Recent media reports regarding adoptions from Korea during the 1980s have understandably prompted questions and concerns, especially from adoptees and families whose adoptions were completed during that time.
Our commitment to adoptees and adoptive families is to be open and transparent. We welcome the opportunity to hear your concerns and answer any questions you may have.
Any reports of abuse and illegal adoption practices are alarming, leaving some adoptees and their families questioning the legitimacy and ethics of their adoptions. Regrettably, the reports left out information that would have been helpful for context and deeper understanding, including the critically important fact that adoption practices in Korea have changed significantly since the 1980s. It is important to note that recent allegations involve Holt Children’s Services in Korea, and do not make a distinction between them and Holt International, which became independent entities in 1977.
Holt International has been an unwavering advocate of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, which upholds ethical international adoption standards and making decisions always in the best interests of the child. This includes seeking family strengthening, family reunification and domestic adoption for every child before resorting to intercountry adoption.
Holt has a longstanding commitment to ethical standards that emphasize family-strengthening services that result in children remaining with their birth families. For children without the option of remaining with a birth family, we advocate domestic adoption so children grow and thrive in the culture of their birth.
The last option is international adoption where children are placed in loving families that have undergone a homestudy review. In our view, permanent placement in a home and family is always better for a child than growing up in an orphanage.
Adoption services provided today have evolved in light of lessons learned over the past several decades, especially from the perspective of adoptees’ experiences. For many children in Korea after the Korean War and in the following decades, the only hope for families was intercountry adoption.
Under no circumstance would Holt International condone unethical and coercive activity in adoption. Our commitment to respecting the rights of birth mothers, adoptees and adoptive parents is unwavering.
