In the late 1970s and 1980s, there were concerns raised about the adoption process for South Korean children being sent to the United States. An International Social Service social worker found the way children were processed at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul to be “distasteful” and assembly line-like. American officials seemed to defer to adoption agencies, leading to a lack of oversight and inconsistencies in the process.
Many children were being adopted from South Korea due to the active cooperation of the Korean government and adoption agencies. The adoption process lacked safeguards and was shoehorned into a system designed for domestic adoptions, leading to issues with verifying the backgrounds of children and ensuring consent from birth parents.
In some cases, adoptions were granted without proper documentation, leading to concerns about unethical practices such as child trafficking. Despite efforts to reform the system, there were still instances of fraud and deceit in the adoption process.
The United States ratified the Hague Adoption Convention in 2008 to safeguard intercountry adoptions and implement more regulations. As a result, the number of intercountry adoptions to the U.S. has decreased significantly, with more stringent evaluations of orphans and a focus on older children or those with special needs.
However, some adoption advocates warn that overly strict regulations could prevent children from being placed in loving homes. There is a delicate balance between ensuring ethical adoptions and allowing children in need to find families.
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