South Korea

When we first revisited our OLD NEW PLAN we had chosen an agency with plans to adopt from China. With China’s one child tax rule we felt that the need for a child to find a family was overwhelming.

Our OLD NEW PLAN with a bit of changes led us to a new agency and South Korea.

South Korea is a Beautiful Country. South Korea (SK) is slightly larger than Indiana. It lies below the 38th parallel on the Korean peninsula. SK came into being after WWII.

South Korea’s adoption program is the oldest organized international adoption program operating in the US. Children available for adoption are usually around six months at the time you are referred your child. The majority of the children come home just prior to their first birthday. These children are provided outstanding medical care and reside either with a Foster Family or in a small group home within the agency.

At this time domestic adoption is increasing in South Korea but due to some social attitudes toward adoption, nominal government support for single mothers and a trend toward family size reduction there is still a great need for orphans to find their forever family.

South Korea, like many other countries, is highly ambivalent about its successful Inter-country adoption program and it is stepping up efforts to encourage more domestic adoption. Through a series of yearly quotas, SK hopes to reduce their Inter-country adoption entirely. It is suspected that 2012 will be the year that SK closes its doors to Inter-country adoption.

Many countries have requirements for the parents wishing to adopt. We met all the requirements to adopt from SK. Once we knew we qualified we started to learn more about South Korea. As touched on above, orphaned SK children received outstanding medical care. Since the birthmothers usually have an adoption plan in place before or at the time of birth the medical records are thorough and up to date. Most of the children adopted from SK come home between nine months and a year. Because of this we would be able to have our third child also be our youngest, thus not changing the birth order of our children. South Korea also places the children in Foster Homes, where they are loved and cared for by a Foster Mother, Foster Father and sometimes Foster siblings. The love and care received while in Foster Care will enable our child to bond with us once she is home.

After choosing South Korea as the birthplace of our child we have since learned so much about Korea, the culture and the wonderful Korean people and we are so blessed to intertwine such a rich beautiful country and culture into our lives.