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This is illustrative of the double edged sword that seems to always be involved when adoption reform takes place. Now,in addition to the stigma of out of wedlock birth in Korea,it is more difficult for mothers to relinquish their children using the established channels.
The work of this Pastor is to be praised, but I dread to think how many other babies are being relinquished in other ways and are not fortunate enough to find them selves in the relative safety of a baby box.
When Nationalism and saving face takes precedence over the welfare of children and young mothers, and morality and common sense are the thrown to the wayside this ,is always the result.
Korea may not wish to be seen as a "source for babies available for international adoption" but tightening up international adoption, while encouraging domestic adoption -in a country that has never accepted this practice seems futile and doomed for failure.
I wonder what if anything is being done in Korea to encourage the acceptance of adoption. As long as adoption is some cultures is viewed negatively, there can be little hope of keeping the "unwanted" babies within the borders. Very sad indeed because there will always be women who, for whatever reason, cannot parent.
ONE pastor, reported an increase from a monthly AVERAGE of 5 infants to two months of 10 and 14. That does not a trend make. This is why statistics matter.
Nothing in either BLOG, supports the idea that there is a widespread increase in children being abandoned in South Korea.
I wonder what if anything is being done in Korea to encourage the acceptance of adoption. As long as adoption is some cultures is viewed negatively, there can be little hope of keeping the "unwanted" babies within the borders. Very sad indeed because there will always be women who, for whatever reason, cannot parent.
There have always been such women, and my guess is, there always will be.
I don't think that any amount of "Western training" is going to change as entranced cultural belief as this.Korea is one of the oldest societies in the world.
Look at what happened with Romania! A horrible situation of too many unwanted children was created by a fascist dictator. Children needed homes ! And Americans and others were willing, even eager to step up to the plate! But a British woman, did not think that Romania should be in the EU if they gave children up for adoption.
Why? Because it was "not a Western concept." WHY ARE WESTERNERS THE STANDARD BEARERS HERE?
Wh should we impose WESTERN VALUES ON EASTER CULTURES?
A quick glance at the provisions shows that the Korean government will give stipends to in country-adoptive parents[more for handicapped children], provide counseling to birth families and certain financial support & other support to birth mothers. It requires birth registration and medical history - and makes them available to adult adoptees. Before this law, all that was required was that the birth mother was to sign a note saying she relinquished the child at any time in her pregnancy. Now a birth mother must wait 1 week after giving birth & registering it to relinquish her child.
This was passed by the Korean government with 4 abstentions and no "nays".
I believe that the Korean government understands the culture of their country & thus imagine there must have been compelling reasons for the changes.
A quick glance at the provisions shows that the Korean government will give stipends to in country-adoptive parents[more for handicapped children], provide counseling to birth families and certain financial support & other support to birth mothers. It requires birth registration and medical history - and makes them available to adult adoptees. Before this law, all that was required was that the birth mother was to sign a note saying she relinquished the child at any time in her pregnancy. Now a birth mother must wait 1 week after giving birth & registering it to relinquish her child.
This was passed by the Korean government with 4 abstentions and no "nays".
I believe that the Korean government understands the culture of their country & thus imagine there must have been compelling reasons for the changes.
The South Korean government changed the adoption law to look good to the western and industrialized countries. Since they do not allow abortions under any condition, churches have created the "baby boxes" and provides the counseling to the birth mother. When we adopted our daughter, we went to one of the top adoption agencies, filled out the adoption forms, had a home study (and passed) and paid all fees and were able to get our baby girl. This is the way that most countries do their adoption. Korea is not providing a safety net for all their children born out of wed-lock or children the parents can't afford to support. The laws are to make the country look good and are not to protect the children.
Now the Korean rules are so strict that older people can't adopt and that means that there a lot of children left in limbo. This is not reform, this is repression.
The South Korean government changed the adoption law to look good to the western and industrialized countries. Since they do not allow abortions under any condition, churches have created the "baby boxes" and provides the counseling to the birth mother. When we adopted our daughter, we went to one of the top adoption agencies, filled out the adoption forms, had a home study (and passed) and paid all fees and were able to get our baby girl. This is the way that most countries do their adoption. Korea is not providing a safety net for all their children born out of wed-lock or children the parents can't afford to support. The laws are to make the country look good and are not to protect the children.
Now the Korean rules are so strict that older people can't adopt and that means that there a lot of children left in limbo. This is not reform, this is repression.
I have to agree that the answer to Korea's problem is not domestic adoption. One thing that does concern me re domestic adoption in Korea is that they often won't tell their child that they are adopted.
The situation for Korean women is not too dissimilar to what our western unwed mothers faced in the 60s, i.e. stigma about being an unwed mother and very little help for those that do want to do so, thus leaving an unwed mother who doesn't want to abort her child no real alternative option but adoption. To me, that is repression, because the option of parenting as an unwed mother is made almost impossible.
Thus, it is good to see organisations like the Korean Unwed Mothers Support Network doing what they can to help those women who would like to raise their child. It was formed by an adoptive parent, Dr Richard Boas:
"Abortion is outlawed in South Korea, except in cases where the procedure takes place before the 24th week of pregnancy and the mother's health is in danger, the foetus is malformed or the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest."
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The effect of the act may be that international adoptive parents may have to jump through smaller hoops. The cause was, sure they want to "look better". They also state their cause as being to preserve families, encourage domestic adoption, and to protect the safety and rights of adopted children. You are free to doubt their intentions. Again, this was passed with no nays and 4 abstentions.
Korea is allowed to consider & legislate what they see as a valid societal goal for them. US citizens are allowed to criticize them. If the country feels that criticism rises to the level of them not "looking better" vs their view of what their societal goals should be, and if looking better is truly their primary goal, they will change it.
They are allowed to enact what ever rules they want as a sovereign foreign nation.
And I as a student of Cultural Studies, with a background in Sociology, am permitted to view their motives critically and to say that I think that "the best interests of the child" are not being honored.
In fact with out any such degrees or degrees in progress, I am permitted to do the same.
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