Why are Korean Adoptees outraged about International Adoption?
Article: The Korea Center for Investigative Journalism-Newstapa is reporting on the 10-year history of the adoption records computerization project conducted by the Child Rights Protection Agency, a public institution under the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Previously, Newstapa raised suspicions that the ‘Adoption Records Computerization Project’ conducted by the Child Rights Protection Agency (formerly the Central Adoption Agency) from 2013 to 2022 was conducted haphazardly due to reasons such as blank paper scans, insufficient guidelines, and insufficient uploads.
If the project that continued for several years was carried out haphazardly; not only the actual contractor who carried out the project, but also the Child Rights Protection Agency, which has the authority to manage and supervise, are largely responsible. As a result of Newstapa’s investigation, specific circumstances were confirmed in which the Child Rights Protection Agency, which should have properly evaluated the results of the contract project and executed the budget, appeared to have sloppily conducted the project inspection itself for several years. This was revealed in the process of Newstapa cross-analyzing various documents, including the project inspection confirmation certificate.
A clear example is ‘blank scan’ and ‘false quantity’. Newstapa obtained documents that appear to have been paid for blank paper scans with no content. It was also discovered that the number of scans written on the inspection certificate did not match the number of scans for several years during the 10-year project period.
Ultimately, suspicions are being raised that the Child Rights Protection Agency wasted the national budget due to poor project management.
Newstapa requested an explanation of the facts from the Child Rights Protection Agency, but the Agency did not provide a specific answer, only stating, “We are closely checking and investigating the content of the project over the past 10 years.”
Unfiltered Blank Scans
According to internal data from the Child Rights Protection Agency obtained by Newstapa through multiple channels, almost half of the adoption record computerization project in 2020 was blank. This data summarizes the adoption record computerization project from 2013 to 2022, and it was found that it was also reported to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which is auditing the Child Rights Protection Agency. This data surveyed the entire project, including how many blank sheets are scanned each year.
The adoption record computerization project is largely divided into three stages: ‘scanning’, ‘data construction’, and ‘uploading’. Of these, ‘scanning’ refers to scanning the original records held by individual institutions such as orphanages. Blank sheet scanning refers to blank sheets of paper with no content among the scanned materials.
In 2020, the Child Rights Protection Center scanned materials stored in two institutions, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Myeongdong Cathedral. The total was 113,690 sheets. If half of them are blank sheets, it means that only about 50,000 sheets actually contain content.
However, according to the 2020 business inspection confirmation certificate obtained and reviewed by Newstapa, the total number of scanned pages is listed as 113,690. The inspection confirmation certificate is a document that the Child Rights Protection Center prepares after receiving the results from the service provider and evaluating whether the project was carried out well before the final payment of the project fee. If the total number of scanned pages is 113,690, it means that the project fee was paid even for the scans of blank pages, which appear to be around 50,000 pages. In 2020, the Child Rights Protection Center spent 234.5 million won on this project.
The problem of scanning blank pages continued in 2021. In 2021, the Child Rights Protection Center scanned data from 13 organizations. The total number of scanned pages was approximately 140,000. However, a large number of blank scans were found in the data of at least 6 organizations. It is estimated that at least 30% of the total scanned pages were blank. However, the project completion report does not mention this and the total number of scanned pages is 140,000. The project cost was 310 million won.
Payment made despite incorrect quantity…
There were also issues where the number of work on the inspection confirmation and the actual number of work did not match for several years. According to the data obtained by Newstapa, there were several instances where the number of work on the inspection confirmation was greater than the actual number of work. Simply put, this is ‘quantity inflation’ or ‘false quantity’, but somehow, the Child Rights Protection Center staff in charge of the inspection signed the inspection confirmation even though the number of work itself was incorrect. This problem occurred repeatedly for several years.
The budget for the adoption record computerization project is determined based on the number of scans (pages) completed by the service provider and the number of data sets. The number of scans is one of the important criteria for determining the annual project budget, so if the number of scans differs from the actual number, it means that part of the budget was over-executed.
According to data obtained by Newstapa, service provider A scanned a total of 86,412 pieces of data from institutions such as children’s hospitals and Seongwon Seonshio’s House in 2015. However, the inspection certificate from the same year states that Company A scanned 112,147 pieces, not 86,412, and it is signed by the Child Rights Protection Center employee in charge of the inspection.
During the 10 years of operation, it was discovered that the number of scans written on the inspection certificate did not match the actual number of scans for several years.
For the first project in 2017, the actual number of scans was recorded as a total of 339,019 sheets. However, the inspection confirmation certificate states that 561,334 sheets were scanned and signed by the employee in charge. For the second project in 2017, the actual number of scans was recorded as 131,763 sheets, while the number of inspections was 250,611 sheets, which is also more than the actual number.
In 2019, the project was carried out twice. For the first project, the actual number of scans was recorded as 24,221 sheets, while the number of inspections was 34,878 sheets. For the second project, the actual number of scans was approximately 15,389 sheets, while the number of inspections was 25,632 sheets. For 2022, the actual number of scans was recorded as 29,730 sheets, while the number of inspections was 85,585 sheets.
If we add up the years in which the quantity discrepancy problem (2015, 2017, 2019, 2022) and the blank scan problem (2020, 2021) occurred, the actual scan quantity is calculated to be only 59% of the scanned area on the inspection certificate. The budget executed during this period was approximately 1.144 billion won. Suspicions will inevitably be raised that a significant portion of this budget was executed unfairly.
The security guard repeated, “We are investigating the project details in detail.”
Newstapa requested the Child Rights Protection Center to explain why the budget was spent on blank scans and why the actual amount of work and inspection results differed. However, instead of individually answering our questions, the Child Rights Protection Center only sent us this statement: “We plan to faithfully and thoroughly investigate this matter to confirm the facts,” and “We will take appropriate measures if any insufficient information is found.”
