IMPORTANT Information For KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees With Interest In Birth Family Search After July 19th, 2025.
Posted to Paperslip on May 25th, 2025.
With subsequent updates.
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Please note that some information on this page is broadly applicable to ALL Korean Adoptees. However, please carefully note that which information is SPECIFIC to KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees ONLY.
Thank you!
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A reminder that KSS (Korea Social Service) was the SMALLEST of the 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies. KSS ONLY adopted to the US, Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland between 1964-2012. If you were adopted to ANY other country, you are NOT a KSS Adoptee.
KSS partnered with a specific list of Partner Western Adoption Agencies.
*Please note that in some cases, KSS’ Partner Western Adoption Agencies may have themselves partnered with subsidiary adoption agencies in the US or Europe, not all of which are known to us. If you are not sure if you are a KSS Adoptee, please email us at paperslipadoptee@gmail.com — we can try to help you figure it out.
Please note that KOREAN Adoption Agencies almost always partnered with a corresponding WESTERN (US, European, Canadian, or Australian) Adoption Agency.
If you do NOT know the name of your KOREAN Adoption Agency, but you DO know the name of your WESTERN (US, European, Canadian, or Australian) Adoption Agency, you can often figure out your KOREAN Adoption Agency name by looking at the PDF below, which shows the correspondence between the 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies and their Western Partner Adoption Agencies:
Tracing Your Origin (PDF)
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The 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies designated by the Korean Government to process international adoptions *since 1976 are below.
*Please note that ALL of these Korean Adoption Agencies pre-existed prior to 1976:
-Holt Korea
-Eastern Social Welfare Society (ESWS) - formerly Eastern Child Welfare Society (ECWS)
-Korea Welfare Society (KWS) / formerly Social Welfare Society (SWS)
-Korea Social Services (KSS) — Founded in 1964
Please Note:
*KWS (Korea Welfare Society) is NOT the same as KSS (Korea Social Service). KWS and KSS are also NOT the same as KAS (Korean Adoption Services, a Korean Government Agency)! It’s acronym salad, we know!
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Update — June 29th, 2025:
KSS Adoptees Please See:
NEW! Step By Step KSS Adoptee Birth Family Search
*Please be sure to read about ADOPTION CERTIFICATES on the page above. This is especially important to read about IF you plan to visit Korea AFTER June 15th, 2025!
Also be sure to check out the DROPDOWN MENU titled “KSS Birth Family Search” on Paperslip’s home page for other relevant pages.
*Please note that some of the information on the pages above can be broadly applied to ALL Korean Adoptees. Please note carefully which information is ONLY relevant to KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees — and which information is relevant to ALL Korean Adoptees.
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Update — June 15th, 2025:
For the most relevant pages related to the future of birth family search AFTER July 19th, 2025, please see the DROPDOWN MENU on Paperslip’s homepage titled:
”AFTER July 19th, 2025, ALL Birth Family Search Requests Must Be Processed Through NCRC/KAS”:
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For KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees who have an interest in birth family search after July 19th, 2025, please know that the landscape of birth family search has radically changed!
If you are a KSS Adoptee, please read this page VERY CAREFULLY.
We do not have the time to explain this one-on-one outside of the context of a paid Zoom session, so we strongly recommend that you READ this page COMPLETELY AND CAREFULLY so that you understand what is going on.
KSS Adoptees who have questions AFTER reading this page CAREFULLY may contact us at: paperslipadoptee@gmail.com
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IMPORTANT UPDATE — June 15th, 2025 — A Letter From Paperslip.org To KSS Adoptees:
Dear KSS Adoptees:
Unfortunately it is now TOO LATE to request a birth family search and your formerly secret “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary” directly from KSS (Korea Social Service) in Seoul. KSS is your Korean Adoption Agency. Since 1964 KSS has been located in Seoul.
Please read below about the future of birth family search through NCRC via the KAS website.
KSS will likely permanently close sometime after July 19th, 2025 — though they have stated that they will remain open for an unspecified period of time.
However KSS will no longer accept any new requests for a birth family search or for the “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” or other documents AFTER June 15th, 2025.
Between 1964-2012, KSS partnered with a list of Western Partner Adoption Agencies in the US, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Denmark ONLY. *Please note that if you were adopted to ANY other country, you are NOT a KSS Adoptee.
After June 15th, 2025, you will NO LONGER be able to submit any birth family search requests to KSS. ALL KSS files will be transferred to the Korean Government Agency NCRC (National Center for the Rights of the Child) beginning on July 19th, 2025.
Starting September 16th, 2025, ALL Korean Adoptees (including KSS Adoptees) can submit a request for a birth family search through NCRC via the KAS website (see more info. below).
VERY IMPORTANT:
*IF you already have birth parent information in the adoption documents already in your possession, we strongly recommend that you make CLEAR SCANS of these documents in PDF format and SUBMIT THESE DOCUMENTS TO NCRC via the KAS website when you make a birth family search request (Petition for Adoption Information Disclosure).
This is because we predict that the transfer of ALL Korean Adoption Agency files to NCRC starting July 19th, 2025 will be a mess. Please do NOT assume that NCRC will immediately be able to locate your KSS adoption documents. NCRC’s birth family search process is not transparent to Adoptees, so Adoptees will not even know on which documents NCRC is conducting a search. IF you already have birth parent information in your adoption documents in your possession, do yourself a favor and submit these documents to NCRC via the KAS website at the time at which you submit your birth family search request (Petition for Adoption Information Disclosure)!
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From 2021-2025, Paperslip has advised KSS Adoptees about how to request and obtain a formerly secret KSS specific document called the “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary” from KSS.
Examples of the KSS specific document, the “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary” (a formerly secret document which NCRC has said it will continue to provide for KSS Adoptees after the file transfer) are here:
Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary Examples and Translation Keys
Please note that NCRC has said to us directly that KSS Adoptees will be able to get the Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary in the future from NCRC / KAS. However given the fact that the file transfer will likely have a lot of associated issues, we cannot know how likely it will be that KSS Adoptees can get information from NCRC / KAS in the future. We can only hope for the best, while preparing for the worst by advising KSS Adoptees to back up in multiple formats (digital / printed copies) ALL adoption documents currently in their possession!
Examples of the “ENGLISH Adoptive Child Study Summary” which was provided to your adoptive parents at the time of your adoption are below - please note that if you were adopted to Europe (Netherland, Denmark, or Switzerland) your document may have a different title:
English Adoptive Child Study Summary Examples
If you have ANY adoption documents already in your possession, please be sure to safely BACK THEM UP / MAKE COPIES!!! This is especially important if you have birth parent information in any of your adoption documents! We strongly advise that you submit PDF COPIES of any adoption documents you have which contain birth parent names to NCRC via the KAS website if you request a new birth family search after September 16th, 2025! This is because we cannot assume that the file transfer of ALL Korean Adoption Agency files to NCRC will go smoothly. It is now up to us to carefully preserve the adoption documents already in our possession — since, in the worst case scenario, it may be the case that you cannot get them again in the future!
The most likely documents to have birth parent information are the Korean and English Adoptive Child Study Summary documents (see examples above).
Please see this VERY IMPORTANT page:
Now More Than Ever, It’s Important To Safely Back Up Any Documents You Have Which Contain Birth Parent Information!
ALL Korean Adoption Agency files including those of KSS will transfer to the Korean Government Agency NCRC (National Center for the Rights of the Child) starting on July 19th, 2025.
ALL future birth family search requests and document requests will have to be submitted to NCRC through the KAS (Korean Adoption Services) website. NCRC and KAS are both Korean Government Agencies.
Please see:
Birth Family Search Requests Will Have To Be Submitted Through The KAS (Korea Adoption Services) Website After July 19th, 2025
You have to wait until after September 16th, 2025 to make a new birth family search through NCRC via the KAS website.
IMPORTANT NOTE: You are allowed to make ONE new birth family search request (Petition for Adoption Information Disclosure) through NCRC via the KAS website per year. Each birth family search attempt by NCRC entails their sending 3 registered letters to the last known address of any known birth parent/s. Privacy law is very strict in Korea, which is why Adoptees are only allowed to make ONE birth family search request per year through NCRC via the KAS website.
According to NCRC, the way that birth family search works is that NCRC works with local Jumin Centers to attempt to locate the last known address or contact information of any known birth parent/s. For more related information, please see:
June 2025 — Paperslip's Visit To NCRC To Ask Questions About The Upcoming File Transfer
If you plan to visit Korea for birth family search, we strongly recommend that you work with a Seoul based organization like GOAL. If you need DNA testing, reach out to 325Kamra, which has an office in Seoul. We do not personally endorse any other birth family search organization in Korea.
NCRC will NOT be accepting in person appointments or any emails between June 15th - September 16th, 2025.
Please see the DROPDOWN MENU on Paperslip’s homepage titled:
“AFTER July 19th, 2025, ALL Birth Family Search Requests Must Be Processed Through NCRC/KAS”
There are many IMPORTANT pages related to the NCRC file transfer and the future of birth family search under this DROPDOWN MENU. The most important pages are at the TOP.
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IF you plan to visit Korea for birth family search AFTER June 15th, 2025, be sure to contact KSS (or your relevant Korean Adoption Agency) NOW (BEFORE July 19th, 2025) for your Adoption Certificates. Please do NOT contact KSS if you are NOT a KSS Adoptee!
For more info about Adoption Certificates and about the file transfer to NCRC, please see:
June 2025 — Paperslip's Visit To NCRC To Ask Questions About The Upcoming File Transfer
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If you are a KSS Adoptee and if you are on Facebook, we highly recommend joining the private KSS Adoptee ONLY group KSS Cribmates which we moderate - this is the best way to keep up with all the changes going on:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1472813756273368
Please be sure to answer the membership questions!
If you are NOT a KSS Adoptee, you can find the links to the Facebook groups of your relevant Korean Adoption Agencies here:
Korean Adoptee Resources - MAIN
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If you are a KSS or non-KSS Adoptee who has deeper dive questions about your case, please note that we offer one hour individual Zoom sessions for $65:
Advisory Sessions
If you are a KSS Adoptee and have any questions please email us at paperslipadoptee@gmail.com
Please note that if you are NOT a KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptee, any questions will have to be answered in the context of a PAID Advisory Session. Please do not think of us as a 24 hour help desk for ALL Korean Adoptees. We primarily serve the KSS Adoptee community.
There are many Facebook groups where Korean Adoptees can connect. Please see:
Korean Adoptee Resources - MAIN
Thank you!
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We want to note that KSS never told anyone that June 15th, 2025 would be the last date that KSS Adoptees could submit a birth family search request to KSS directly. We only figured this out through word of mouth in the time period very close to the deadline. We have been predicting since over one year ago when we first learned that ALL Korean Adoption Agency files (including those of KSS) would be moving to the Korean Government Agency NCRC that KSS would likely NOT give KSS Adoptees any form of notice — and unfortunately, we were right. We have had to figure out through word of mouth when KSS’ last date for accepting new birth family search requests would be.
NCRC made an announcement on its website on June 13th KST (effectively on June 12th, US or European time), giving Adoptees practically ZERO notice about the June 15th, 2025 deadline.