A Letter to Korean Adoptees New To Birth Family Search.

Recently due to the FRONTLINE / AP documentary “South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning” and related Associated Press (AP) articles about Korean Adoption, there have been many Korean Adoptees who have had either a new or renewed interest in birth family search. 

You may also just have recently developed an interest in birth family search independently of any media events. No matter what the reason, if you are a Korean Adoptee who is new to birth family search, then this letter is for you. 

*Please note that due to the volume of information on Paperslip in general, this site may be best viewed on a laptop or other large screen device.

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If you wish to just dive in to birth family search without reading our discussion further below, please see:
Links To Information Relevant To ALL Korean Adoptees

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Information for KSS Adoptees ONLY:

*If you are a KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptee ONLY, please see the “Illustrated Step By Step Guide” halfway down this page:
Step By Step KSS Birth Family Search

*If you are a KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptee ONLY: Please follow STEPS 1-4, then email us at paperslipadoptee@gmail.com for a FREE review of your TWO KSS birth family search forms BEFORE you submit them to KSS! KSS Adoptees often make costly mistakes on this form, and we could save you YEARS of wasted time by catching these mistakes! KSS will NOT correct you! Also, after you receive a response from KSS to your FIRST request, and KSS provides you with your “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary”, please be sure to read STEP 7 about how to request OTHER documents ONE AT A TIME from KSS. This is the ONLY way to obtain documents from KSS!

*If you are a KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptee ONLY: Please join the PRIVATE Facebook group KSS Cribmates. Please be sure to answer the membership questions! If you do not know the answers, you can email us at paperslipadoptee@gmail.com

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Some background about Paperslip:

Paperslip.org is a site by and mainly for KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees. KSS is the smallest of the 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies designated by the Korean government to process international adoptions since 1976. (However, Korea has adopted children to the West from the 1950s - Present).

Paperslip started in 2020 and opened to the public in 2021. Since that time, Paperslip has grown to include information relevant to ALL Korean Adoptees, no matter what their Korean or Western Adoption Agency.

However, please note that our primary area of expertise relates to KSS / Korea Social Service Adoptees. If you are not sure whether or not you are a KSS Adoptee, you can check the list of KSS’ Partner Western Adoption Agencies here: 
KSS Partner Western Adoption Agencies

*Please note that some KSS Adoptees were adopted through private adoptions, around the US and even to Guam, in which case, there would be no corresponding Partner Western Adoption Agency.

We offer FREE birth family search assistance to KSS Adoptees ONLY. If you are a KSS Adoptee, please contact us at paperslipadoptee@gmail.com

Apologies, but due to our limited resources, we are NOT able to help NON-KSS Adoptees one-on-one for free. If you are a NON-KSS Adoptee and want to speak to us one-on-one about your case, please see:
NEW! Advisory Sessions - Free for KSS Adoptees | Paid for Non-KSS Adoptees

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Paperslip is NOT a site which sugarcoats the darker realities of Korean Adoption. We believe in telling Adoptees the TRUTH, even when certain truths can be painful. If you are someone who is very sensitive to the dark side of adoption, we understand that this site may be difficult for you to digest. However, we strongly believe that it is no kindness to hide the darker realities of Korean Adoption and further gaslight Korean Adoptees. There are many complexities to birth family search which we can only explain clearly by discussing the hard realities inherent in the long history of International Adoption from S. Korea.

We believe that everyone’s view on their own adoption is valid. Hopefully as you navigate this site, you will bear this in mind. 

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Some basics you need to know about Korean Adoption:

Generally a Korean Adoption Agency partnered with several Western Adoption Agencies. Some Korean Adoptees have a PRIVATE adoption - this was often the case when adoptive parents were in the military and based in Korea or Japan. In such cases, a Korean Adoptee may NOT have had a Korean or Western Adoption Agency, and may have been adopted directly from an Orphanage or directly from a Korean Adoption Agency in Korea.

If you DO NOT KNOW your KOREAN Adoption Agency, but DO KNOW your Western Adoption Agency, there are resources on the page below to help you figure out what your Korean Adoption Agency was:
Figure Out Your KOREAN Adoption Agency NOW BEFORE It Is Too Late.

The 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies designated by the Korean Government to process International Adoptions since 1976 are:

1. HOLT Korea (not to be confused with Holt International, which is the Western Holt Adoption Agency)

2. Eastern Social Welfare Society (ESWS) - formerly Eastern Child Welfare Society (ECWS)

3. Social Welfare Society (SWS) / now Korea Welfare Society (KWS)

4. *Korea Social Service (KSS) 

Holt is the largest Korean Adoption Agency, and KSS is the smallest. 

Korea adopted to the West from the 1950s through present day (2000s), though the highest numbers of Intnernational Adoptions from Korea were processed in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Birth Family Search:

We are not going to sugarcoat the truth: birth family search can be extremely hard. There are no guarantees in the process, and the process can often take an enormous amount of time, emotional and physical energy, and (if you go to Korea), money. 

However, we want to be clear that everyone’s case is different. Some Adoptees have easier or harder experiences with birth family search than others. We cannot tell you exactly what to expect. This is what makes birth family search difficult - an Adoptee must muster the courage to open Pandora’s box and undertake a search, yet also be prepared for both the possibility of success and disappointment. If we are honest, we don’t believe there’s a way to be fully prepared for the twists and turns of birth family search. However, please know that countless thousands of Adoptees before you have undertaken a search, and many of them are willing to share their experiences and expertise with others - through Facebook groups, online support groups, and local and international Korean Adoptee conferences. If you need support, there are many ways to seek it out. The benefit of S. Korea having adopted so many of us to the West is that there is a huge community of Korean Adoptees willing to offer help and support. 

There are multiple prongs (approaches) to birth family search. We recommend that in order to save precious TIME, you try MULTIPLE prongs at once. 

Time is of the essence, as the best place to begin a birth family search is with your KOREAN Adoption Agency (as opposed to your Western Adoption Agency in the US, Europe, Australia, or Canada). There is some urgency as ALL Korean Adoption Agency files by law are going to move to the Korean Government Agency NCRC (National Center for the Rights of the Child) beginning around July 2025! 

After your Korean Adoption Agency’s files move to NCRC, in theory you should be able to request a birth family search through NCRC. However, given NCRC’s lack of sufficient budget, staff, and a building to permanently house adoption files, we predict that NCRC could be sorting out the adoption file transfer for YEARS. 

Please know that depending on your Korean Adoption Agency, your response time may be long or short.

• KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees have a high probability of hearing back from KSS within 1-4 months of an initial birth family search request (at least, until July 2025 when KSS files are transferred to NCRC, at which point, KSS will likely CLOSE its last remaining Post-Adoption Services building). We cannot more strongly recommend that KSS Adoptees request a birth family search and a request for their formerly secret “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary” no later than EARLY 2025, in order to allow KSS an adequate response time before ALL KSS files move to NCRC starting in July 2025.

• Holt Korea, Eastern (EWSW / ECSW), and Korea Welfare Society (KWS) / formerly Social Welfare Society (SWS) response times may be longer, but this is hard for us to predict with any accuracy.
  
  
  

  
  

The Multiple Prongs (Approaches) of Birth Family Search:

*PLEASE NOTE: Korean Adoptees can request a birth family search through either their Korean Adoption Agency OR NCRC (The National Center for the Rights of the Child) ONCE PER YEAR. You MUST START with your Korean Adoption Agency FIRST - NOT NCRC, which is your 2nd Step if your Korean Adoption Agency request does not yield results.

This assumes that there is birth parent information in your English and / or Korean adoption file upon which to base a search.

1. Adoption Paperwork:

• The first thing you should do is try to obtain your adoption paperwork. If you are able to obtain your adoption paperwork from your adoptive parents, try to do this first. 

• We understand that for many Adoptees, this may not be possible for a variety of reasons. 

• Request a birth family search and your KOREAN adoption paperwork from your KOREAN Adoption Agency. 

• Each Korean Adoption Agency has its own procedure. Please read below BEFORE contacting your Korean Adoption Agency:

  • For NON-KSS Adoptees - those adopted through Holt Korea, Eastern (ESWS / ECWS), or Korea Welfare Society (KWS) / formerly Social Welfare Society (SWS) please see this page for more info: 

    Contact Info For The 4 Major Korean Adoption Agencies + Adoptee Facebook Groups: 

    https://www.paperslip.org/contact-info-for-the-4-major-korean-adoption-agencies-adoptee-facebook-groups 

  • *If you are a KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptee ONLY, please see the “Illustrated Step By Step Guide” halfway down this page:
    Step By Step KSS Birth Family Search

  • *If you are a KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptee ONLY: Please follow STEPS 1-4, then email us at paperslipadoptee@gmail.com for a FREE review of your TWO KSS birth family search forms BEFORE you submit them to KSS! KSS Adoptees often make costly mistakes on this form, and we could save you YEARS of wasted time by catching these mistakes! KSS will NOT correct you! Also, after you receive a response from KSS to your FIRST request, and KSS provides you with your “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary”, please be sure to read STEP 7 about how to request OTHER documents ONE AT A TIME from KSS. This is the ONLY way to obtain documents from KSS!

  • *If you are a KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptee ONLY: Please join the PRIVATE Facebook group KSS Cribmates. Please be sure to answer the membership questions! If you do not know the answers, you can email us at paperslipadoptee@gmail.com

  • All Korean Adoption Agencies currently have Post-Adoption Services through which Korean Adoptees can conduct a birth family search via email or in person - however, this will likely CHANGE starting around July 2025, as ALL files are by law slated to move from Korean Adoption Agencies to the Korean Government Agency NCRC (National Center for the Rights of the Child) beginning in July 2025. 

  • PLEASE NOTE: IF you plan to visit Korea soon, and wish to take the “Korean Police Missing Persons DNA Test” at a Police Station in Korea, you must request your “ADOPTION CERTIFICATE” from your Korean Adoption Agency. The “ADOPTION CERTIFICATE” is NOT an historical document, and is only good for 3 months from the time of issue. Korean Police Stations often REQUIRE this document in order for a Korean Adoptee to take their DNA test. Please read more about DNA testing in the section below.

    • PLEASE NOTE: You can also take the “Korean Police Missing Persons DNA Test” at a Korean Consulate in your Western country of adoption. You MUST request your “NCRC Certificate” from NCRC in order to do so. Please contact NCRC for the “NCRC Certificate”. It may take at least 4 months to hear back from them, so try to plan accordingly. NCRC has just 2-3 birth family search workers to handle ALL Korean Adoptee requests from around the world. Please ORGANIZE your thoughts and what you plan to write in your email to NCRC BEFORE you email NCRC! Please DO NOT barrage them with disorganized requests! To contact NCRC, please see:
      How To Use NCRC For Birth Family Search

    • PLEASE NOTE: You may have difficulty taking the “Korean Police Missing Persons DNA Test” at a Police Station in Korea OR at Korean Consulate in your Western country of adoption IF you have birth parent information in your English and / or Korean adoption file. Up until recently, in order to be able to take this test, Korean Adoptees must be considered truly “abandoned” or a “missing person” - meaning, neither their English nor Korean adoption files can contain birth parent information in order for the Korean Adoptee to take the test. The cruel irony of this is that many Korean Adoptees may have birth parent information in their Korean adoption file without their previously being AWARE of it, “thanks” to the mass orphanization of Korean children for international adoption. The “Adoption Certificate” from your Korean Adoption Agency and your “NCRC Certificate” from NCRC will specify whether or not you are eligible to take the “Korean Police Missing Persons DNA Test”.

      • While recently, supposedly the requirement to be “Abandoned” or a “Missing Person” in order to be allowed to take the “Korean Police Missing Persons DNA Test” was supposedly revoked and the policy changed to allow more Korean Adoptees to take this test, in PRACTICE, this has not proven to be as easy. You may be denied the opportunity to take this test - it is luck of the draw. Please see:
        The Korean Police Missing Persons DNA Test Opens To More Adoptees!

    • Please see the following page for more info:
      DNA Testing

2. For US Adoptees ONLY - FREE FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) Request:

If you are a US Adoptee, we cannot more strongly suggest that you file a FREE FOIA request. Please note that a FOIA request is a request for US immigration documents - because Korean Adoptees were adopted across international borders, the US immigration documents of Korean Adoptees often contain DOZENS OF PAGES of adoption documents. Making a FREE FOIA request does NOT initiate any birth family search through either your Korean or US Adoption Agency. It is a US immigration records request only. 

We cannot more strongly suggest that US Korean Adoptees with an interest in birth family search make a FREE FOIA request as soon as possible. This is because information contained in your FOIA documents may not be contained in the adoption documents you currently have in your possession. 

• Please see this page for more info, and please read the entire page CAREFULLY BEFORE FILING A FREE FOIA REQUEST:

• FOIA Request for US Adoptees: 

  https://www.paperslip.org/foia-request-for-us-adoptees 

3. DNA Testing: 

We know that many Korean Adoptees have apprehensions about taking DNA tests due to highly valid data privacy concerns. This writer has taken 23 and Me, Ancestry, FTDNA, MyHeritage, and has taken the Korean Missing Persons DNA Test at a Police Station in Korea. 

Our philosophy on DNA testing is: IF we had any other viable option for finding birth family / blood relatives, we would NOT take DNA tests. However, given that this writer - like many Korean Adoptees - has NO possibility of finding birth family through the adoption paperwork route (which we call the paper trail of tears), we made the decision several years ago to take the risk of taking ALL possible DNA tests. As a result, we have enjoyed meeting many DNA relatives around the world. 

DNA testing is a matter of perspective - many Korean Adoptees are unfortunately hugely disappointed if they do not immediately find birth parent/s through DNA testing. This possibility of finding direct birth parents through commercial US DNA testing is low, considering that DNA testing is not nearly as popular in Korea as it is in the US and in parts of the West. However, Korean Adoptees have a 100% possibility of finding at least SOME blood relatives through DNA testing. DNA Testing is a LONG GAME - you will get MANY MORE matches over time. If you are patient, you may be rewarded with a closer match. We strongly recommend that Korean Adoptees DO NOT mention that they are Adopted in their DNA profile, and that they not immediately mention that they are Adopted to any DNA relatives to whom they reach out. Telling a DNA relative (no matter how distantly related) that you are an Adoptee before a relationship of trust has been established can easily scare off the DNA relative.  

Because so much Korean Adoptee adoption paperwork is falsified, we cannot more strongly recommend that any Korean Adoptees with an interest in birth family search take ALL possible DNA tests. 

Previously, the workflow for DNA testing we have recommended has been:

• Take *23 and Me and Ancestry first, then transfer raw data for FREE from Ancestry to FTDNA (the test which has been distributed for years by 325Kamra) and MyHeritage. You can also choose to transfer your raw data to GEDMatch. 

• *Please Note: 23 and Me is in DEEP financial trouble. Please read articles online regarding its status as a company. Unfortunately, 23 and Me has the MOST Korean DNA in its database. This writer has over 900 relative matches on 23 and Me. If 23 and Me closes as a company, this is a HUGE tragedy for Korean Adoptees. We recommend that if you currently have your data on 23 and Me, that you download your raw data and store it digitially somewhere safe. 

• Our current DNA Advice: Take Ancestry first, then transfer raw data for FREE from Ancestry to FTDNA (the test which has been distributed for years by 325Kamra) and MyHeritage. You can also choose to transfer your raw data to GEDMatch. 

• *If you are comfortable taking the risk of taking 23 and Me, we recommend doing so - as this test contains the MOST Korean DNA of all the major US DNA databases. You could potentially miss out on your closest matches if you do not take this test before the company closes. Having said that, you should read about the risks about what may happen to your DNA data should 23 and Me close. 

• Please see this page for more information about DNA Testing:
  DNA Testing

4. Connect with the community 

There are many ways to connect with the community:

• Online Facebook groups - just search for “Korean Adoptee” or “Korean Adoption” on Facebook and you will find many.

• Local and International Korean Adoptee Groups 

• Online and in person support groups 

5. Visit Korea

• We think it’s important for Korean Adoptees who have never been to Korea before to visit at least once (if possible) as an adult. There is much more to being a Korean Adoptee than birth family search.

• There are several Korean Adoptee birth family search tours.

  • Mosaic Tour

  • GOAL’s First Trip Home / Sotdae

  • Etc.

• Countless Korean Adoptees have also visited Korea without a tour.

• We hope that you are able to visit Korea at least once as an adult. It’s an important and life changing rite of passage.
  
  
  
  

The Many Challenges + Obstacles of Birth Family Search:

Not to completely discourage you from starting down the road of a birth family search, but the road is long and not easy. There are many barriers to birth family search in Korea and in the Western countries of adoption which Korean Adoptees commonly face. Having said that, everyone’s case is different, and some may find the road easier than others. Please read below if you wish to know more about some of the common barriers to birth family search for Korean Adoptees:

Barriers To Birth Family Search In Korea and In The Western Countries of Adoption.

Perserverence Is Key.

Birth family search is not easy. Any Korean Adoptee who starts down the road of birth family search expecting it to be easy may too easily quit when the going gets rough. It’s best to expect challenges, so that you can try to be strong enough to overcome them. Birth family search often takes creativity, grit, and perserverence.

Even those who successfully find and reconnect with birth family face a long and difficult road ahead which is not all “sunshine, butterflies and roses”. Do we discourage you from taking the first steps of birth family search? Absolutely not - we think that everyone with an interest in birth family search should try - but should go into the process armed with some information that will make the going less rough. Whether or not one chooses to initiate a birth family search is entirely up to the individual Korean Adoptee. We know that many - certainly not all - Adoptees have a deep longing to know who they are and where they come from. This inherent human need is called Right To Origin - a right which Korean Adoptees are frequently denied, not only in Korea, but in their Western countries of adoption.

We hope that you will connect with the broader worldwide Korean Adoptee community, should you choose to undertake a birth family search.

And we hope that the FREE resources which we have provided here - while certainly NOT comprehensive of the entire birth family search process - are at least enough to get those who are new (or returning) to birth family search, started.

Further Resources:

For KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees ONLY:
Step by Step Korea Social Service (KSS) Birth Family Search

For ALL Korean Adoptees (INCLUDING KSS / Korea Social Service Adotpees):
Links To Information Relevant To ALL Korean Adoptees

*Please be sure to visit the “IMPORTANT NEWS” Dropdown on Paperslip’s home page, in order to keep up with fast changing events in the world of Korean Adoptees. The most recent news appears at the top.