First is the practice of creating family registers for the orphans. In the past, overseas
adoption agencies issued orphan family registers of adoptable children in consideration of
the adoption system of the recipient country to facilitate the adoption process. For example,
in the US, if the child to be adopted is an orphan, the process is much easier because there is
no need obtain consent of the biological parents, from passport issuance to the US visa
issuance and adoption trial in the US. Under this practice, even when the consent of the
biological parents can be obtained during the adoption process, no efforts were made to do
so, and there were cases where children were illegally processed as orphans while knowing
the existence of the biological parents.
Second is the practice of adoption by proxy. Adoption by proxy is an adoption method that
allows the adoptive parents to proceed with the adoption in the country of the adopted child
through an agent, such as an adoption agency, without directly seeing the child. Adoption by
proxy was carried out in the 1950s by private organizations that led overseas adoptions
between Korea and the US, with the intent of implementing the adoption process efficiently
in terms of cost and time. However, this adoption by proxy scheme has been criticized in that
it cannot guarantee the safety and welfare of adoptees, and it is highly probable that the
adoption will proceed with a focus only on the interests of the adoptive parents and the
adoption agencies.
Such establishment of family registers for orphans and permitting adoption by proxy
facilitated the overseas adoptions, which is closely related to the commercialization of
adoption. The adoption fees for Korean children amounted to 5,000 USD in 1988 (Korea's
per capita income of 4,571 USD in the same year) and 17,215 USD in 2009 (Korea's per
capita income of 17,074 USD in the same year). It was also reported that some private
adoption agencies lobbied the welfare facilities and medical institutions to secure children to
be adopted.335)
335) Hankyoreh, Back money to secure an adopted child, Sep. 27, 1989.
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