Adoption (CRC/C/KOR/3-4, para. 242~244, 263 and 266~267; CRC/C/KOR/Q/3-4, para. 34 and 42-2~42-4) 53. The number of the children adopted at home began to surpass that of the children adopted overseas in 2007. However, this is the result of the government policy restricting oversea adoption (including the oversea adoption quota), and the number of the domestically adopted children is also on the decline (see Table 2 4). In particular, almost all of the children with disabilities who are to be adopted are sent for intercountry adoption. A report by the Ministry of Health and Welfare shows that, during the years of 1995~2008, children with disabilities accounted for 0.5% (362 persons) in the total cases of national adoption and 24.0% (38,613 persons) in the total cases of intercountry adoption. 54. The data on adoption is not managed in a systematic way. Since the data and information are not commonly shared nor exchanged among adoption agencies, there exists a discrepancy in the information concerning the children to be adopted and those who want to adopt a child. Furthermore, as adopted children do not have easy access to their pre-adoption information, they have difficulty in finding their biological parents. It is encouraging that, in a bid to address these problems, the Government set up the Korean Central Adoption Resources in 2009 and revised the Special Act concerning Promotion of Adoption and its Procedures in June 2011 to provide a legal foundation for the agency. It is feared, however, that this agency may not function properly, given the lack of the legal foundation for its operation and the organizational and budgetary instability. 55. First of all, the Government should take positive actions to ensure that more children are adopted domestically, by providing more support to domestic adopting families and promoting public awareness about adoption. Second, it needs to secure an appropriate level of organization and budget for an effective functioning of the Korean Central Adoption Resources, and build and operate the adoption database in an efficient way. Unwed Mothers and Their Children 56. In Korea, unwed mothers find it hard to live with their children, largely due to the people's prejudice against them and the lack of the government's assistance. According to the data of the Forum to Improve the Support to Unwed Mothers released by the National Assembly in 2011, around 90% of the children sent for inter-country adoption are those of unwed mothers. Although a growing number of unwed mothers 4 Table 2. The status of national and intercountry adoption by year Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 National 1,564 1,641 1,461 1,332 1,388 1,306 1,314 1,462 Inter-country 2,287 2,258 2,101 1,899 1,264 1,250 1,125 1,013 Total 3,851 3,899 3,562 3,231 2,652 2,566 2,439 2,475 National, as % 40.6% 42.1% 41.0% 41.2% 52.3% 50.9% 53.9% 59.1% of total * Source: Ministry of Health and Welfare, The Status of National and Inter-country Adoption, 2011 15