Truth and Reconciliation Commission to probe intercountry adoptions
The South Korean government has established a Commission to investigate 34 cases out of 200,000 adoptees in Europe and the United States who suspect their origins were falsified and concealed due to illegal adoptions in the mid to late 1900s. During that time, it has been argued that adoption laws in South Korea did not employ meaningful measures to eliminate any “intake problems”, and the country’s special adoption law allowed agencies to manipulate records and bypass child relinquishment.
Adoptees are calling for the Commission to broadly investigate agencies for records falsification and for proceeding with adoptions without the consent of birth parents. Adoptees also request a complete opening of their records to prevent any destruction or altercation of identity documents kept by the country’s four adoption agencies.
Child Identity Protection (CHIP) welcomes this courageous step of a State of origin to investigate its past intercountry adoption practices, whereby justice may be found for many adoptees and speedy re-establishment of their identity.
