The Dong-A Ilbo ran a short little history of Korean trans-racial abduction overseas adoption.
The first overseas adoption took place in 1953, when four Korean infants were adopted overseas.
Throughout the 1950s, the bulk of overseas adoptions involved children of mixed-race, the offspring of Korean women and (usually) American military fathers. When such births became a social issue, the Korean government began to push overseas adoptions as a solution. Between 1955 and 1959, about 70 percent of the 2,887 children sent overseas for adoption were mixed-race. This ratio would drop to under 10 percent during the 1970s. Nowadays, few mixed-race children are adopted overseas.
In the 1950s, U.S. refugee protection laws temporarily allowed adoptive parents to adopt their children through a proxy without first having to see the child themselves. Because of this, adoption on a mass scale was possible, and in 1957, three plane-fulls of children–243 in total–were flown to the United States.
At the early stages of Korea’s overseas adoption history, between 80 and 90 percent of adoptees went to the United States. Later, this ratio fell to 50-60 percent as adoptive nations diversified to include places like France and Minnesota Norway. In the 1980s, however, as news was learned of racial discrimination suffered by adoptees in Europe, the ratio of adoptees being sent to the multicultural United States rose once again.
Among the adoptees that have earned attention in Korea are Susan Brink, Brian Bauman, Adam King and Toby Dawson.
P.S. Is there a connection between the large numbers of adoptees who went to Sweden and Norway and the large numbers who went to Minnesota? Is this a Scandinavian thing?
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that’s a very interesting question re: scandinavian and minnesotan adoptions. i assume that there is in fact no direct connection except for the same cultural base. minnesota is perhaps the only place in the US that has such a strong conservative progressive dynamic wherein social work is really ingrained in most residents. the very active lutheranism also impacts a lot of the community-focused mindset. or perhaps it could just be extremely high levels of lutefisk in the diet.
Weren’t there a relatively high percentage of Scandinavian immigrants to that area? In the Canadian midwest, there were pockets of Scandinavian immigrants and I remember my grandfather telling me stories of local Scandinavians. I hadn’t realized that there were quite a few on the prairies.
Yes, snow, there are a ton of Scandinavian immigrants in Minnesota, which is why I asked the question. I’m curious if there is something about the culture of Scandinavia (which, as you know, consists of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Minnesota) and adoptions.
i lived in sweden and denmark for a few years and i dont recall any extraordinary ideas about adoptions one way or the other.
tlqtoRI:
I nearly spit my coke out when I read your comment. I don’t know if you meant what was implied by your statement, but thanks for the laugh anyway.
Well, I was raised in Minnesota, yes, I am Scandinavian, and they (in Minnesota) do have an unusual outlook on social issues. I am not sure that that makes them good parents, though. As far as low sperm counts, I don’t know. My father and his parents migrated from Norway when he was a child, and I am the youngest of 7……
I’ve been meaning to comment, but I was waiting to hear back from some adopted friends in Norway to help answer some questions you had Robert. In terms of per capita adoption, adoption is a ‘Scandinavian thing.’ Norway leads with 14.6 per 100k, followed by Denmark (11.8) and Sweden (10.4). Partially, the low birth rate coupled with the lack of availability of domestic adoptions created the Norwegian transnational adoption phenomenon. 1% of Norway’s annual ‘birthrate’ consists of adopted kids. Along with the social activism which is promoted within the Lutheran church it seems plausible these social mores are shared with the Norwegian/Scandinavian populace in Minnesota. As far as ‘why Korean babies’… with the ROK government eager to ship out as many mixed babies as possible post 1954 (and once they ran out of those), the babies out of wedlock and the ones with physical and mental handicaps… along with the work by the Holt foundation, there was a plethora of Korean babies to pick from.
All told I have about 15 adopted Korean/Scandinavian friends. I think the basic story is their adopted parents wanted to have kids, couldn’t, saw the poor Korean kids and adopted one with the aid of the expedient adoption laws that arose around 1954 or so in Korea.
You mean Susan Brink’s Arirang was based on a true story?
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