SEOUL, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA, March 19, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Recent data and developments have prompted adoptees to call for closer examination of the funding and operations of South Korea’s National Center for the Rights of the Child (NCRC). This comes as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) prepares to release findings and adoptee files are scheduled for transfer by July 2025, marking a significant period for South Korea’s adoption system.

Funding Details Emerge
Records published on March 1, 2025, indicate that the NCRC contributed 55% of the 2024 budget for G.O.A’L, a well-known adoptee-run NGO. G.O.A’L is also the sole adoptee-focused organization represented on the NCRC’s board, according to available documentation. This financial and governance connection has led some adoptees to raise questions about the NCRC’s structure.

Record Access Under Review
A January 14, 2025, MBC documentary, The Disappeared Adoption Records: The Country That Erased Me, detailed issues with a 2 billion KRW digitization project managed by the NCRC from 2013 to 2022. The NCRC responded on January 15, 2025, confirming internal reviews and audits initiated in 2024. Parliamentary data shows that between 2021 and 2024, only 16.4% of 6,087 adoption record requests were granted.

Notable Recent Cases
Several events have highlighted challenges with the NCRC’s processes:
On October 10, 2024, Norwegian adoptee Alice Andersen requested her biological family’s medical history due to health conditions but was denied access.
On October 7, 2024, Han Tae-soon filed a lawsuit against the government and Holt Children’s Services, claiming insufficient efforts to locate her family before her daughter’s 1976 adoption. Case: 2024-Ga-57382, Jihyang Law, Phone: +82(0)2.3476.6002.
A Danish adoptee’s lawsuit, filed August 4, 2024, seeks her late father’s identity under the Special Adoption Act, with the NCRC declining to provide the information. Case: 2024-Dan-39214, Jihyang Law, Phone: +82(0)2.3476.6002.

TRC Investigation Progresses
The TRC announced on March 5, 2025, that preliminary results from its review of 367 forced adoptions from the 1960s to 1980s will be shared by late March. Operating independently of the NCRC, the TRC’s mandate extends through May 2025, with adoptee files set to transfer by July 2025, a timeline noted by adoptee groups.

Government Outlines Changes
On May 10, 2024, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced plans to transition adoption oversight to government entities, including the NCRC, by July 19, 2025. Historical issues, such as incomplete or altered records, continue to be documented.

Adoptees Request Further Insight
Adoptee advocates have expressed interest in reviews of the NCRC’s funding sources, board makeup, and record management procedures before the July 2025 file transfer. With the TRC’s findings approaching, they see this as a key moment to explore longstanding aspects of South Korea’s adoption system.

JK Song
Punch Digital Marketing
namelessadoptee@proton.me

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olkata: A 52-year-old India-born US citizen is now in Kolkata, scouring B T Road and neighbourhoods along the Kolkata-Barrackpore route, trying to retrace her roots from the labyrinth of govt and adoption-home records and the cobwebs of a six-year-old girl's memory.

Tempori Thomas was five when she got lost from her old home and six when she found a new home around 13,000km away in Minnesota, US. "I got lost on a short-distance local train ride on December 14, 1977 while out picking firewood and charcoal for preparing dinner for my family," Thomas said.

She can recall Khardah police station, where she reached — with a stranger's help — after two days of straying. She stayed there for a day and was shifted to a home for widows, until she ended up at Presidency jail in Dec.

She stayed there until Sept 1978, before she was flown out to Minnesota with help of an orphanage and adoption NGO, International Mission of Hope in Kolkata.

Thomas, who reached Kolkata on Saturday with her friends Rebecca Peacock (49) and 47-year-old Manu Erickson (who have similar lost-and-adopted stories), spent Sunday touring the suburbs around Khardah PS from 10am to 3pm.

Now the minister wants to exempt a new group from work obligations.

Another group is set to be affected by the government's new law on work obligations in connection with cash benefits, which was otherwise intended to primarily affect non-Western immigrants.

The Ministry of Employment confirms to DR that surrogate children born abroad - just like adopted children - are covered by the new rules that come into effect on July 1 this year.

This means that if a Danish couple, for example, chooses to have a child through a surrogacy agreement from a country like the USA, the child will not have the same rights as its parents.

The Federal Council wants to ban adoptions from abroad. Now, opposition is mounting. However, opponents and supporters agree on one point.

Shortly :

• In January, the Federal Council announced a ban on adoptions from abroad.
• Now, resistance is brewing. EPP National Councilor Nik Gugger, himself adopted from India, has launched a petition against the ban. The FDP plans to submit a motion on April 11.
• Supporters of the ban take the view that even stricter controls could not prevent illegal adoptions.

Nik Gugger still remembers it clearly: As a six-year-old, he was walking through the village with his parents when suddenly someone called out: "Ah, look, there's Gugger's souvenir."

This experience doesn't stop there. "There were racist remarks from time to time, which made me feel powerless," says the EPP National Councilor, who was born in India in 1970, adopted by a Swiss couple, and grew up near Thun.

Dear journalists,

I’m Nameless Adoptee, a Korean adoptee advocating for the rights of adoptees worldwide. Today, I’m reaching out with an urgent plea: Matthieu Sung-tan, a 38-year-old Korean adoptee in France, is dying from a rare genetic disease, and South Korea’s National Center for the Rights of the Child (NCRC) is blocking access to the records that could save him. His story, detailed in two Yonhap News articles published today, March 17, 2025, exposes a systemic crisis affecting thousands of adoptees. Your coverage can make a difference — Matthieu’s life depends on it.

Matthieu’s Heartbreaking Struggle

Matthieu Sung-tan Foucault (Korean name: Jang Sung-tan) was born on December 23, 1986, in Iksan, South Korea, and adopted to France at four months old in April 1987 through Holt Children’s Welfare Society. Raised in a loving middle-class French family, he became a skilled stonemason and carpenter, contributing to the restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral. He loved playing the guitar and dreamed of a simple life with his wife, Lauriane Simon, and their children, Eloise (3) and Esteban (1).

But since spring 2024, Matthieu’s life has unraveled. He’s suspected of suffering from Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI), a rare genetic disease that prevents sleep, leading to hallucinations, memory loss, and a disconnection from reality. Yonhap News reports that he’s so exhausted he must close his eyes constantly, yet he cannot sleep — his condition is deteriorating rapidly. Without treatment, FFI patients typically survive only 18 months, with a range of 7 months to 6 years. Matthieu’s survival window is closing.

The country that receives internationally adopted children is the receiving country, and the country that sends them is the sending country. Sending has a stronger meaning of 'mechanically transmitting goods, electricity, radio waves, information, etc.' than 'sending people abroad.' Receiving simply means 'accepting money or goods.' The reason I looked into the meaning again is because of a sentence written by Lee Kyung-eun, the representative of human rights beyond borders, in <A country that abandons its citizens> (Geulhangari).

Lee Kyung-eun, the representative of Borderless Human Rights, says, “International adoption is a transaction that takes place in a market of illegality and injustice.” Reporter Kim Jong-mok

“I am not an object.” “I” am the 15-day-old baby “SK (the initials of his name).” In one chapter of the book, CEO Lee uses the form of a dream to represent SK. SK was almost illegally adopted from Korea to the United States in June 2012. In the process, he was in danger of being sent to a U.S. refugee child detention center. CEO Lee, who was the director of the Child Welfare Policy Division of the Ministry of Health and Welfare at the time, took the lead in repatriation, even going to U.S. courts. It was not an easy task. High-ranking officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs treated SK as “someone involved in illegal activities.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “I don’t know anything about it” until a high-ranking U.S. official contacted him. CEO Lee also dealt with Americans, including employees at the U.S. Embassy in Korea. CEO Lee says, “I suffered so much that I had to trade a tooth.” The book is also an indictment against several public officials in powerful ministries, such as the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

LAVA and AVGG have applied for and received a subsidy from Inea for organizing the adoption breakfast . In accordance with the subsidy conditions, we have
listed Inea's contribution on the website.

We were surprised to learn that Inea
distanced itself so openly from the meeting on Linkedin on 12 March 2025. In the relevant Linkedin post, Inea states that the
final implementation of the meeting does not fit within Inea's mission and vision.

First of all, we are curious about what Inea based this judgment on. LAVA and AVGG
organized this meeting to update members of parliament and their employees on the
(im)possibilities of the phase-out plan, both legally and socially, emotionally and socially.
In our opinion, the meeting worked out exactly as indicated in the request for proposals.
In addition, permit holders, parents and adoptees were involved in the organization and the
organization was organized by two associations together. It is precisely on this subject that it is good to
seek connection and in our opinion this fits within Inea's mission and strategy.

In addition, Inea's attitude surprises us even more, because the approval for the subsidy
was only given on March 6 (one day after the meeting). Due to malfunctions in the system, Inea was behind in
processing applications. In our opinion, Inea was therefore able to
inquire in advance about the elaboration of the meeting at all times.

We deeply regret that Inea, after the commotion caused by a small but very verbal group of
radically critical people, feels compelled to self-censor its own decisions
. In our opinion, this shows that Inea is mainly there for those who
are critical of adoption. Inea should be objective and independent and for all adoptees. However, because
this post also suggests that LAVA and AVGG have done something that would not be in line with
the application, we feel compelled to publicly distance ourselves from these claims. In addition,
we will file a formal complaint about this course of events.

In the United States, an adopted child can be resold online like an object. This system, called rehoming, affects 25,000 children each year, transferred to other families without any oversight. A scandal that reveals the serious flaws in the American system.

Behind the facade of adoption in the United States lies a sordid reality: adopted children are being resold online as mere objects . This system, known as rehoming , allows adoptive parents to part with a child by giving them to another family without any oversight from the authorities . A frightening practice that affects approximately 25,000 children each year and takes advantage of a worrying legal loophole .

Rehoming: A market for unsupervised adopted children

In many US states, adopting a child requires only a few days of training and a clean criminal record. But if parents feel the child doesn't meet their expectations , they can simply resell them online . Private agencies, operating without any official regulation , offer platforms where children are listed with photos, detailed descriptions, and even prices . "Here, it's a money-back guarantee. After adopting a child, you can decide you don't want them anymore." - Seven  to Eight.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, March 11, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Molly Dee Wells is pleased to introduce her debut book, The Girl in the Shoebox, a story that explores themes of identity, connection, and the complexities of international adoption.

The Girl in the Shoebox follows the journey of a young woman seeking answers about her adoption in the 1980s. What begins as a quest for clarity turns into an exploration of human connection, mental health, and the struggle to belong. Set in the Pacific Northwest and spanning generations, the story pulls together the lives of five individuals whose paths intersect as they search for meaning and understanding.

When asked about her inspiration for writing the book, Wells shared, “I’ve always loved writing. Even as a child, I carried around a notebook and a book wherever I went. As a former special education paraprofessional, I’ve always been drawn to stories that explore identity and belonging. This story has been waiting to be told, and I wanted to capture the emotions of discovering one’s roots and the connections that shape us.”

Indeed, the book is about the unlikely power of friendships and the transformative rewards of taking risks. Two women form an unexpected bond as they work together to unravel a mystery, uncovering truths that change their lives forever.

The Girl in the Shoebox is now available for purchase on Amazon.

About Molly Dee Wells
Molly Dee Wells lives in the Pacific Northwest with her spouse, three kids, three dogs, and three cats. Adopted from India and raised in the USA, she earned a degree in Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality in 2004. When not exploring the outdoors, Molly enjoys reading Mystery, YA, Historical Fiction, and Biographies. She’s always up for a conversation about her love for tacos and Doctor Who.

Richard Bard
Gnome Book Writing
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A father in Texas has admitted to killing his 8-year-old daughter with his wife by forcing the youngster to jump repeatedly on a scorching hot trampoline, which apparently had a surface temperature of approximately 110 degrees at the time.

Daniel Schwarz, 48, didn’t care about the blistering August heat when he forced his child, Jaylin Schwarz, to keep jumping on the trampoline that day in 2020 at their home in Odessa, according to prosecutors. Schwarz pleaded guilty Friday to manslaughter and was sentenced to serve 18 years in prison after accepting a plea agreement. The Ector County District Attorney’s Office announced the deal in a Facebook post, saying it came after Schwarz’s wife, Ashley Schwarz, was previously convicted of capital murder in May 2023.

“(Schwarz) has pleaded guilty to Manslaughter in the tragic death of his adopted daughter,” the DA’s office said. “The case dates back to August 29, 2020, when law enforcement responded to a medical emergency involving an 8-year-old girl. Investigators later discovered that Daniel and his wife, Ashley, had forced their daughter to jump on a trampoline for an extended period without food or water as a form of punishment. The trampoline’s surface temperature was approximately 110 degrees at the time.”

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