‘Korea is hiding our past’: the adoptees searching for their families – and the truth

Amid allegations of a corrupt adoption system in Seoul that falsified children’s records, those sent to Denmark as youngsters are desperate to find out their real stories

In the summer of 2022, Sussie Pflug Brynald, a Danish citizen, walked through the doors of Holt Children’s Services in Seoul, South Korea, looking for answers about her past. The agency had handled her adoption 49 years earlier when she was, according to Holt, a Korean orphan.

Brynald had brought with her a bottle of Danish liqueur and souvenir shot glasses adorned with Vikings and Danish flags. She had been told that bringing presents to the adoption agency might help her get some of those answers.

One of INEA's goals is to sustainably promote and strengthen connections, collaboration and knowledge sharing within the current adoption field. Interest groups for intercountry adoptees are valuable partners for INEA because of their expertise, experience and network in specific countries of origin. Particularly when it comes to support in carrying out searches in countries of origin, they have a wealth of knowledge and know-how. The Ministry of Justice and Security has made financial resources available for these organizations in the form of the subsidy scheme 'International Adoptee Interest Organizations' (hereinafter: the subsidy scheme). But how did this subsidy scheme come about and how do you apply for a subsidy?

Why a subsidy scheme?

A large group of international adoptees has been left out in the cold for a long time. Abuses came to light that made searches for and issues surrounding distance, adoption and identity complicated or impossible. In addition, adoptees have different questions and needs at different times in their lives. With the arrival of INEA, we want to ensure that intercountry adoptees and their families are seen and heard at all stages of life regarding questions about distance, adoption and identity.

The current support offering is fragmented; There are interest groups that differ in size, offering, approach and professionalism. The subsidy scheme was created to sustainably promote and strengthen the current support offered by interest groups. The ministry has consciously chosen not to pay individual compensation to adoptees in the Netherlands. One of the reasons is that general support and the creation of an improved infrastructure contributes more to assisting the broad target group of intercountry adoptees than providing uniform individual benefits to the entire group.

The subsidy scheme explained

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — After dozens of searches, scores of interviews, months of investigation, weeks of trial, and, lastly, a plea on the part of a defense attorney asking her client receive probation, the adoptive parents of Orrin and Orson West on Thursday were sentenced to life terms in prison.

Trezell and Jacqueline West, accused of killing the young boys three years ago, were sentenced to 15 years to life in prison plus four years.

As the Wests were sentenced, sniffling was heard from members of the audience, some of them biological family of Orrin, 4, and Orson, 3, others members of the public who have followed the case from the beginning.

Trezell West, 37, and Jacqueline West, 33, reported the boys missing in December 2020. Prosecutors say the couple killed them three months earlier and disposed of the bodies, then fabricated a tale of how the boys disappeared from their backyard, apparently kidnapped.

In May, they were found guilty of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and child cruelty regarding Orrin. Jurors failed to reach verdicts on second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with Orson’s death. A guilty verdict for child cruelty was returned regarding Orson.

It's never easy for adopted children to find their biological parents decades later, especially when they have little information about them. The challenge, though, has not deterred Mahogany from the United States. The 23-year-old girl is in India with friend Christopher to track down her biological parents. For the past two weeks, the two have been covering Lucknow street by street and meetings officials in the hope of some success.

Mahogany spoke to INDIA TODAY about her past as well as her mission. It was in 2000 that she was found abandoned by the Government Railway Police (GRP) near Charbagh railway station in Lucknow. The police searched hard for the parents, but in vain. Ultimately, the girl was sent to an orphanage from where, two years on, she was adopted by an American woman, Carol, and taken to Minnesota.

Mahogany said her foster mother, before her death in 2018, told her about her adoption. Therein began Mahogany's search. Mahogany, whose Indian name is Rakhi, told her story to Christopher, an artist, and a plan was drawn up to visit India. It took time to arrange for the funds and visa and finally, the two reached Delhi in the second week of September and proceeded to Lucknow.

Mahogany, who works in a cafe in Minnesota, said one of the first things she did in Lucknow was to enquire with the GRP at Charbagh station and also visit her orphanage. But credible leads to her biological parents eluded. Her documents at the orphanage have no details of her parents. Some photographs of her adoption have three women, but their whereabouts are not known.

A lot of South Koreans adopted by Western families in the postwar years grew up believing they were orphans. In many cases, it was a lie.

By Priscilla Ki Sun HwangSep. 27, 2023

Father: No record.

Mother: No record.

The number of adoptions by relatives and step parents has increased significantly since the new adoption regulations were implemen... Read More

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NEW DELHI: Since the new adoption regulations were notified in September last year, data available with the Central Adoption Resource Authority shows a significant rise in the number of orders issued in favour of relatives keen on taking an orphaned child in their family or prospective parents waiting to adopt their step children.

 

Father: No record.

Mother: No record.

Place of birth: Unknown.

Kelly Foston always thought she was an orphan.

That’s because her adoption paperwork, riddled with “no record” and “unknown” and signed by Korean authorities, declared her to be one.

On September 17, 2023 the New York Times published an article titled “World’s Largest ‘Baby Exporter’ Confronts Its Painful Past.'” In response, Holt President and CEO Dan Smith wrote a letter to the editor reinforcing Holt’s long-standing commitment to ethical international adoptions. Below you can read this letter as well as a description of Holt’s history and an explanation of our work on behalf of orphaned and vulnerable children around the world.

To the Editor: 

Holt International Children’s Services commends your story titled World’s Largest ‘Baby Exporter’ Confronts Its Painful Past that sheds light on past adoption practices. But it didn’t tell the whole story. 

Holt International Children’s Services, an accredited child placement agency, has advocated for 65 years for stronger and standardized adoption practices worldwide, which led to U.S. adoption in 2008 of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption to ensure the interest of children is given priority. 

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. 

LUCKNOW: Twenty-one years after she was adopted from a Lucknow shelter home by a US woman, Rakhi - now called Mahogany Emberkai -- is back to her city to trace her roots, shrugging off two decades of abuse by her foster mother.

Rakhi was found abandoned at Lucknow's Charbagh railway station in 2000 when she was just three. Transferred to a local shelter home, she was adopted by one Carol Brand from Minnesota two years later.

However, her ordeal started right when she boarded the US-bound flight. It turned out that Carol had submitted her fake profile for adoption. She was allegedly a drug addict and alcoholic, who left Rakhi with a life-long trauma by her abusive excesses.

"Gradually I took care of my studies and subsistence. At the age of 12, I became a babysitter in order to pay rent to live with Carol. After I turned 18, Carol forced me out of the house and I started living on the University campus," said Rakhi, who changed her name to Mahogany Emberkai at the age of 20, which reflected her strong character as a tough wood. Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown hardwood and Emberkai is derived from Ember which means low burning wood.

"As a child I have suffered verbal, physical, mental and even sexual abuse from Carol. She was a fraud investigator in the health insurance sector in Minnesota, but she faked her profile to adopt me. Due to her cruel nature, none of my classmates dare come to console me. As a kid, I, too, was very afraid of her and never went against her to complain about her behaviour. Although I did try to inform her sister Nancy, I hardly got any support," said the 26-year-old who wanted to become doctor, but was never supported by her foster mother.

In 2002, when Mahogany was Rakhi, at Lucknow shelter home. Her poster mother Carol Brand is also seen in the photo.

Mahogany graduated from University of Minnesota in health science.

CHENNAI: Social worker Shaila Samuel said, in a recent statement to TNIE, that baseless and vexatious allegations by the then Chennai Child Welfare Committee chairperson have completely undone her good work over past three decades.

She referred to a series of articles published in TNIE on June 23, 26, and 30, of 2010 in which the then CWC, Chennai chairperson was quoted as referring to Shaila as the “queen-pin of adoption ring” and an alleged “child trafficker” and “she used Guild of Service (GoS) name, stamp and other related documents to carry out the unlawful adoption when she was working with GoS.”

Rebutting the articles, Shaila said the allegations were made by a statutory authority without any inquiry or an explanation being sought from her. “Everything I toiled to build over 30 years of unwavering effort, unconditional social service and unyielding sacrifice, all came crumbling down solely due to such allegations,” she said. She said she was scorned by her peers and despised by members of her community. 

“All my good work was completely undone without any recourse to defend myself,” she said. According to Shaila, on October 7, 2009, the Commissioner of Social Welfare issued a letter to Cheshire Homes, India to grant permission to transfer five medically challenged children to rehabilitate them. On December 4, 2009, the then CWC, Chennai chairperson certified her to be the fittest person to take temporary custody of the children, she said. On April 7, 2010, the Probation Officer of Coimbatore declared the child legally free for adoption.

“Yet, out of the blue, the then chairperson of the CWC directed the Probation Officer, Erode to conduct further inquiries. The officer submitted a report dated June 16, 2010, stating he had traced the child’s parents and they had abandoned the child in the hospital as chances of the child surviving were very bleak. After five years, on learning that the child was still alive, the biological parents wanted the child back,” she said.