History of Adoption in Korea
Chapter 2
Child Protection Efforts in the Era of Military Dictatorship
Trend of Domestic and Intercountry Adoption
· Domestic adoption was relatively booming while intercountry adoption was stagnant → The government enacted and revised relevant laws while introducing a variety of policies, as a way to promote domestic adoption
· 4,206 children out of 11,841 adoptees were domestic adoptees in the previous 10 years, totaling 36.63%
· The number of domestic adoptions ended up exceeding that of intercountry adoptions by the mid-1960s
Major Events
February 1961 Prepared legal grounds for intercountry adoption and enacted Act on Special Cases Concerning Orphan Adoption
1961 Built accommodations for 300 orphans in Nokbeon-dong, Seoul (Holt Children's Services)
1962 Conducted a campaign, Foster One Orphan per Family
1964 Established Korea Social Service
February 1965 Launched a campaign, Share your love, as a way to mobilize financial support from the public
In April 1965 Holt Adoption Program started a foster home project
1967 International Social Services handed over its duties to Child Placement Service
Development of Foster Care Projects
Park Chung-hee, Chairman of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction who seized power in a military coup d'etat in 1961, emphasized that Korean children must be brought up at home rather than in an orphanage, and developed a domestic adoption project and a long-term foster care project.
Child Placement Service changed its Korean name in August 1961 (but kept its English name), launching a campaign, Foster One Orphan per Family, as an independent effort of Korea's child welfare projects, which in fact, had depended heavily on international aid.
The effort, however, failed to produce satisfactory results because of its inherent vulnerabilities, such as over-emotional project development, lack of a professional service system, and lack of foster parents’ awareness.
Due to these reasons, the long-term foster care project of Child Placement Service ended as a failure after several trials and errors. However, it created the momentum to revive the significance of foster care, later serving as a catalyst that would vitalize a temporary foster care project before adoption.
Furthermore, the government enacted and revised adoption-related laws and policies that gave priority to domestic adoption, which in turn discouraged intercountry adoption. As a result, by the mid-1960s, the number of domestic adoptions ended up exceeding intercountry adoptions.
The Establishment of Korea Social Service
Baek Geun-chil, the second president of Child Placement Service, established Korea Social Service in 1964 and carried out consulting services, adoption services, and sponsorship projects for mixed-race children, war orphans, children from low-income families, children from broken families, and physically- or mentally-challenged children in Korea.
Korea Social Service developed a variety of services for child welfare by systematizing child welfare projects to provide healthy homes for children who did not have homes or could not be fostered by their parents.
The Enactment of Act on Special Cases Concerning Orphan Adoption
The Act on Special Cases Concerning Orphan Adoption was enacted in 1961 to protect adopted orphans and children with special needs. The Act provided legal standards for intercountry adoption of children with special needs and the purpose (Article 1) was 'to seek enhancement of welfare for orphans by providing simple measures for foreigners to adopt Korean orphans.'
Then, there were many adverse effects coming from private adoptions, due to lack of organizations or policies responsible for intercountry adoption. In 1966, the government made it a rule to enable only authorized organizations to carry out intercountry adoptions.
The government also introduced several laws related to child welfare, such as the Law Concerning the Duties of Guardians for Orphans and the Child Welfare Law.
※ International Social Services (ISS)
The International Social Services is an international organization with its headquarters located in Geneva, Switzerland, and it was authorized by the Korean government in 1957 to carry out activities related to intercountry adoption.
There are three branches worldwide, and the Korean branch withdrew from Korea in 1967 due to operational problems, handing over all relevant duties to the Child Placement Service.
The ISS mostly took care of intercountry adoption, settlement of refugees, international marriages, family counseling, adoption problems, mediation, and solutions.