Tuesday, August 14, 2012

EP Status in Light of the New Adoption Laws

Many of you have asked me for an update on the impact of the new adoption laws that took effect in Korea as of August 2012, and on the issue of  adoption and the Emmigration Permit (EP) the Korean government issues allowing children to go home abroad.  So here is what I got so far.

It is well into August 2012 (August 14th as I write this), and the the new adoption law is trying to find its way into the unfamiliar territory and establish itself as the new order.  In checking with Korea, I have been told that by August 5th, the 90% of the quotas for the year 2012 has been fulfilled and the EPs have already been issued under the old laws.  Despite the slow start at the beginning of the year 2012 with issuing the EPs, both the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and the adoption agencies have been working very hard to place as many children as possible this year to fulfill the quota under the old laws, and the remaining 10% of the EPs will be issued under the new laws. 

This is to accommodate the learning curves that the Family Court will face as they try to implement the new laws in a practical way without delaying or holding up the children that need to go home.  The Korean government has wisely decided to place as many children as possible within the designated quota limit set this year under the old laws but set aside the remaining 10% cases as a way to learn the new ropes for the lawyers, judges, MOHW, and the adoption professionals under the new laws.

So it is hoped that this new experiment will go smoothly and by the end of this year the Family Court, MOHW, and the agencies would have learned enough from processing the remaining 10% cases, that by the time the year 2013 rolls around they will be ready to place the children under the new laws as the process will become more routine.  There is certainly going to be some adjustments along the way, but this expected.

The new laws have not impacted the intercountry adoption that much this year, it is affecting the domestic Korean adoption in a dramatic way.  For instance, it has been a common place for a Korean national couple to adopt a child and the couple would immediately register the child into the family registry as if the child was born to them.  In fact the majority of the domestic adoptive parents have used this approach in adopting their children. The motivation behind this approach was to keep their adoption secret.  As you know this is the main reason why the adoption culture in Korea did not improve for many years until MPAK started to advocate the concept of transparent adoption to bring about positive changes to the Korean adoption culture starting in 1999.  But this is a whole new topic and I won't go into the details.

The new law requires that a child born to an unwed mother now be registered into the mother's family registry first, before being relinquished.  The new law allows the birthmother seven days of consideration period before deciding whether to keep the child or not.  This has resulted in two outcomes in Korea. 

First, there has been a flurry of domestic adoption of babies just before the new laws came into effect.  This is to take advantage of being able to adopt them and register them under the new adoptive parents name as if the children were born to them, thus allowing them to keep their adoptions secret.  Under the new laws this is not possible as the children will be registered first under the birthmothers' family.

Second, there has been an increase in the abandonment by birthmothers as they do not want to register the babies under their names, and want to keep their identities secret, not wanting to be discovered by their parents or friends. So there has been an increase in children being abandoned or in many cases discarded.  So the stories of birthmothers abandoning their babies in a subway stations, or on the streets, or in some cases in trash bins, have surfaced on news media more often recently.  A birthmother committed suicide by jumping off a building with a note that it was too much of burden for her to raise a child.  Also there have been more illicit adoptions where birthmothers give up their babies in a clinic without due process as new adoptive parents whisk the babies away in the dark. 

On the other hand, there have been some good and courageous birthmothers that have decided to keep their babies, and I hope there will be more birthmothers that will choose life.

The intention of the new laws is to bring about greater opportunity for birthmothers to keep their children, and to provide greater chance to be adopted domestically, and to place the children abroad if they cannot find homes domestically within Korea.  This is in keeping with the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption.  The new adoption law is aimed in keeping with the Hague Convention as Korea readies to ratify the convention. 

However, the adoption culture in Korea is not ready to meet the new laws head on, and there will be some more pains and adjustments and lost lives before Korea gets into the rhythm intended by the Hague Convention.

 

38 comments:

  1. This result of children being discarded is so sad in order to avoid the new laws in effect. An older Korean woman in our neighborhood in the USA who knows 2 of our children were adopted from Korea, has told me about when she lived there in the 1950's and she would see babies left in trashcans. To read about this happening again (because of the new laws) is truly horrific since it is now 60 years later and still Korean single women feel they have no choice when it comes to how things will be handled between themselves and the choice or raising or placing the child for adoption since it now is more revealing. Considering the family registeries (the document which these babies are being noted on) are still used and seen when applying for a job, I assume the moms fear job discrimination or their past revealed when getting married and having to present this family register at the gov. office. So so sad :(

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a humanitarian crisis in the making....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I must remind the readers that although there are some single moms giving up the babies and some in inhumane ways, I didn't mean to paint the situation in Korea as widespread. Only a handful of babies have been discarded or died in this manner, but they are nevertheless a tragic reminder that cannot be ignored.

      Delete
    2. These rules are failing babies and birthmothers on a heartbreaking scales! How is this BETTER? Because it preserves Korea's pride? These are real live human beings we are talking about. They should come FIRST.

      Delete
    3. Even one baby being discarded or dying in this manner is too many. Korea has done an amazing job with its economic development--seemingly changing from an impoverished nation to an economic power overnight. Social changes, particularly in a society like Korea's, cannot and do not happen so quickly. While I believe intentions were good, I fear that perhaps Korea has put the cart before the horse. I pray that women have the strength to keep their babies or to relinquish them to adoption agencies so that they are safe, and I pray that Korean society can find itself able to accept and embrace these women for their courage.

      Delete
  3. How does this effect an EP that was granted August 2? My agency said the paperwork has to go to family court. First we were told my son would travel in 1-3 weeks and know we are told maybe the end of the month or the beginning of next month.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If the EP was granted August 2nd, then it is before August 5th, so you should be OK and should hear from the agency soon. Just hang on as it appears you are getting ready to travel. Congratulations.

      Delete
    2. The agency said that the paperwork had to go to family court. What does that mean? We are anxious becasue he is already 21 months. We were contacted over a year ago that my son's birthmother had another child and did we want to adopt him. We had to switch agencies in the US becuase for our first adoption she went through Holt and for the second Eastern.

      Delete
  4. We just adopted a child in May and didn't need a large family waiver. Any mention of family size in the new law?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I believe the family size is largely determined by the agencies.

      Delete
  5. Steve,

    We just found out we missed the cutoff date for EP's by 15 days. I am to frustrated on the quota system. Our child has been in 3 different foster care placements and we as parents can't do anything about it. I don't understand why the quota system and the referral system can't match up? For example, if there are only 100 EP's for the year then only 100 referrals should be given out. We have been told we can't travel until 2013 and here our daughter has to sit for another 5 months for no reason.
    I am Korean and was under the impression things would go faster for us. That's not the case. Steve, do you know anything we could do to see if we can speed up the process. Thanks for all you do.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree with you. They should not be referring children if there aren't enough EPs within a reasonable time frame.

      How did you find out you missed the cut off my 15 days? Does this mean the agencies already know who will be submitted for the 10%? I've heard of a few kids who were submitted for EPs after August 5. I guess these are in the "test" group to see how this new process will flow. I hope things go smoothly so they can start submitting the remainder of the 10%.

      Delete
    2. I too am wondering who will be the 10% - have those EPs been assigned yet? Steve - any idea what agency that 10% will come through as a "test run"? We are awaiting EP for a referral this year and were told we did not make the quota.

      Delete
    3. 10% is applicable to all three adoption agencies.

      Delete
    4. I am sorry but there is nothing I can do. So helpless.

      Delete
    5. We missed the cut-off for 2011 travel by a similar amount of time as you. Initially we were told that we were before the cutoff and didn't find out until 6 months later that we weren't. Then we were told that we'd travel in Feb 2012. Then things stalled again and we didn't travel until April. We waited 16 months to bring our son home. I know how hard it is to be in the "cut-off zone" but I can tell you that when your child is home you will not care anymore. That doesn't mean that I don't care about the system or that I don't care about the fact that my child's transition was made harder because of the long wait, but my personal pain of the wait washed away the moment we received travel call. As far as slowing down referrals, my understanding is that that has happened and that some families that will travel this year will not have even waited a year. There is definitely a piece of me that is bitter about that. However, with the referrals being slowed down it also means the age of children at referral is raising. Our son was almost 6 months when referred and I've heard recently that children are being referred at 10 or 11 months so even if your wait is less the children are still coming home older and after spending even more time with their foster families. That is the main problem, not how long we wait as families. Even though it's excrutiating.

      Delete
  6. How long do you think it will take for Korea to ratify the Hague Convention? What might happen to parents in process when the Hague Convention is ratified?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I dont. Think anyone knows. Not even the government knows.

      Delete
  7. We brought our baby (toddler, at 27 months old) home on April 27,2012. I am very grateful for the brave birth mother that made the decision to put her son up for adoption, knowing she cannot provide for him. Instead of registering the babies, is there any talk about allowing the birth mother to bring her baby to a "safe" place such as hospitals or fire stations?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think those places are around but most birthmothers are not aware of them.

      Delete
  8. If you have been matched with a referral in 2012, how will that work with the birth mother having to be registered as that was not required when she relinquished our child?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The law is only effective for all future birthmothers. So it won't impact your case, but the process of having to go through the Family Court has to be done.

      Delete
  9. Steve, when do you anticipate the next batch of EPs to be issued?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Will families have to appear before family court while they are in Korea? How much time should that add to the trip? Or will that happen before travel?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Steve. I am confused. Is my paperwork waiting to go to family court? The EP was approved August 2, 2012.

    ReplyDelete
  12. No since you already have been granted EP you do not need to.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Why would my agency say that the paperwork has to family court. When do you think travel will be approved. I was first told 1-3 weeks. Now I was told the end of the month or the beginning of next month.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You need to talk to your agency for answers.

      Delete
  14. We were told that our agency would still fill it's quota for the year 2012 despite the law being put in effect. However, they said no more EPs will be accepted by Korea until the family court paperwork/logistics were all worked out and ready to go. Steve, do you know about how long it will be for this to happen and when they might start requesting EP submissions again?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, I don't have a clue on this. They (the Family Court) may learn the rope quickly or take longer to learn. I don't have any information on this. But I think they have till the end of December to fulfill the quota, so they might decide to take it slow and do it right as they are just starting on this new territory.

      Delete
  15. "On the other hand, there have been some good and courageous birthmothers that have decided to keep their babies..."

    Just a reminder that some people should not be parents. I'm not sure I would call someone 'good' just because they made the decision to keep their child. Courageous, for sure!

    Regardless, thanks for the good information!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anyone heard word on travel clearance or EP movement?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Any news from Korea?

    ReplyDelete
  18. HI Steve! Any new news on the implementation of the new law? Thanks in advance and many blessings for your advocating for these children!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Steve, we are a family that is supposed to be in the first group under the new law. It's now almost October and there haven't been any indications of any more EPs being submitted this year. You mentioned they were holding 10% of the EPs so everyone could "learn the ropes" with these new families. There are only 2 months left in the year. Any idea what's going on or if any adoptions will actually be completed in 2012 under the new laws?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many of you have been wondering on this. I'm sorry I have been so busy for the past month. I will contact Korea again and try to get the latest updates. Thanks to all of you for being patient. Your questions and comments are all a strong evidence of your love for the waiting children.

      Delete
    2. Thanks Steve. We are anxiously awaiting news!

      Delete