Thousands of South Korean children were adopted by Australian families under false pretences, according to investigations by both the Associated Press and the ABC. The agency responsible for facilitating adoptions since 1978, Eastern Social Welfare Society (ESWS), allegedly claimed children were orphans when, in reality, those children were received from hospital workers who had been bribed by the agency.
Many of the 3,600 adoptees, now aged in their thirties, had unusually similar case files: born to a single mother, and orphaned. In interviews with the ABC, adult adoptees said their own research had proven their biological parents were alive and had been misled in some cases into believing their child would be adopted by a Korean family. South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission is now investigating hundreds of adoptee cases and has already confirmed an extensive campaign of deceptive falsification of documents. Australia has not launched an official investigation.
In August, Senator Linda Reynolds called for a broader parliamentary inquiry into intercountry adoption practices, seeking a stop to all international adoptions until more comprehensive safeguards are in place to prevent “trafficking” of orphans.
Professor Cuthbert says, “To its shame, South Korea has relied on ICA [Intercountry Adoption] to avoid providing social services and support for single mothers and their children. Due to the shame and stigma of pregnancy outside of marriage, and a desire to avoid the costs to the state of providing for these mothers and their children, South Korea effectively sanctioned the removal of these children for adoption and there were many bad actors in this space – several ‘charitable’ and church-aligned organisations operated effectively as baby brokers or traffickers. Many so-called orphanages were used by local people as places to leave their children on a temporary basis during times of economic duress and they has no understanding that by so doing they were effectively relinquishing their children who then were classified as ‘orphans’ and available for adoption.”
Source: Left in the dark: examining Australian adoptions from South Korea – Law Society Journal