Orphans on Children's Day in Korea.. by Hannah Kim

In a perfect world, there would be no orphans. Every single one of theworld's 2.2 billion children would be doted upon by their parents. Andevery day would be like May 5 in South Korea when nearly 8 million kidsare sure to be spoiled on the national holiday set aside as Children'sDay.

But obviously we do not live in a perfect world. There are currently143-210 million displaced children worldwide, and nearly 15 million whowill ``age out" of the adoption system and consequently lose theirchances of finding a home. And the excruciating reality is that thesekids are innocent victims of social ills induced by adults, which is whywe have a communal responsibility to care about it.

In Korea alone, there are nearly 10,000 new-born babies every year whoare abandoned for various reasons, and only 3,900 of them are adoptedinto new homes. One may naively assume there would be very few neglectedchildren in the prosperous modern Korea, or at least none being sentabroad. Inarguably, there has been a declining rate in overseasadoptions in the recent years, but this is only due to a precipitousdrop in the Korean birth rate. Still, roughly one of 250 Korean childrenis adopted into an American family.

As commonly known, the Korean War (1950-53) orphaned thousands of lostchildren and ``G.I. babies" found themselves out on the streets. Hencesince 1955, the Holt International Children's Services and other groupshave placed about 150,000 (out of 200,000) Korean children into Americanhomes. It started when Harry and Bertha Holt, a devout Christian couplefrom Oregon, became concerned for their fate ― after watching adocumentary about their plight ― and lobbied Congress for the passage ofthe Holt bill. As a result they adopted eight Korean children in 1955when international adoptions were virtually unheard of. The children'sarrival garnered media attention, and prompted American familiesnationwide to seek Korean children.

But what trended as a result of war and poverty morphed into a systemthat remained even after economic conditions ameliorated. Social normsof Korea's traditional society emphasized paternal family ties,bloodlines, and homogeneity; therefore biracial or fatherless childrenwere not easily accepted, and the stigma associated with singlemotherhood forced many women to abandon their offspring. Most families(who secretly adopted) chose babies under a month old to pass them offas their own. The concept of ``open adoption'' with sharing informationbetween birth and adoptive families is still an unconventional practicein Korea.

Nonetheless ― and perhaps inspired by to the likes of Madonna andAngelina Jolie who have 'flaunted' their adopted children from Africaand South Asia on the front cover of national tabloid magazines ― Koreansociety is warming up to the idea of adoption. Each year when thecharity photo exhibition titled ``Letters from Angels'' features starsposing with babies available for adoption, almost all of them areadopted. More than 80 celebrities and 150 babies have been photographedsince 2003 to promote awareness.

The US Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting Systemapproximates there are 510,000 children in foster care (who aretemporarily placed in foster homes, group homes, emergency shelters,residential facilities, pre-adoptive homes and with relatives). The goodnews is that 70 percent of the children leave the system to be reunitedwith their families or permanently placed with relatives, mostly inless than one year.

The foster care system is not a silver bullet: there are still 114,000children in the U.S. waiting to be adopted from foster care, with 20,000children turning 18 annually and no longer eligible. Nevertheless, Iagree ``a family within the country, preferably a relative, should besought before international families'' as dictated by theUNICEF-inspired Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, and theKorean government should concurrently adopt a better foster care systemto prop up its efforts to cease international adoption from Korea inaddition to enforcing the domestic Adoption Promotion Law (2009) andother effective means.

Clearly, it is easy to respond numbly and view these figures as merestatistics. But the silent tears of the orphans and grief of the parentswho cannot indulge, or let alone care for, their beloved offspring onChildren's Day should compel us to coalesce in tackling the roots of theproblems that cause the vicious cycles that make orphans out ofinnocent children.

In a perfect world, children would stay with their biological parents,and remain connected to their roots. Neither adoption nor foster carewill solve the underlying issues of war, poverty, disease, famine, andneglect. But each of the 2.2 billion children is precious and deserves aplace where they can call home.

Hannah Kim is a 2009 master's graduate at the George WashingtonUniversity Graduate School of Political Management, specializing inlegislative affairs. She spearheaded the passage of the ``Korean WarVeterans Recognition Act, U.S. Public Law 111-41," which was signed byPresident Obama on July 27, 2009. She can be reached at hkim@remember727.org.