South Korea’s legacy of orphan adoption and the violation of adoptees’ rights to know their origins
Abstract
South Korea experienced international scrutiny over its irregular intercountry adoption practices in the 1980s. However, it eventually came to be viewed as a model of transparent and efficient adoptions. This façade disguises an orphan adoption system that has become entrenched over the decades. Today, adoptees continue to lobby for their right to origins. This paper explores South Korea’s laws and policies, which nullified the rights of adoptees, and it calls for receiving countries to assume co-responsibility to restore these rights.
Other articles
Risk and protective factors for psychological wellbeing of children orphaned by AIDS in Cape Town: a qualitative study of children and caregivers’ perspectives
By 2020, an estimated 2.3 million South African children will be orphaned by HIV/AIDS (Actuarial Society of South Africa,…
Read moreEnhancing Psychosocial Support through Positive Youth Development: Narratives from Orphans in Zimbabwe
Due to the AIDS pandemic more and more youths are losing their parents. They are usually left with caregivers and in Zimbabwe…
Read moreA Comparison of the Wellbeing of Orphans and Abandoned Children Ages 6–12 in Institutional and Community-Based Care Settings in 5 Less Wealthy Nations
Background: Leaders are struggling to care for the estimated 143,000,000 orphans and millions more abandoned children worldwide.…
Read morePsychological well-being and socio-economic hardship among AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children in Guinea
Over the past decade, the effects of AIDS-related parental death on children’s socioeconomic, educational and psychological…
Read more