For a long time the Ministry of Health and Welfare has denied that there was a correlation between the Special Adoption Law and the sharp rise in the abandonments. The article below seems to indicate that they are finally admitting that there is a direct correlation between the law and the abandonment increase since the law went into effect in August 2012.
The proposed law that is being worked is not 100% satisfactory, and may still result in many unwed mothers to abandon their babies, but it is certainly a step in the right direction to protect the unwed birth parents' privacy information even if a child is not adopted or in some cases disrupted.
I have been advocating a revision of the Special Adoption Law to allow anonymous relinquishments by the birth parents without the required birth registration, but the approach explained in the article is somewhat of a compromise that might work as the privacy information for all birth parents, regardless whether their children are adopted or not will be protected. I hope this results in much fewer abandonments of babies in Korea.
However, this produces another challenge. How do you convince the unwed birth parents that their anonymity will be protected even if they register the babies. It may take time, but I am encouraged and convinced that this law revision will reduce the number of babies being abandoned in such places like the 'Baby Box'.
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From the Yonhap News, September 21, 2014 (Original article in Korean at: http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/bulletin/2014/09/19/0200000000AKR20140919095900017.HTML)
Under the
increasing fear that birth parents’ personal records may be compromised by
requiring birth registration in order to place a child for adoption, it appears
perhaps the day is coming where the number of babies being abandoned in places
like the ‘Baby Box’ may be significantly reduced.
The law to
protect unwed birth mothers or other information related to the birth parents
from the public is being currently being revised, and is in the final stages of
the process. Once it goes through the passage process, it could become law
early next year.
On September
21, the Department of Justice, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, along with
Human Rights Association of Korea, recognizing the never-ending controversy
surrounding the human rights violations against the birth parents’ rights to
privacy through the excessive disclosure of private information under the
current law, have decided to revise the Family Relationship Registration Law.
This legislation effort is led by the Department of Justice, which after the
legislation’s review and discussion to be held this October, it will be
submitted to the National Assembly. If this legislation revision is passed by
the Assembly this year, the law will become effective as early as next year.
The legislation revision will require a proof of information in the Family Relationship Certificate, but will not include information that the birth parents do not wish to disclose. The types of proof that needs to be provided may include either ‘general certificate’ with minimum information or ‘detailed certificate’ with much greater detailed information. If there is no special purpose or reason, then one cannot request the detailed information. Not only that, the illegal request or distribution of private information will be punishable by law.
The legislation revision will require a proof of information in the Family Relationship Certificate, but will not include information that the birth parents do not wish to disclose. The types of proof that needs to be provided may include either ‘general certificate’ with minimum information or ‘detailed certificate’ with much greater detailed information. If there is no special purpose or reason, then one cannot request the detailed information. Not only that, the illegal request or distribution of private information will be punishable by law.
A birth parent
may request that only limited birth information is included and another person
may not view the record. In this way, the private information of the birth
parents will be protected in the document if a child is not adopted, or if the
adoption is disrupted.
In other
words, the unwed mother will be spared from the agony of having to choose to
abandon her baby because of the fear that the private information on child’s
birth in the Family Relationship Certificate may become known.
The current
law that was enacted on August 2012 requires the unwed mothers to keep their
babies for seven days to seriously reconsider before placing them up for
adoption. In addition, they are required to register their babies, and they
need to submit a Family Relationship Certificate to the Family Court to get the
baby approved for adoption.
The problem
was that the law that was created to protect the rights of children and to
promote domestic adoption has resulted in the disclosure of excessive private
information on birth parents due to the Family Relationship Registration Law
that was approved in January of 2008.
Currently, when a birth mother registers her baby, the record is included in her family registry. The record is erased once the baby is adopted. However if the baby does not get adopted or if the adoption was terminated, then the record does not go away. The worst is not really the record itself, but when she is required by her community to provide this document of her Family Relationship Certificate for whatever reason, the document will have the record of the child’s birth and the name, causing unnecessary amount of private information to be revealed.
Currently, when a birth mother registers her baby, the record is included in her family registry. The record is erased once the baby is adopted. However if the baby does not get adopted or if the adoption was terminated, then the record does not go away. The worst is not really the record itself, but when she is required by her community to provide this document of her Family Relationship Certificate for whatever reason, the document will have the record of the child’s birth and the name, causing unnecessary amount of private information to be revealed.
Even for the
child, under the current law, all the documents related to the Family Relationship
Certificate will reveal the history of the child’s adoption, or even adoption
termination (if any), the fact that he/she was born out of wedlock, and the
other information will be shown in great detail.
Once it was
realized that the Family Relationship Registration Law allowed too much
disclosure of private information, the Human Rights Association of Korea
appealed last November to the National Assembly, the Department of Justice, and
the Supreme Court with the right to protect privacy and stop unnecessary
information being released to the public.
Ms. Lee Hyun Joo, the
team leader for the Policy on Children’s Adoption Bureau in the Ministry of
Health and Welfare stated, “We need to strengthen our responsibility to the
nation by rooting down the adoption policies that will best uphold the rights
of children, and we must try our best to come up with a child care system that
will center on taking care of the children born in our country, first with
birth parents, then domestically by parents who live in Korea.”
