A system that claimed to act for the child’s welfare instead routinely erased adopted children’s pasts, ignored their birth families and decided their futures for them.

Kim Tak-un was four years old when he was adopted by a Swedish family in 1974. Originally from South Korea, Tak-un had lived with his single father, a labourer who moved frequently for work. One day in the summer of 1974, while staying with his aunt, Tak-un wandered outside and disappeared.

Local police considered him abandoned and referred him to an adoption agency, which arranged his adoption to Sweden within five months. When his father realised his son was missing, he searched everywhere, only to discover – too late – that Tak-un had already been sent overseas. Devastated, he demanded Tak-un’s return. When the adoption agency failed to respond, he went public with the story.

In March 2025, South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission released initial findings from its investigation into the country’s 72-year-old international adoption programme. The full report is expected in the next few weeks as the investigation is now completed.

Based on more than 360 cases submitted by Korean adoptees from 11 countries, the commission uncovered widespread human rights violations, including falsified documents, lack of parental consent, and cases of child switching – shaking up adoptees and their families.

The investigation speaks clearly: Swedish authorities and organizations have accepted procedures and acted in ways that have made it difficult and in some cases impossible to assess whether an adoption is in the best interests of the child, writes Agnes Arpi.

So there she finally stood on June 2, Anna Singer, professor of civil law and special investigator for the Adoption Commission, who has been investigating international adoptions to Sweden for more than three years. An investigation that has been characterized by several extended investigation periods, criticism of the expert group and leaks from the same .

Her conclusions were difficult for some to digest, especially the one that the placement of children for adoption in Sweden should be discontinued. For others, it is a long-awaited victory.

Ten countries, not ten cases

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Anna Kim Riley, who was born in Daejeon in 1984 and adopted to the United States in 1985, is seen in this photo taken around the time of her adoption. In 2023, she was connected with a woman listed as her birth mother through Korea’s Adoption Central Management System, but a DNA test later confirmed they were not biologically related. Courtesy of Anna Kim Riley

By Hankookilbo

Serious crimes have been committed in international adoptions, an investigation published on June 2nd concludes. The Adoption Commission proposes that international adoptions be stopped and that adoptees receive an apology and a sum of money. But for Susanna Johansson, it is too late, she writes in a post in poetic form.

Susanna Johansson, adoptee, sociologist, poet and author of the poetry collection Heliumballoon

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Many of us want an apology and a confirmation.
Many of us want a public apology
as a reparation for all that we have endured.

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During his stay in Brussels, Minister Krasniqi was welcomed by Mr. Simon MORDUE, Head of Foreign Policy and Mrs. Simona Gueorguieva, Foreign Policy Advisor to the Cabinet of Mr. Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council.

In the meeting they discussed about the recent progress made by the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo, in particular the ongoing reforms in the field of local government. Additionally, they also discussed about the commitment of the Government of Kosovo in the fight against corruption and organized crime.

Minister Krasniqi thanked Mr. Mordue and Mrs. Gueorguieva for supporting the people of Kosovo in their European aspirations and the support of Kosovo institutions over the years.

At the Odesa Orphanage-Boarding School four months after Russia invaded Ukraine, an air raid alarm sent nurses in white coats hurrying residents into a basement beneath the kitchen.

Among them was Tanya, a slight 12-year-old who favours a pink sun hat.

On June 15, Tanya, who has autism and is non-verbal, was moved from the institution, her home of four years, following an order from the local government in March to evacuate.

Tanya, like most children in Ukraine's vast orphanage system, has parents but they were unable to care for her properly so the state took over, the orphanage director said.