Yunhap News Article: “Ministry of Health and Welfare, first meeting of adoption system reform council…”
Korea got duped again. Korea needs to hold the child traffickers accountable—not become them.
Korean Adoptees Worldwide“Korean Adoptees Worldwide’s reply to this article is that Korea should not ratify the Hague Adoption Convention. HAC legalizes the falsification of factual identities and the permanent separation of families.” – Korean Adoptees Worldwide
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Seo Seong-ho
Prepare a detailed reform plan within the year.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that it had formed a pan-ministerial adoption system reform council and held its first meeting on the 26th.
The Adoption System Reform Consultative Body was formed to prepare in advance for the implementation of the revised ‘Special Act on Domestic Adoption’ and the ‘Act on International Adoption’ enactment next year. These laws contain provisions that strengthen the responsibility of the state and local governments for adoption.
The consultative body, headed by the Director of the Population Policy Office of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, includes relevant ministries such as the National Court Administration, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and local governments, related organizations, experts, and adoptee and adoptive family organizations.
At the first meeting held on this day, the contents and direction of adoption system reform were shared and the council’s operation plan was discussed.
Going forward, the consultative body plans to hold working-level subcommittee meetings once or twice a month, and general meetings to review topics discussed in each subcommittee every quarter to prepare detailed implementation plans for the adoption system reform within this year.
Hyun Soo-yeop, Director of Population and Children Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, “We plan to ratify the Hague International Child Adoption Convention in line with the enforcement date of the law. We plan to comply with the domestic and international adoption procedures set forth in the convention and prepare measures to promote domestic adoption in accordance with the principle of prioritizing domestic adoption.”
The Hague Convention is a multilateral convention adopted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law in 1993 and entered into force in 1995 to protect the human rights of children moving between countries through international adoption and to stipulate procedures and requirements for international adoption to prevent kidnapping and human trafficking.
Korea signed the convention in 2013, but was unable to ratify it due to differences of opinion over the roles and responsibilities of relevant agencies.
When the adoption system is reformed next year due to the enforcement of the law, local governments will determine and protect children eligible for adoption, and key procedures such as preliminary adoptive parent qualification screening and matchmaking will be reviewed and decided by the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Adoption Policy Committee.
The family court’s temporary parenting decision system will be introduced, and government follow-up services will be provided to help mutual adjustment for at least one year after adoption.
All adoption record management and adoption-related information disclosure tasks are unified and managed by the Child Rights Protection Agency.
