Scoop | NYT on Ending Stigma of Adoption in Korea
Powerful hook on this story, about how deep the stigma of adoption in Korea was over the past decades:
Daunted by the stigma surrounding adoption here…Mr. Cho chose to tell his elderly parents that the child was the result of an affair, rather than admit she was adopted.
The New York Times’ Norimitsu Onishi, a frequent Korea writer, reports on the changing values and the increasing acceptance of adoption among Korean families.
Since as far back as postwar 1956, agencies like Holt International have run its adoption program to help place Korean children with families from around the world. It’s interesting to note that many adoptees have begun to return to Korea to locate their birth mothers, enroll in Korean class, and immerse themselves in the culture.
In retrospect, it’s sad to think that so many of the birth mothers may have actually wanted to keep their children, but due to a combination of economic conditions and confucian values, almost all had to give their child up. And on top of that, so few Korean families who may have wanted to adopt found it nearly impossible to overcome the social barriers that prevented them from doing so.
We can wonder how the statistics will change as this new trend continues, in terms of what percentage will stay in Korea to be adopted by parents who are of the same cultural heritage as their birth mother and what percentage will be adopted abroad.
Only time will tell when the next NYT piece talks about how affluent single moms are raising their kids in Korea!
–Editor
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