Human Rights Commission building in downtown Seoul on May 8, ASK Representative Kim Stoker said she was sorry that the ASK efforts to see ``A Day Without Adoption" failed.

ASK asked the four adoption agencies to halt sending children abroad for a single day on May 11 to ``publicly show that they agreed that international adoption is not the best option for children today in Korea," but all the four declined to do so on the grounds that the ``timing is not right," Kim said. May 11 coincided with the Korean government Adoption Day campaign, which encourages each Korean family to adopt one child. The Adoption Day was designated in 2006.

Korea became one of the biggest providers of adoptee children after the three-year Korean War was ceased by a truce in 1953, leaving tens of thousands orphaned. From 1953 through 2006, a total of 160,242 children were adopted overseas. If those who were adopted without proper records are included, the figure is expected to be over 200,000.


For the first time in the history of adoption in Korea, domestic (1,388) surpassed international adoptions (1,264) last year, Kim said, quoting the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family. ``At a glance this may appear to be an indication of changing notions about what it means to be a family, namely, Koreans' willingness to raise children not related to them by blood. But what it shows in actuality is how adoption agencies have been more active in placing children for domestic adoption because of the quota system," she said.

Under the quota system, the more domestic adoption placements an agency makes, the more inter-country adoption placements an agency is permitted to make, Kim said. She also noted that agencies were reluctant to stop international adoptions since expenses were nearly four times those of a domestic adoption.

Pointing out that the vast majority of children available for adoption these days are from unwed mothers, she said that as long as adoption exists as a private, profitable business in the absence of a government-supported social welfare system, unwed mothers, who are already struggling against poverty and social stigmatization, will have no choice but to give up their children.

People know something best when they have experienced it first hand. I wonder if the government included any adoptee in the course of naming Adoption Day. I hope the government will listen to what ASK members have to say as to the future policies about adoption. If necessary, Adoption Day should be replaced by many Days Without Adoption.

kimsook@hotmail.com