The Summary of New Adoption Laws in Korea

The Members of KCARE in Korea reviewed with me (2nd from right sitting) the new adoption laws that will take effect in August 2012



Sorry it took so long to sit down and write this one on the changes in the Korean adoption laws. 

When I was in Korea in mid-May, I was given a thorough presentation of the new Special Adoption Law Revision by the members of the Korean Central Adoption Resources (KCARE), in which I am a board member. 

I won’t bore you with all the details, but only highlight some of the new features of the laws that will impact both the domestic and the intercountry adoption.  Some of the laws have remained the same.  Throughout the blog, Article is referred as “A”, Section is referred as “S”, and Subsection is referred as “SS”.  For example A1 S2 SS3 means Article 1, Section 2, Subsection 3.  Although this is not important to you, but I put it down just in case to track to the original reference.

Article 1:  General Provisions

A1 S1 SS1:  A “Child” is defined as a person under the age of 18.

      S3 SS4:  The Government and the regional government/organizations must establish a sound adoption culture by promoting domestic adoption for the needy children, that they must do all they can to provide post-adoption services to help them to adjust to the new families.

      S5 SS1:  May 11^th of each year is designated as the National Adoption Day, and the subsequent one week starting this day would be called the National Adoption Week.

      S7 SS1:  The Government and the regional government/organizations must place the highest priority in placing children domestically.

      S7 SS4:  If the adoption agencies cannot place children domestically despite their efforts, then they are allowed to look for families overseas after the five months waiting period have passed.  For those children that require special medical attention, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) may grant them exemption from this waiting requirement.

      S8:  To carry out the welfare and responsibilities for the children, the Government must make efforts to reduce the intercountry adoption.   (Steve’s comment:  This is a rather contradictory statement.  I would think that the best welfare and responsible thing to do would be to find families abroad if they can’t be found in Korea).

Article 2:  Adoption Requirements

      S10 SS1: Adoptive parents must meet all the requirements noted in this section:

               1. Adoptive parents must have adequate assets

               2. Must have freedom of religion, and must be able to educate children to function in the society

               3. Must not have history of abuses related to children, spouse, sexual, drug, alcohol, and criminal in nature

               4. Domestic and Intercountry Adoption

               For domestic adoption - An adoptive parent must be at least 25 years old and the age difference between the child and a parent must be less than 60 years. 

               Intercountry adoption - Foreigners must meet the qualifications of being adoptive parents expressed through the laws of their respective countries.  For foreigners, an adoptive parent must be at least 25 years old but less than 45 years old.  However, if an agency determines that a family has a favorable and healthy environment to raise a child, there can be an exception.

               5. An adoptive parent must possess the requirements established by the MOHW to provide and care for a child.

      S10 SS2:   A parent must not be involved in any profession that is detrimental to the welfare of a child or any profession that abuses the rights of a child in any way.

      S10 SS3:  An adoptive parent must complete the educational requirements set forth by adoption agencies as directed by the MOHW.

      S11 SS1:  Agencies must receive approval from the Family Court to adopt and the following documents must be submitted.

1.      Child’s certificate of birth

2.      All the documents related to Section 9 (S9) and Section 10 (S10)

3.      All the documents related to Section 12 (S12) and Section  13 (S13) on relinquishment or consent of adoption

4.      Other documents required by the MOHW

S11 SS4:  The approval process involving reviews and determinations will be made according to the procedures determined by the Supreme Court.

S12 SS1:  An approval of a birthparent is required for adoption except for the following situations:

1.      Birth parents looses the parental rights

2.      Parental consent could not be obtained due to inability to locate the parents

S12 SS2:  If birth parents cannot be identified, the consent must be received from an authority that has the child’s custody rights

S12 SS4:  If the child is over 13 years old, the adoptive parents must first receive the consent from the child.

S13 SS1:  The consent to adoption by birthparents can be made 7 days after the birth of a child.

S13 SS3:  The agencies must provide consultation to birthparents should they choose to keep their children.  The consultation must include on how to receive benefits to raise the children, legal ramifications and rights, in accordance to the guidelines established by the MOHW.

S16 SS1:  Birth parents who are not responsible for the generation of consent of adoption on their children, may file a petition to repeal (cancel) the adoption.  Birth parents have six months to file this petition after being aware of the adoption.

S17  SS1: Parents, child, or a judge may petition for adoption disruption to the Family Court under the following circumstances:

1.      If an adoptive parent abuses the adopted child and is negligent in providing the needed care

2.      Immoral act of an adoptee against the adopted parents

S19  SS1:  For intercountry adoption, the agencies must submit the Exit Permit (EP) received from the MOHW to the Family Court to get approved for adoption.

S19 SS2:  Intercountry adoption while residing in Korea – Must work with the agencies to start the adoption process

S19 SS3:  Once a child receives an EP and immigrates to an overseas country, and then subsequently receives a citizenship of that country, the responsible agency must report this fact to MOHW, which then will report to the Justice Department of Korea to revoke the child’s Korean citizenship.

Still being worked

The exact roles played by the MOHW, Family Court, the Agencies, and how the information gets flowed and who decides on what is not clearly understood.  As for the impact of this new laws related to the EP process is not clearly understood, and I intend to find this out soon.

More to come later.

Group Photo - The 13th Annual MPAK Picnic



MPAK had the 13th Annual MPAK Picnic yesterday at the Laguna Niguel Regional Park, California
Despite being a Memorial Day weekend, around 150 showed up.

Mr. Oshell Oh took the pictures (and he did take many pictures) sent me this photo with a large title in the picture. At first I though the title was too big, but after looking at the photo I realized what he did.
He tried to hide all BBQ grill and the trash cans in the foreground. Next time we will be careful to place the moonbounce in a more photo-friendly location.

Mr. Oh was taking lots of pictures and video shots and interviews as a part of a video/photo presentation that will be shown at the Disney Concert Hall on July 31st when the LA Korean Philharmonic Orchestra performs the Concert of Love event titled "Beethoven's Night" to raise funds for MPAK.  The flyers were handed out yesterday at the picnic.

Thanks to the four members of the Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church (선한목자장로교회) that came early to help out with the picnic. Thanks to all the visitors and the first timers that came to our picnic.

With great foods, lots of happy kids entertained by a clown, moonbounce, games, and prizes, and lots of happy families, it was a great day. Thanks to Jae Cho for the cotton candy machine, Susan Kim for preparing the gifts for the kids, Junhyung Lee for running the games for the kids, and Denise Adams for face painting.

Thanks also to the two families from San Diego - the families of Matthew Pustelnik and Morton Park, thanks for coming a long way.

The next major event will be on July 31st at the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and we are expected to have around 1500 in the audience.

Each year the picnic has grown with more kids and families, and MPAK is very much blessed through all the families.

Only If I Had Some Time

There are several things that I wish to blog about...Only if I had some time.

My trip to Korea,

The Saddleback Church event -on what happened

There is upcoming MPAK Picnic this Saturday May 26th at the Laguna Niguel Regional Park, CA.

There is also un upcoming joint event with MPAK and the LA Korean Philharmonic Orchestra (LAKPO) that will have "Beethoven Night" at the Disney Concert Hall on July 31st to raise funds for MPAK.

Especially I wish to blog on the changes in the adoption law in Korea and what it means...

I am still looking for time to sit down and write...Only if I had some time.

Just hang on...I'll get there.

Thanks to all who responded and wished me well on my trip to Korea.

Steve

Off to Korea I Go

It's that time of the year, the annual National Adoption Day on May 11th.

I will be traveling to Korea tomorrow, and as soon as I land I will be whisked to Kwachon City Adoption Festival, where MPAK has been conducting this festival for several years with the funding provided by the Kwachon City (just south of Seoul).

In addition to the National Adoption Day event, I will be speaking at a church in Ansung, and to the students at a univeristy in Busan. 

For past week, there has been so much that has happened.  The foremost of which was the Hope for Orphans Institute event at the Saddleback Church.  Two days later, the Summit VIII by Christian Alliance for Orphans at the same place.

Since the event, I had no time to sit down and form my thoughts or download the pictures to share on my blog.  But I am expecting to do this when I am sleepless in Seoul adjusting to their local time, which will take a few days, and then by then I will have to come back home.

I can't promise anything.  But I do intend on visiting MOHW and talk to the government officials, and perhaps visit with some agencies as well.  If there is anything that I can share with my readers, I will be more than happy to.

Steve Morrison

Benjamin's First Year Gottcha Day

Last night our family celebrated Benjamin's first year with our family.

The year-long journey with Benjamin was very challenging at times, but very rewarding as well.
A boy who had absolutely no interest in school while an orphan in Korea, was a total failure in the 7th grade in his middle school in Korea according to school record. When I first saw his 7th grade report card from Korea, I was speechless when I saw 4 F's, 2 D's, and one C.  He had totally given up on his study.

I am happy to report that through lots of guidance and encouragement and thanks to great teachers at the school, Benjamin is now getting all A's and B's.  When he first started the school, I spent many hours working with him on his homeworks, but nowadays, he does it pretty much by himself.  He is a real smart kid that was waiting to be discovered.  I think he is going make something of himself.

He had a very lofty expectation of our family when he first came a year ago.  He had heard about me in Korea through various media and other channels, a Dad who works in the space industry, and a strong adoption advocate, and thought that we would be living in a very large house with lots of rooms and that we would drive fancy cars, and that we would pamper him with lots of clothes and other gadgets like a personal computer and an iPhone.

Well, he had a big let down once he found out how modest we are with our house, cars, and other spendings.  The fact that he had to share a room with his brother, the fact that he had to use a shared computer, and of course no iPhone.  Even to this day, despite my busy schedule, I do not own an iPhone and nobody in my family has that luxury.  It isn't that we couldn't afford.  It's just that we try to go by what is necessary for us.

At one time Benjamin expressed his regret coming to our house.  This was a shocker for me as I thought an orphan would welcome any home that would take him, at least that was the way it was when I was an orphan long time ago.  I also thought that he would be grateful at his new opportunity, but that was furthest from his heart as all he can think of was that he didn't get what he had long wanted and fantasized in Korea.  So I concluded then that the orphans of nowadays are quite different from my generation as they have never lived in the streets, gone hungry or cold, or persecuted for being an orphan like I went through.  Instead, the orphans in Korea are well fed and well taken care of, but they still starve for the chance to grow up in loving homes.

It would take pages and pages to write all the things that had happened during Benjamin's first year with us.  But through the grace of God, with much prayers, and through much dialogues and encouragements, and forbearance (a lot was needed), Benjamin has come a long way in accepting us as his family, and that goes for my four other children as well.  They are still adjusting to Benjamin, and him to them.  We still have a long ways to go, but we are on the way of becoming one as a family.

Happy 1st year Gottcha Day, Benjamin.  We love you and pray that you will continue to discover, learn and to prepare yourself for excellence in the service that only God know where He will take you.

From left:  Joseph, Benjamin, Jane (top), Helen, and Kay



You are Invited - The Global Orphan Care Conference

Friends,

 

You are invited to a special event at the Saddleback Church to an event that gives Hope for Orphans.

This is open to all whether you are of Korean heritage or not.

 

MPAK has joined hands with Hope for Orphans, Saddleback Church, CMF Ministries, and other organizations to dedicate a day to be a voice for homeless children not only in Korea but for millions of orphans in the world.

 

Event:  Hope for Orphans Institute Presents:  The Global Orphan Care Revival & the Korean Church

Date:  Tuesday, May 1, 2012, 9AM - 5PM

Place:  Saddleback Church, Refinery Center Auditorium
Address:  1 Saddleback Parkway, Lake Forest, California

 

Come and hear the messages (bilingual provided) and testimonies from:

 

Rev. Rick Warren (Saddleback Church)

Rev. Choi, Hong-jun (Busan Hosannah Church)

Paul & Robin Pennington (Hope for Orphans)

Rev. Jim Bob Park (OMC Church)

Rev. Eddie Byun (Seoul Onnuri Church EM)

Ms. Elizabeth Styfee (The Peace Plan)

Steve Morrison (MPAK)

 

The registration fee is $30, but if you register online at http://www.hfoinstitute.org/index.html, and used the code word 'mpak' then it will only cost $15.

For those of you who are more comfortable with Korean, please visit  http://www.hopefororphanskorea.org/.

 

There will be a nursery to baby sit, and Saddleback has arranged to provide this service from 9AM - 1PM for $30 per child.  I know this is pretty hefty, but it has been discounted from $50. I am told that Saddleback will subsidize $20 to help out with the care, and all the people in the nursery have been security and finger print checked and safe.  If this is hard for you economically, I would recommend that you bring your child anyway and stay with him/her during the conference.

 

Why this conference is so important?

Korean churches pride in their accomplishments over growth and expansion during the last 100 years of history, and prides in being the 2nd largest missionary sending nation in the world after the US. This is something we can be really be thankful for.

 

However, along the way the churches have forgotten the true meaning of Christ's compassion and love towards homeless children.  As the Scripture points out in Jame 1:27 that "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

 

The Conference's objective is to plant this vision of Orphan Care into Korean churches, because the needs of children are so great.  Whether through sponsorship, orphan visits, fundraising, short term missions, and most importantly through adoption, we need to come together to give support to this conference, and to give hope for many homeless children. And that the Korean churches will wake up and respond to the needs of the children.

 

The conference is on Tuesday, May 1st, and that will be hard on many of you that need to work.  But as for me, I will be taking a vacation to attend the conference.  Please join me and many others and give Hope for Orphans.

 

Thank you, and hope to see many of you on May 1st.

 

Steve Morrison

562-505-0695

 

 

EP Update - Some Answers to Many Questions

Folks,

Many of you have commented with questions on the EP process.  A typical example would be why one agency's EP batch has been submitted and the others have not.

The Ministry is now in the process of accepting March/April EP submissions from each adoption agencies.  It appears that the Ministry contacts one agency at a time giving them permission to submit the EP applications.  I believe this is the reason why there is confusion as to why one agency is going through the process while another agency has not been given the go ahead with the EP submissions.

Also, the Ministry is now taking around four weeks to review, process, and approve the EPs as they have to deal with some transitional issues brought up by the new adoption laws that will be implemented this coming August.  In addition to the roles played by the Ministry, the family court now comes into the equation, as they will get involved with some decision making process to qualify the adoptive families. 

The whole thing is still in a flux and nothing definite has been established yet, and I believe that is one of the reasons why it takes longer to review and process and approve the EPs by the staff at the Ministry as they are working with new procedures and forms and other changes.

I am sure this will introduce more questions by some of you, but at least this posting offers some answers to many questions that have been asked.

Thanks for all the great comments and questions.
Let the children come home without further delays.

Steve Morrison