Why Are Adoptions So Rare in South Korea?

[sayuridoll.livejournal.com]

Some form of follow up to this post.

South Korea is often chided by adoptee lobby-groups and international observers for having renounced its orphaned and abandoned children for decades. After the Korean war (1950-53) South Korea witnessed perhaps the largest exodus of infants—around 200,000—from a single country into adoption in foreign homes. As recently as 2011 it was the sixth-biggest source of infants for adoption in the world (it dropped to 17th in 2013). Yet South Korea has in fact been caring for an overwhelming majority of its unwanted children—2m, or around 85% of the total—who have grown up in state-run orphanages in the past six decades. Part of the reason for that is that adoption in South Korea is so rare. Why?

South Koreans have taken in just 4% of their unwanted children since the 1950s. In 2013 they adopted fewer orphans domestically than Americans, Chinese, Germans, Russians and Swedes did. Neighbouring Japan, by contrast, has some of the highest rates of adoption in the world; but there, men in their 20s and 30s accounted for 98% of adoptions in 2008, taken in by sonless families to carry on their names and businesses. Japan’s sagging birth rates have limited the odds that a family has a natural male heir. South Korea’s households are having even fewer babies: under 1.3 per woman, among the lowest rates in the world. As families have fewer of their own, the prospect of raising another’s child is discounted—not least because it remains so taboo. The chairman of LG, a South Korean conglomerate, adopted when his only son died early (he also has two daughters); he took in his brother’s son, the better to keep the business in the family.


Traditional Confucian notions of the bloodline family still hold sway, as do aspects of primogeniture. Women who cannot bear children face strong social stigma, as do orphans and adoptees, whose chances of getting a job and marrying are limited. Many adoptions in South Korea are concealed from family and friends—and, in many cases, the adopted child. Parents ensure that the baby’s blood type matches their own; some mothers even fake pregnancy. All this sends the message that adoption is shameful, in turn discouraging more of it. The secrecy also explains why 95% of infants adopted within South Korea are less than one-month old: young enough to be passed off as biological children. A majority of adopted babies are girls so as to avoid difficulties over inheritance and at ancestral family rites, which are normally carried out by bloodline sons.

South Korea’s government has long wanted to boost domestic adoption rates. In 2013 it signed the Hague Adoption Convention, which says that children should preferably be adopted by families in their own country. Since 2007 unwanted children must stay in South Korea for five months, while agencies look for a local home, before they can be sent abroad. Overseas adoptions have since fallen while domestic ones encouragingly inched up. But since 2012 their number has dropped too. Some think a recent tightening of South Korea’s adoption law has slowed the adoption process (See here). Courts, involved for the first time in adoption proceedings, now determine parent eligibility (with occasionally odd outcomes: a judge turned down the request of a hopeful couple because a prospective parent was vegetarian). The law’s revision may also have shrunk the pool of infants available for adoption: parents who would previously have given their babies up anonymously at adoption agencies must now register their births in family registers first. Some are choosing to abandon them instead, at churches—and to South Korea’s orphanages.

Source: The Economist

Comments

[tempestdance.livejournal.com]

the stigma is strong (which i think is lessening with younger generation), but it's more so that it's so hard raising children in korea due to shitty economy and very little support for dual income couple that having your own bio kids is a hard choice (as mentioned in the article) :/ the gov needs to do something about low birth rates but they're insistent on just blaming the young women for being too selfish not giving birth (yet it's also selfish if you become a stay at home mom) than actually working out a solution that i've seen a lot of people who say they're not having children to spite the upper class, not to provide them any more "slaves" to the system like they themselves are.

[kjc48.livejournal.com]

i've seen a lot of people who say they're not having children to spite the upper class, not to provide them any more "slaves" to the system like they themselves are
LMAO slay-a-bit! What is this amazing tea? Where can I find it?

[winegums.livejournal.com]

The support for single mothers or women in general is so inadequate but ofc a government would rather blame women for choosing to opt out of child raising, than address the factors that make raising a kid such a hard time to begin with.

[justkyhdding.livejournal.com]

i've seen a lot of people who say they're not having children to spite the upper class, not to provide them any more "slaves" to the system like they themselves are.

i mean theyre just going to hire migrants

[modernelegance.livejournal.com]

So sad that there are such stigmas about something the child especially cannot help. :(

Humans of Seoul on Tumblr recently had like 2-3 entries about a single mom and her story was heartbreaking. I applaud her for being a single mom despite the hardships she has faced...

[donutism.livejournal.com]

Declining birthrates is such an issue in Asia, and yet the governments are doing nothing about it and blaming women for not having kids. And the whole Confucius bloodline thing makes adoption considered a bad thing because the kid is not of the same ~bloodline~.

[kjc48.livejournal.com]

Not trying to be rude, BUT I still don't understand why S.Korea is counted as a developed nation. High speed internet and a bunch of chaebols doesn't mean anything when shit like this and $4.5 minimum wages is still a thing (but then again USA is like textbook developed~ and it's just a giant bag of #mess).

slightly ot: I'll never understand the logic behind Japan's let's adopt a random grown ass man and give him our family fortune even though we have at least one biological daughter (plus we'll probably marry him of to his "sister"). If your family name and business is so important why don't you just pull a Elizabeth -_-

[donutism.livejournal.com]

I think it is a deeply rooted sexist belief that the son is meant to carry on the family name / business, because the daughter will 'belong' to someone else's family when she marries off. It is a shitty belief, but sadly not an uncommon one.

[kjc48.livejournal.com]

Yeah I was gonna title my comment "misogyny+patriarchy= the gift that keeps giving"

[lovejae23.livejournal.com]

you have to keep in mind the cost of living when looking at the minimum wage, it's shitty yes, but not worse than $7.25

also the thing about daughters is that women are pretty much expected to be married off to another family. it's a huge disgrace when you don't get married by a certain age, especially for a well-known fam. it kind of suggests that there's something massively wrong with you/your family if you can't get married to a suitable husband. and then once you are married, you pretty much are given away to live at your husband's family. it really sucks for women in asia...

[kjc48.livejournal.com]

Canadian here ($11.25 thx u vm...$14.02 if you convert it to US$): 'cause $7.75 isn't worth an hour of my hardworking time~
I can't believe these lyrics are still legit lol. Back then Ontario's mw was $8 and some change and it's been increased 2 or 3 times since.
[the rest of the lyrics for that verse is the real reason Korea needs to raise the mw: when you can't afford half the sh*t they advertise~]

Yeah culture sucks when it's stuck in the past and isn't willing to change with the times... BUT then there's the fact that culturally adopting is also seen as bad/taboo/shaming. So Japan as a culture are willing to progress~ just not in a way that could benefit women :-/

[yakuniku-8.livejournal.com]

When I studied compared law I learnt that adoption is not the same everywhere. In some countries it's not even legally possible. And even if you consider the Western tradition, the Romans used to adopt young adults too, like Cesar adopted August.

[bubblyshades.livejournal.com]

this just breaks my heart. adopting is a really really great thing. adopting a child and becoming a family together is not without its challenges and complexities, but when the child really feels safe and valued... that's priceless. Family isn't all about who you're born into and the blood ties you share; family can be made through meaning and attachment.

I understand though that sometimes even when there's a will to adopt, the obstacles just seem insurmountable - the policies involved, finances, the shame and secrecy surrounding the matter and process, etc. But I remain hopeful for progress.

[sra-interesante.livejournal.com]

after all the saddest part is poor kid staying more than necessary in the orphanage
while adults make a mess judging and creating more complicated laws
that kid grow ups without a family wondering why nobody loves him

[lovejae23.livejournal.com]

so many asian societies are too bent on keeping their ~traditions to a point where they don't care what's right and wrong. it's so frustrating to watch.

[violentiak.livejournal.com]

And to think that in my country it's almost impossible to adopt a baby that is actually born here. Or at least you need to wait for years

[carra-mia.livejournal.com]

In my country the adoption process is realllllly long, but, to my knowledge, most of infants/toddlers got adopted generally and 99% adoptions are country-inside. The probelm appears when it's about sick children or kids with siblings ( and that's frequent case bc most patological families have a lot of kids and usually they're taken away later, when the oldest ones are not in "favorable" age to adopt + they parents still have custody and even if there's a family wiling to adopt 3 kids together the law battle is awfull...)

[phililen3.livejournal.com]

What I learned from Life Is Beautiful (2010):

Taking in a child that is not related to you by blood in any way, how could you possibly love it? Especially when compared with children you gave birth to. Whenever there is something wrong with that child, that child is not successful in any way, it is because you are treating that child differently because they are not yours by blood. No matter if what is considered wrong has absolutely nothing to do with you.

The culture I was raised in, people don't like to adopt outside of their own families. They seem to think that the children they give birth to or are related to by blood will be more successful and give less trouble. If an adopted child was to be troublesome, it would boil down to them not being blood. And people also like to keep adoption secret from adopted children.

People want children but are never willing to adopt simply because someone's trash holds no value to them. They will never say this out loud of course, but it is what they think. Their blood is the only thing of worth.

[1111-am.livejournal.com]

As an adoptee from South Korea, I always have mixed feelings whenever I read things about South Korea's views on adoption. None of what I hear is really surprising though anymore. I wish Korea did have a lot more domestic adoptions though. Not saying that I don't think international adoptions aren't good, because they are, but I think there are some definite hardships of having to grow up in an interracial family in a community where everyone else is white. I know there's some adoptees who never really face any issues with their identity, but some do. And while I haven't had a chance to go back yet and visit Korea, I know some who have and have faced lots of discrimination as adults, like for not being fluent. There's the expectation that the adoptive parents should have taught them the language growing up, which is silly because most adoptive parents don't really know the language. I know some parents are good at trying to teach their adoptive children more about their birth culture, but a lot of parents, like mine, more just want children and want to focus on raising them and being good parents. My parents tried to teach us about Korea, they studied up on it, they tried cooking the food, getting us to play with a couple of other adoptees, but overall they just focused on raising us - which they should. Most of the things though I've really learned about Korea I've had to learn on my own now as an adult and put in my own effort in learning the language. I grew up in a very loving family and had privileges I know I wouldn't have gotten had I grown up with a single mother back in Korea. International adoptions are very expensive. Even if they cut back on those and gave the money to help the single mothers out, it wouldn't be enough. It's society's views that need to change. I've had a lot of time growing up to think about my birth mother and to think about what I would have done. She was just a few years older than I am now, but I could not imagine having a kid. Not even the financial anxieties, but without someone to help me? Nope. I know my parents here would be very supportive of me, and the stigma isn't as bad here in the States, but still. Knowing how things are in Korea for them, I don't think I would be able to do it alone either. More support needs to go out there for single moms.

[horramata.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing that with us.

[keki7.livejournal.com]

Your account is refreshingly honest. Thanks for sharing that. I say this as someone considering adopting a child in the future.

[pheonixiajj.livejournal.com]

The sad thing is the story of adopted children does not end when they are adopted into a loving home. Later on they still meet with problems when looking for a marriage partner (e.g. girls parents will look down on them for being abandoned), and in case of people who become famous or celebrities, the parents that once threw them away cause problems too unfortunately.