Thursday, April 10, 2014

Another Hyunsu – This Time Beaten to Death by His Birthmother in Korea

Another Hyunsu – This Time Beaten to Death by His Birthmother in Korea

A Birthmother Beats Her 22-Month-Old Son to Death after a Change of Heart on Adoption
The original link to the story is at: http://vip.mk.co.kr/news/view/21/21/2117739.html
(in Korean)

The Namyangju City Police files murder charges on a 22-year-old birthmother.
The birthmother, who originally planned to have her son adopted overseas but changed her mind, beat her 22-month-old son to death for prolonged crying after a fall.  The police department at the city of Namyangju in the Kyong-gi province arrested and filed murder charges against the 22-year-old mother on April 10th.

On March 24th, the boy was playing in the living room of their apartment after waking up at 11 o’clock in the morning. The birthmother beat her son several times in the abdomen area because the boy would not stop crying after a fall. 
Initially, the birthmother reported to the police that ‘the boy was not moving after falling asleep’. But the police became suspicious and probed the mother further by questioning her because the boy’s body had sustained numerous injuries and bruise marks on the face and on the body.  After further questioning, she confessed to the murder.

According to the police report, the mother gave birth to the boy in June of 2012, and decided to relinquish him to an adoption agency to be adopted overseas, and a foster mother took care of the baby since September of the same year.
Once the boy’s intercountry adoption was decided, the mother filed a petition to the agency to reclaim the boy, and he was returned back to the mother on March 12th of this year.

The  birthmother already had a 4-year-old daughter with her boyfriend, and later had the boy who is now dead.  After her boyfriend joined the military service, she raised her daughter by herself.  The couple was not married.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

EP Temporary Stalled, But Willl Move Again

The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) called a meeting yesterday with all three intercountry adoption agencies after a prolonged delays in approving the EPs due to the incident related to the death of Hyunsu O'Callaghan. 

I am told that after the meeting, the long delayed EP process may flow again.  However, one of the most notable decision of the meeting was to instruct Holt to end its relationship with the Catholic Charities, as they will no longer be able to place children from Korea.  The other decision was only to work with the agencies that have received the Hague accreditations.

The fact of the matter is that most of the agencies that Holt, Eastern and SWS work with, whether they be in the US or Europe, already have accreditations from Hague.  It was MOHW's concern that in the past some of the home studies might have been conducted by non-Hague accredited agencies, and this is unacceptable from now on.

But my heart goes out to the Catholic Charities, a fine agency with great people, have received much of the blame for the death of Hyunsu along with Holt.  Catholic Charities, a Hague accredited agency, is really being punished by the MOHW.  It is one of those things where someone must take the blame, and the Ministry's axe fell on them.  There is a rumor floating around, that perhaps four other agencies in the US or Europe will loose their privileges in placing children from Korea, but nothing firm has been decided on this yet.

Some waiting parents, whose cases have been submitted to the court,  have pulled out of the program, unable to endure the painful delays.  I am thinking perhaps the additional headaches of going through the battery of psychological tests might have been too much for them.  But I sincerely wish they hadn't, and still wish they would change their minds.  They need to focus on the children they are adopting, and think nothing else.

I am told that the Ministry will shortly begin the EP process again, but what other technical delays that may rise is anyone's guess.