Korean Adoptees Worldwide Request Korean Government to Refrain from Hague Adoption Convention: End Overseas Adoption Now

"Imagine being told all your life you are an orphan," Janine Vance says, "but 50 years into the future, you learn your family is alive. The agency lied."

SEATTLE, WA, UNITED STATES, December 16, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In response to 'Is This Really All for the Children?’: Former Korean Adoption Worker Speaks Out' reported by the Associated Press and televised on Frontline PBS, at least one adoptee from Holt's Overseas Adoption Program answers, "No. International adoption was not for the children. The Hague Adoption Convention (HAC) was formed 'in respect FOR intercountry adoption.' It is not rooted in human rights. HAC is a self-regulatory entity."

Korean adoptees worldwide are still waiting for the Korean government to finally end overseas adoption 70 years after the war ended. The coordinators at KoreanAdopteesWorldwide.net distributed a special request earlier in the year calling for the Korean government to completely halt intercountry adoptions. The request urges the government to end the overseas adoption program and adhere to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Korea is legally bound and which describes the correct process for looking after children in need. The special request also calls on the government to refrain from ratifying the Hague Adoption Convention. Adoptee-led groups want to ensure that all special-interest groups, such as adoption companies and associated employees, are prevented from influencing government policy.

Last year, more than 300 cases were delivered to Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission to be examined. Fellow Korean-born adoptees supported by domestic, intercountry, transracial, and late-discovery adoptees, families separated by adoption, and parents of loss from around the world call on the Korean Government to do the right thing.

Arun Dohle, the Executive Director of Against Child Trafficking (ACT), drafted the special request. ACT aligns completely and unbendingly with the United Nations Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Against Child Trafficking is clear with its message, "Children have rights. Intercountry adoption has become a demand-driven market. It is much better to help children and their families where they are. Intercountry adoption undermines the setting up of social support systems. Children are not commodities."

The Vance Twins, co-curators of 'The "Unknown" Culture Club: Korean Adoptees, Then and Now,' a collection of stories of Korean-born adoptees, agree with Against Child Trafficking (ACT). "It's time to finally end the child market. We strongly caution against international adoption, a self-regulated child market. There is no reason to trust industry stakeholders, "professionals," and profiteers with the lives of children."

The special request calls for a genuinely independent state authority to assist adoptees with legal issues and family searches and ensure that all adoption files, documents, and information, including all communication between stakeholders, be transferred to this authority. The special request document also calls for a mechanism to reunite families, respecting the rights of the adoptees and Korean families, especially the mothers.

"You go from believing you were 'orphaned and abandoned' in 1972 to learning decades into the future that the self-acclaimed 'ethical' adoption agency exploited mothers to expedite children overseas. Fallible man-made adoption laws drawn by top-grossing adoption agencies cannot resolve the crisis. To protect women and children, we need to invoke every and all anti-human trafficking protocols and protections. If we want to stop the commodification, anti-trafficking laws need to recognize international adoption as exploitation. Intercountry adoption has generated billions of dollars for these businesses,” Janine said after observing the industry since her trip to Korea in 2004. “Can you imagine spending your entire life told you were an 'orphan' only to learn fifty years into the future that your family has been waiting for your return? But industry stakeholders blame the victims. We're stigmatized as "adoptees" here in the States and told to be grateful. Shame on them.”

In 2011, Janine and her twin, the “Vance Twins,” established the Adoption Truth and Transparency Worldwide Information Network (AT TWIN) on social media, one of the largest adoptee-led forums. From there, they have contact with countless groups of adoptees, mothers, parents of loss, and families separated by adoption from all over the world.

Unlike adoption groups administered and monitored by the industry itself, including adoption agencies, adoptive parents, and their followers and fans in pursuit of protecting the "face of adoption," otherwise known as "saving face," ATTWIN invited the silenced voices, consisting of adult-adoptees, parents-of-loss, and family members separated-by-adoption to join.

Janine credits the team at ACT for paving the way for adopted people all over the world. Executive Director Arun Dohle offers a unique perspective on overseas adoption, one that is rooted in child rights. Janine calls these rights inherent and natural and should be considered over the agency's wishes to what many adult adoptee groups call legal commodification, aka the exploitation of children. Arun is an expert on "child rights" and offers information that most adoptees are not told about, especially while growing up in an adoptive household. ACT organization has now reunited more than 80 families. Janine asks, “What could be better than that?”

The anthology “The Unknown Culture Club: Korean Adoptees, Then and Now” includes the unheard voices of victims of an industry that has charged more than $60,000 per child application [from South Korea]. The Vance Twins, the curators of Adoptionland: From Orphans to Activists, are now accepting stories from parents of adoption loss (aka "birthparents")
Announcement: New Virtual Meetups for AT TWIN Community

AT TWIN is excited to announce new virtual meetups via Zoom, bringing together adoptees across the U.S. and globally for community support, education, and advocacy. These sessions will focus on uniting and empowering members and finding AT TWIN state reps with shared knowledge on human rights in adoption. Each meeting will equip 50 designated state leads with essential information to guide support groups in their regions, offering validation and resources for individuals, families, and parents impacted by adoption.

For members interested in partnering with the Vance Twins, send a resume to admin@adoptiontruth.org. Remember to include why you wish to join the community and what skills you’d like to share. You may also recommend AT TWIN books, including “Adoption: What You Should Know.” Together, we’re building an informed, global community committed to empowering adopted people and our allies with information on inherent and natural human rights.

Administrator
Adoption Truth & Transparency Worldwide Information Network
info@adoptionhistory.org
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Still missing your child because of adoption? email info@adoptionhistory.org