Will Adoptees Be Able to Access the Adoptioln Documents When NCRC Takes Over?

Director Jeong Ik-joong of the NCRC Holds a Press Conference, April 8, 2025

Mr. Jeong Ik-joong (정익중 원장), the director of the National Center for the Rights of the Child (NCRC) announced that it would “support the stable establishment of the reform of the public adoption system under the responsibility of the national government” ahead of the implementation of the Special Act on Domestic Adoption in coming July.

At a press conference held on April 8, 2025, to mark the 2nd anniversary of his inauguration at the NCRC in Seoul, Director Jeong said, “The NCRC will faithfully carry out its role as the administrator of the Adoption Policy Committee to establish a healthy adoption culture in accordance with the enforcement of the revised adoption law.”

The Special Act on Domestic and the Intercountry Adoption, which will be implemented on July 19, contains provisions to strengthen the government’s responsibility for adoption. Accordingly, the adoption work that has been performed by separate adoption agencies in Korea will be completely reorganized to center around the central government (NCRC) and local governments. The NCRC will oversee the practical work of domestic and international adoption procedures, including adoption applications, screening for qualification, and post-adoption services.

Director Jeong stated, “In the past, adoptees had to visit several institutions to check their adoption information, but it was difficult to find accurate information,” and “We will transfer the adoption records that were scattered and safely store them in a temporary storage facility.” To this end, the NCRC is looking at 40 candidate sites for temporary storage facilities.

Adoption related works, such as the adoption information disclosure request process, will also be centralized under the NCRC. Director Jeong said, “We will strive to provide a consistent public-centered adoption information disclosure request service to gain the trust of adoptees.” He continued, “There will be a major change in NCRC taking charge of the scattered tasks done by each agency into one system to make it more convenient for people in the future.

Below are some frequently asked questions received from adoptive parents and adoptees regarding upcoming changes to post-adoption services in Korea. 

Q1: Does the US agencies have information on adoptees' birth parent(s)?

Anwer:  The US agencies do not have identifying information about an adoptee’s birth parents. Any such information is held by the cooperating adoption agencies in Korea, and is considered confidential. It cannot be legally shared unless the birth parent has given explicit permission to do so. 

Q2: Will my adoption records be lost or destroyed when services/files are transitioned to the NCRC in July?

Answer:  The NCRC is a governmental institution and will preserve all records sent to it permanently. Records will be securely maintained. 

Q3: Do I need to request my file or request a birth search before July? Because after July, I may no longer have access to these services.

Answer:  No.  This service was possible up to March, 2025. Right now, the agencies are very busy in transfering all the document files to NCRC, and the agencies have stated that they do not have manpower to assist with the requests made after March.  However, there are some tours groups or traveling families that have pre-arranged with the agencies, they will have accesss to the documents when they visit the agencies, hopefully before July. They may have duplicate copies of files for the visiting groups that have pre-requested the documents if the tour takes place on July or after.

In July, NCRC will assume responsibility for all adoption-related services, including post-adoption services in Korea. You will still be able to request your file, request a birth search, and request other post-adoption related services, but only through NCRC.

Q4: Will the adoption agencies in Korea (Holt, Eastern, KSW, KSS) have duplicate copies of all the documents being transferred over to NCRC?

Answer: No. The agencies do not have manpower or time (costs) to make duplicate copies of thousands of the original adoption files. 

Q5: How long after all the transfer of the documents to NCRC can I contact them to start a search?

Answer:  The initial answer given by NCRC was that it will take two months before opening up the post-adoption services. However, I have my doubt that they will be ready in six months.  They have locate a place to store the files, have them registered into their computer database, and have an infrastructure and a system set up to handle the requests. At this time no one can say for sure when the NCRC will be ready.