In 2021-22, as many as 2,991 in-country adoptions were recorded while 414 inter-country adoptions took place, the minister said.
As many as 28,663 Indian applicants are waiting to adopt a child in the country, the Women and Child Development ministry said on Friday, and noted that the number of adoptions are not declining.
Responding to a question in Lok Sabha, Women and Child Development minister Smriti Irani said 1,030 foreign applicants (including Non-Resident Indians and Overseas Citizens of India) are registered with the Central Adoption Resource Authority for adoption.
Asked if the adoptions under CARA are declining, she responded by saying "no".
In 2021-22, as many as 2,991 in-country adoptions were recorded while 414 inter-country adoptions took place, the minister said.
The story of adoption is told most often from the perspective of adoptive parents. This stands to reason, with all adoptees being minors at their time of relinquishment and most adoptive parents wanting to adopt an infant rather than an older child.
However, there is a growing cohort of adoptees, many now adults with children of their own, who are speaking up about their lived experiences and turning the traditionally more palatable adoption narrative on its head.
Joining this growing movement in support of changing the adoption narrative and centring the adoptee, family-focused non-profit Arise works to inform, upskill and strengthen family units through its various support programmes.
Part of this is adequately preparing families for adoption through psychosocial education based on a diverse range of adoptee voices.
In newly translated book, 'She is Angry,' Korean Danish author urges Korea to stop 'exporting' babies, calls for more financial support for unwed moms
By Lee Yeon-woo
Being lauded as "heroes" during the Korea's industrialization period, manufacturing workers were commonly portrayed as a key driving force behind Korea's dramatic rise from a war-torn country to one of world's fastest-growing economies in the 1970s.
Although their contribution was forgotten, however, there is another unknown group of people who also played a part in Korea's rapid economic growth: adoptees.
From 1956 to 1994, many Korean babies were sent North American and Western European countries through international adoption. Korea's uncontested status as the world's largest exporter of babies was later replaced by other developing countries.
In a report titled "Comforting an Orphan Nation," lecturer and author Tobias Hubinette says Scandinavian countries such as Norway, Sweden and Denmark adopted the most Korean children per capita during that the period. In Denmark, nearly 8,000 Korean babies were adopted between 1970 and 2021, according to Danish International Adoption (DIA).
In the book titled "Hun Er Vred" in Danish, which can be translated into English as "She is Angry," author Maja Lee Langvad shares her life as a Korean adoptee in Denmark. Her book was translated recently into Korean and published here. "She is Angry" is the Korean adoptee's personal account of her and fellow adoptees' lives in Europe and the traumas of adoption.
Born in 1980, Langvad said she was raised hearing that she would have struggled in poverty and hunger if she had not been adopted. Ever since she came out as a lesbian, people began to tell her that she was so lucky to get the chance to live in Denmark, a country more "open" to sexual minorities.
The cover of "Hun Er Vred" by Maja Lee Langvad. Courtesy of Nanda Publication
She has observed that those attitudes toward Korean adoptees reflect a sense that developed countries are superior to developing countries.
"I was asked to feel grateful for being adopted for my whole life," Langvad said.
But, she said, she has different feelings about her life as a Korean adoptee in Denmark.
She calls herself a victim of transnational adoption, a term she chose to use instead of "international adoption," claiming that it better shows the structural inequalities between countries.
"She is angry because she was imported. She is angry because she was exported," Langvad writes in the book. The author said she uses the third person to refer to herself instead of the first person, because she believes that what she felt and experienced while growing up can be generalized to what other adoptees went through.
"She thinks contemplating children's nationalities for adoption is no different from choosing wines in department stores based on their countries of origin," the author added.
She is sharply critical of the nature of transnational adoption, as she says that it is a business and adoption agencies are cashing in by "selling children overseas."
"Even though national adoption is better for children in most cases (as adoptees share the same nationality and national culture of their adoptive parents), those agencies indiscriminately send children abroad to get higher brokerage fees," Langvad said.
According to Rep. Kim Sung-ju of the Democratic Party of Korea, private adoption agencies get paid an average of 2.7 million won for each national adoption and 20 million won to 30 million won for each international adoption. Holt International is known to charge around 48 million won to 68 million won for adopting a Korean child abroad.
The adoption agencies denied the allegation, claiming that the money goes to operating orphanages and employees' salaries.
An orphanage in Korea operated by Holt International Korea Times file
International adoption in Korea first began in 1954 after the Korean War left a large number of biracial Korean children, later expanding to monoracial Korean children.
Today, unwed mothers who stay at shelters run by adoption agencies are often solicited to fill out an adoption agreement during counseling without being given sufficient information, according to Choi Hyoung-suk, the public relations manager of the Korean Unwed Mothers and Families Association (KUMFA).
Nine out of every 10 babies ― of the 492 babies adopted last year ― were born to single mothers, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
"She is not a person who unconditionally opposes transnational adoption. She is angry because adoption is misused to deal with babies from single mothers and parents in poor conditions," Langvad said.
Instead of transnational adoption, Langvad suggest more financial support and building more shelters for parents and unwed mothers as the best solution, before adoption is considered.
She said her target audience is Korean readers, as she has a message to deliver to them.
"In this wealthy country where the birthrate is at an all-time low, why do you keep sending children abroad?" Langvad asks.
On July 21, 2022, the Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity (IAAME) suspended the intercountry adoption accreditation of Promise Kids A Future, Inc. for failing to maintain substantial compliance with accreditation standards.
During this suspension, Promise Kids A Future, Inc. must cease to provide all adoption services in connection with intercountry adoption cases. Promise Kids A Future, Inc. is not required to transfer their cases to another accredited or approved adoption service provider. If you have an open case with Promise Kids A Future, Inc., please contact them directly to find out how the suspension will affect your case. We also encourage families to review the information published by IAAME about selecting a primary provider/adoption service provider and the accreditation/approval requirements.
The Department of State does not review or approve case or record transfer plans and has a limited role in their execution. The Department does, however, communicate with competent adoption authorities about the accreditation status of agencies and persons and case transfer plans, as needed.
We also encourage families with outstanding post-adoption reports to contact their adoption service provider for guidance on how to proceed. Information about post-adoption reporting requirements is available on the country-specific information pages on the Department of State’s website. Requirements vary by country with respect to frequency of submission, information to be included, and methods of submission.
On July 21, 2022, the Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity (IAAME) suspended the intercountry adoption accreditation of Promise Kids A Future, Inc. for failing to maintain substantial compliance with accreditation standards.
During this suspension, Promise Kids A Future, Inc. must cease to provide all adoption services in connection with intercountry adoption cases. Promise Kids A Future, Inc. is not required to transfer their cases to another accredited or approved adoption service provider. If you have an open case with Promise Kids A Future, Inc., please contact them directly to find out how the suspension will affect your case. We also encourage families to review the information published by IAAME about selecting a primary provider/adoption service provider and the accreditation/approval requirements.
The Department of State does not review or approve case or record transfer plans and has a limited role in their execution. The Department does, however, communicate with competent adoption authorities about the accreditation status of agencies and persons and case transfer plans, as needed.
We also encourage families with outstanding post-adoption reports to contact their adoption service provider for guidance on how to proceed. Information about post-adoption reporting requirements is available on the country-specific information pages on the Department of State’s website. Requirements vary by country with respect to frequency of submission, information to be included, and methods of submission.
Fiom is the expertise center in the field of unwanted pregnancy, distance & adoption and kinship questions. We offer information and help with unwanted pregnancy, education and aftercare in the field of adoption and guide people in their search for biological family at home and abroad. In addition, we manage the KID-DNA Database, which enables a match between a donor child and an anonymous donor. The basic principle of working at Fiom is the right of self-determination of unwanted pregnant women, the right of a child to know where it comes from and to grow up while retaining its own identity. We do all this with about 80 motivated employees from our offices in 's-Hertogenbosch and Houten and from our home workplaces. Soon we will start with the establishment and design of the Expertise Center Intercountry Adoption. This will be a network organization of stakeholders around the theme of intercountry adoption. Adoptees, adoptive parents, birth family and other involved parties can visit the Expertise Center for information such as access to files, psychosocial assistance, searches and legal support.
For Program Adoption Facilities we are immediately looking for:
There is no pre-requisite for family — anyone you choose to love is your family and Nadia Jamil is proving just that. The actor spoke of her personal experience with adoption and how it was more tough to be accepted as an adoptive parent than choosing to birth a child.
On Thursday, she shared photos of her daughter Nuri in her arms and wrote, “Adoption is a wonderful way to have a child. I found it a tougher “labour” process to go through than biological birthing. Nerve wracking assessments [and] waiting! Imagine if biological parents were interviewed [and] checked for maturity, parenting skills, financial security and dedication the same way!”
Her post was welcomed with a wave of love. When someone said Nuri was lucky to have her as a mother, Jamil responded that it’s her who’s privileged to have her as a daughter.
Many congratulated her on her little bundle of joy.
When a Twitter user pointed out that adopted children are not eligible for inheritance, the actor said, “Who needs an inheritance when she can be gifted everything in my lifetime?”
Jill Killington, 72, lives in Leeds with her husband, Richard, 76. A retired university administrator, she was forced to give up her first baby, a boy, for adoption in 1968. She has two other children, a son and daughter aged 47 and 46.
The very last time I held my baby son was in a dingy room at the National Adoption Services headquarters in London, in March 1968. My parents had brought us down on the train and on arrival we were shown straight there.
A few minutes later, a social worker came in, admired my son and asked if she could hold him. Flattered, I handed him over, unaware that I would never again feel his weight in my arms. Then she asked me to kiss him goodbye, before walking out of the door with him. She never came back. I sat in that room in silence, until we were told it was time to go home. I was so numb that I couldn't cry.
For more than half a century, I have felt the shame of being an unmarried mother, forced to hand my beloved baby over for adoption. The joint committee on human rights (JCHR) estimates that 185,000 children were taken from their mothers between 1949 and 1976 and now, with the publication of its report, which calls on the Government to issue an apology to women like me, I feel absolved.
When Anouk (42) and her partner think she can't have children, they decide to adopt. Now her (adoptive) daughter is in the middle of puberty. Every puberty is intense, but in Anouk it increasingly evokes feelings of guilt.
“I feel guilty about the adoption.”
My girl dream came true
“Nine years ago, my partner and I adopted our daughter. To be honest, we thought at the time that I couldn't have children, so our choice was made quickly. We immersed ourselves in the adoption process and were soon able to hold our daughter in our arms. Indra was two years old when we adopted her from India. Later I unexpectedly became pregnant with twins, so suddenly my girlhood dream came true. I always wanted to have a big family. Have breakfast together at a large table; I had that loving picture in my head.
That my dream came true was great, and the first years I lived on a pink cloud. Now, nine years later, things are a little less rosy than I had hoped or expected. Indra is naturally very curious. For example, she was still very small when she once heard the bells of the church ring. She asked if she could go and see where the sound was coming from. I thought she was going to walk to the garden, so without a doubt said she could go. Moments later, I panicked. She had opened the garden gate and was already walking towards the end of the street. "I was allowed to watch, right?" was her innocent reply.
