Note:

*While this website is mostly geared toward Adoptees who were adopted through the Korean Adoption Agency Korea Social Service (KSS), there is also information here which is relevant to ALL Korean Adoptees, regardless of their Korean Adoption Agency. Please read carefully to note what info. is purely relevant to KSS Adoptees and what is generally relevant to ALL Korean Adoptees.

Pro-Active Birth Family Search Tips for KSS (Korea Social Service) and ALL Korean Adoptees.


Birth Family Search can often feel overwhelming, and it can often feel as though we have to ask everyone else for help and that we are powerless.

However, there are steps which you can pro-actively take in order to further your own birth family search.

Tip 1: NEW! How To Use Your Original Korean Passport or Travel Certificate Number For Birth Family Search.

Published September 1st, 2024:

We recently learned that the original Korean Passport / Travel Certificate Numbers of Korean Adoptees are tied to specific documents which can be obtained through a Gucheong Center (구청) OR through a Korean Consulate in your Western country of adoption.

A Gucheong Center (구청) is a higher up government office than a Jumin Center (주민).

Please see this NEW page for more information:

NEW! How To Use Your Original Korean Passport or Travel Certificate Number For Birth Family Search:
https://www.paperslip.org/new-how-to-use-your-original-korean-passport-or-travel-certificate-number-for-birth-family-search

Tip 1A: When In Korea, Be Sure To Visit Local Jumin /Community Centers (주민센터) Close To Your City / Area of Birth and Ask For Your Family Registry (호적).

It is possible that you had a REAL Korean name and that your Korean birth parents put you on their family registry.

Many Korean Adoptees assume that their Korean name was made up by their Korean Adoption Agency. However, it is possible that you had a REAL Korean name and that your Korean birth parents put you on their family registry. The only way to find out is to take your adoption file and visit local community centers (주민센터) close to your city / area of birth and ask for your family registry (호적), based on the Korean name in your adoption file.

The Korean Adoption Agencies had to make us legally adoptable (which is why so many of us were told in our English adoption paperwork that we were “abandoned” with “unknown birth parents”, so that we could match the Western definition of an “orphan”) - even (or especially) if the Korean Adoption Agency had all of our birth parents’ information. Children could not be sent overseas for adoption unless they were considered legally "orphans" and that is why our 호적 (family registry) is often blank when it comes to our birth parents - or it often has our own, sometimes made up name placed as the head of our own family household (an absurdity only found in the orphan hojuks of Korean Adoptees, and never in normal family hojuks). Thus, in our adoption files it says we were left or found somewhere (that we were abandoned) - this was very often false information. The difficult part is that it is often impossible to know what is true or false in individual Adoptees’ cases - some of the stories told to Adoptees in their English adoption documents were real, but it is hard to know for sure without actually finding a birth parent to confirm the stories. Therefore, Adoptees who may think that they were “abandoned” based on the false orphanization information in their English adoption paperwork, may not have in reality have been truly abandoned. For example, children before the 1980's could have gotten lost at a market or anywhere else, and not have been able to find their parents. Police often simply took lost children to orphanages or Adoption Agencies shortly after finding them or picking them up. Such children would not have been really abandoned - they were lost, and their parents may have previously registered them in the family registry.

Other children who were listed as supposedly “abandoned” in their English adoption paperwork may actually have been relinquished by Korean birth parents (or extended birth family members), and there is a possibility that these children may also have been registered in the family registry with their real Korean name.

It’s possible (though certainly not guaranteed) in any anyone’s case that supposedly “abandoned” Adoptees may actually have been processed by an Adoption Agency with their REAL Korean name, and that these Adoptees may be able to locate themselves on their Korean birth parent’s registry - which would therefore yield the birth parent’s name.

This is why we suggest to all Adoptees who are searching, to take their adoption file to the 주민센터 (Community center) especially if there's a city in your file, and ask for your 호적 (family registry). If they produce the one from your adoption file, ask them if you're on anyone else's. If by chance your birth parents registered you, then you would have their information. The chances are probably better for anyone who is older, but definitely do this if you have not already done so.

In Korean Adoption Agency file reviews, you can catch them in the lies pretty easily, if you just look at the paperwork. One Adoptee’s file said that the Adoption Agency had given the Adoptee (made up) their name, yet the Adoptee was found by the police. When the social worker was asked to produce the police report, it listed the Adoptee’s name which supposedly the Adoption Agency had given to the Adoptee. When the social worker was asked how the police report could have used the Adoptee’s name if the Adoptee had not yet been turned over to the Adoption Agency, the case worker had to actually leave the room, and then later came back with a story that the report was made after the Adoptee was brought to the Adoption Agency. It is suspected that the case worker had to talk to someone, and that they came up with that the story to cover up the likelihood that the Adoptee had a real name.

Please note that only the Adoptee can conduct such a search - the Adoptee must go in person with their adoption file to local community centers (주민센터) close to their city / area of birth and ask for their family registry (호적). No one can do this on the Adoptee’s behalf. We highly recommend that you take a translator.

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To explain this another way:

If you were a lost child, maybe your birth father and / or birth mother registered you with your real Korean name on the family registry (maybe your Korean name is REAL).

For children who were lost / found by police who very often took the children directly to orphanages / Adoption Agencies, sometimes the orphanages / Adoption Agencies used the real Korean name of the child throughout the child’s English adoption paperwork.


It's a long shot, but you basically go to the community center 주민센터 near the area you were born / found and take your adoption file and ask if you are on any family registry.

To find a community center 주민센터 on Google Maps:
On Google maps you can just type the address of the area where you were born / found, and in the "nearby" field on Google maps, just enter this: 주민센터

As an example, let’s say that you were born here - then type 주민센터 into the “Nearby” field on Google Maps to find these nearby community centers 주민센터. A bunch of nearby community centers 주민센터 will pop up. Be sure to visit more than one community center 주민센터 if you are unsuccessful initially.

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Please Note: Due to the common practice of Orphanization (inclusion of false information in the Adoptee’s English adoption paperwork which said that the child was “abandoned”) it is often hard to know whether or not a child was lost or relinquished by birth parents. For this reason, we highly recommend that any Korean Adoptee follow our advice above, as the Adoptee may not know that she or he was lost (and not actually “abandoned”) in the first place.

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Note: the following information is from the AI platform ChatGPT, which can get some things wrong for sure when querying it - however it can be helpful overall in getting the gist of some things we don't understand since we don't speak Korean.

For example, we just queried:

What is a 주민센터 (Jumin Center)?

ChatGPT:

A "주민센터" (Jumin Center) is a term used in South Korea, referring to a local administrative office or community service center. These centers serve as a vital part of the local government infrastructure and provide various services to residents within a specific jurisdiction or neighborhood.

The primary function of a 주민센터 is to provide administrative and civil services at the grassroots level. These centers offer a wide range of services, including:

1. Resident registration: Handling matters related to resident registration, such as issuing identification cards, registering births, deaths, marriages, and handling changes of address.

2. Public services: Providing information and assistance regarding public welfare, social security benefits, and local government programs. This includes assistance with applications for government subsidies or benefits.

3. Civil affairs: Addressing civil matters such as notarizations, certifications, and issuing various certificates, including family relations certificates, resident certificates, and more.

4. Community engagement: Facilitating community activities, promoting local events, and supporting neighborhood associations. 주민센터 often organize community meetings and gatherings to foster interaction and engagement among residents.

5. Public inquiries: Acting as a local point of contact for residents to inquire about local regulations, government services, and addressing complaints or concerns.

The specific services and functions of a 주민센터 can vary slightly between different regions or local governments.

These centers aim to enhance community welfare, provide convenient access to administrative services, and ensure effective communication between residents and local authorities.

Tip 1B: Make Business Cards Before Your Trip To Korea. Download KakaoTalk, the Papago / Naver Translator App, and the KakaoT App to hail taxis. Get A Trazy Sim Card. Bring Plug Converters and Portable Rechargers.

Everyone in Korea uses business cards to exchange information. It is extremely helpful to make / print business cards prior to your trip to take with you to Korea.

Everyone in Korea uses KakaoTalk to communicate. This is the messenger app that is preferred in Korea. You will want to download this app to your phone.

We recommend using the Papago / Naver translator app, which you can download to your phone and also access online: https://papago.naver.com/
You can use this for very basic voice translation (it’s not that accurate, but can help for basic situations) - just be sure to switch on the “Honorific” setting so you don’t insult anyone!

We recommend using the KakaoT Taxi App, to hail taxis in Korea. This is much more reliable than hailing a cab on the street. You are also less likely to be overcharged this way.

In advance of your trip to Korea, we recommend ordering a Trazy Sim Card. They appear to ship most places internationally. The advantage of a Trazy Sim card over a WiFi egg or international roaming plan through your cell phone carrier is that having a Trazy Sim card for Korea will give you a Korean phone number. Having this can be incredibly helpful for many reasons when you are in Korea doing Birth Family Search.

Bring several Plug Converters and Portable Rechargers. There are many situations where you will be out in the wilds of Korea and unable to easily recharge your phone. Your phone is your life, so bring plug converters and portable rechargers everywhere.

Tip 1C: Record Any Important Conversations Regarding Your Birth Family Search.

Things happen at a million miles per hour in Korea, and you will not always be able to get things reliably or patiently translated. Be sure to record on your phone or other device any important conversations which may happen (of course with permission) regarding your Birth Family Search, so that if you miss something important, you can get it translated later.

Tip 1D: Create a Public Facebook and / or Instagram Page and / or Website / Blog For Your Personal Birth Family Search in English and Korean.

You can create a public Facebook and / or Instagram and / or Website or Blog page for your personal Birth Family Search in English and Korean. Of course, you would have to get your text translated from English (or Dutch, Danish, or Swiss, or other native language) to Korean. But it’s entirely possible to find Korean translators in your area if you do some searching online.

Check out a good example of a public Facebook post, created for a (non-KSS) Korean Adoptee by GOAL, here. (Shared with permission by the Adoptee). Learn more about GOAL here.

Check out a good example of an article published by NCRC about the same (non-KSS) Korean Adoptee here. Please note that the Korean Adoptee chose to write most of the article herself and had it translated into Korean, before submitting her story to NCRC. However, NCRC will translate your letter for you (from English to Korean). Please note that prior to using NCRC for Birth Family Search, you must exhaust all possibilities through KSS (or your relevant Korean Adoption Agency) FIRST. There are forms to complete for this process through NCRC, which you will need to request from them. According to the Adoptee: ”I just emailed NCRC as I read a posting online that said they would publish an article, print the health bill, and make a video.” “It took a few months for them (NCRC) to reply.” (Shared with permission by the Adoptee).

If you would like to know some tips for making a Birth Family Search video in Korean, please reach out to the (non-KSS) Adoptee above directly.

Check out another example of a (non-KSS) Adoptee’s birth family search website (shared with permission by the Adoptee).

Here are examples of what this Adoptee did to further his birth family search in Korea. (Shared with permission by the Adoptee).

What we recommend including:

Your search information in both English and Korean.

Photos of you from different angles at various ages - we recommend that you add watermarks to your photos:

  • Baby

  • Pre-Teen

  • Teenager

  • Adult

Your story.

  • Be as specific as you can, based on what you know. Please note that if you have not initiated a Birth Family Search through KSS (or your relevant Korean Adoption Agency), then you should be aware that it’s possible that the biographical information / social welfare history provided to your adoptive parents prior to your adoption may contain inaccuracies or be patently false. Please be sure to read about Orphanization here. If you are a KSS Adoptee, and you have not initiated a Birth Family Search, we highly recommend you read about starting a Birth Family Search through KSS here. KSS often has more truthful information at its one remaining Post Adoption Services building in Seoul. (If you are a Korean Adoptee adopted through another Korean adoption agency, such as Holt, ESWS, or SWS / now KWS, you should initiate a birth family search through your relevant Korean adoption agency). If you are a US Korean Adoptee and do not know what your Korean or US adoption agency was, you can file a FOIA request.

  • Provide a clear way to contact you. We recommend setting up a Gmail account which you only use for birth family search which forwards to your real email account. There’s nothing more frustrating in searching for a person than not being able to contact them. However you want to protect your own privacy.

  • Please note that most Korean adoption agencies such as KSS will only provide Korean Adoptees with information in phonetically spelled English. (For example: 이씨 산부인과 becomes issi sanbuingwa or rie sanbuingwa byongwonimnida - the English spelling is basically useless for search purposes, because guess what - Koreans search in Korean!) This makes finding people and places deliberately difficult. Native Koreans are not going to search for Korean names spelled phonetically in English. If you are a KSS Adoptee, this is why you should request your Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary. Learn how to request the Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary here.

  • The vast majority of Korean Adoptees seeking to find birth family in Korea will not know specific names or birthdates of her or his Korean birth relatives.


What we recommend NOT including:

DO NOT include sensitive information such as:

  • Exact birthdate

    • This is not only for privacy purposes, but also because Koreans use a different calendar system than in the US or Europe. It’s probably better to mention the season and year in which you were born - such as Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall (of the specific year in which you were born).

    • Koreans are also not as specific about exact birthdates as are those in the West. Many birthparents may not know your exact birthdate anyway - this relates to poverty, as in the past, Koreans who made it to one year were specifically celebrated because they had survived that long.

  • For US Adoptees: Alien Number (A-Number) - as this is still an active number.

  • Travel Certificate or Passport Number (even if it is your Korean exit visa from when you first left Korea for the West to be adopted).

  • Your real email or address.

  • Any other information which you feel uncomfortable sharing publicly online.

A Great Example of a (Non-KSS) Korean Adoptee Using Media For Birth Family Search.

A great example of a (non-KSS) Korean Adoptee using media for her birth family search is: 김영희, who was adopted through SWS (now KWS).

Website: https://www.umma4usa.com 나의 웹 사이트

YouTube videos: 내 YouTube 비디오보기 - Please like and subscribe!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJtHPik6Wmu1mFX4NVdY5Iw

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/umma4usa 페이스북에 가입하셔서 저를 찾아주시기 바랍니다. 제 페이스북 계정 주소입니다

Twitter account: https://twitter.com/umma4usa 트위터에서 저를 찾아주시기 바랍니다. 제 트위터 계정 주소입니다

Email: umma4usa@gmail.com 이메일 주소

KakaoTalk: umma4usa 카톡

Instagram: umma4usa

Tip 2A: If You Have Birth Parent Names, When In Korea, Ask City Halls and / or Police To Help You Find Birth Parents.

Particularly if you are from a smaller area outside of Seoul, you may have success using this method. We recommend you always take a translator as things can happen fast in Korea, and you want to be able to know what is going on.

Tip 2B: If You Know The Area Where You Were Born / Found, But Not A Specific Address - When In Korea, Ask City Halls To Help You Find These Locations or Former Locations.

Regarding visiting city halls to locate the sites of (either closed or open) orphanages, midwife / birth clinics, hospitals, churches, etc:

Please NOTE: The language below is tailored toward KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees but that this advice applies generally to all Korean Adoptees, regardless of their Korean Adoption Agency:

For those KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees who do not have any birth parent information in their Korean or English Adoptive Child Study Summaries, it is still very much worth it to have the Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary translated, as often times there is a mention of a place name regarding where you were born and / or found. While this is not always the case, any time you have the opportunity to gain new insight into your origin is an opportunity worth taking.

*Please be sure to carefully check your Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary, as redactions are white on white and extremely difficult to see. For this reason, we highly recommend you email us your Korean Adoptive Study Summary upon receiving it (do not send us your passport or drivers license) as often we can detect redactions which you may miss. You can email us at: paperslipadoptee@gmail.com

You should bear in mind that the place names mentioned in your usually more accurate Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary may be different than the place names in your English adoption paperwork. For this reason, translation of your Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary is very important. The vast majority of Korean Adoptees will either experience great difficulty in finding birth family, or may never do so. However, it can be very meaningful to physically visit the places where you were born / found if known. Or even just to visit Korea generally, as it has become an amazing place. For those who have place names mentioned in their Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary, and who are able to visit Korea, we recommend trying to find the general area online and then, if you are unable to pinpoint the exact address of a hospital, midwife clinic, birth clinic, orphanage, church, etc., to go to a local city hall in the area where you were born / found to ask if they can locate the site you are looking for.

City hall officials are often extremely helpful . You will most likely need a translator if you go to a city hall to seek help. You can locate your general area of being born / found on Google maps and literally type in "city hall" in the space for nearby locations. Try going to different city halls if possible if you don't have luck with the first one you visit. For example, let's say that you were born in the city of Daegu. Here are local city halls near Daegu.

Of course, the more specific location info you have, the better, but you have to work with what you know. You can also hire a Korean translator to call city halls in the area where you were born / found on your behalf, or if you know a Korean translator then you can work with them. For any KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees ONLY starting out in their birth family search, we recommend starting here:

Step By Step KSS Birth Family Search

Tip 3: Each Time You Visit Korea, Take A US Commercial DNA Test or Two - Such as 23 and Me, Ancestry, My Heritage, or FTDNA.

Things happen fast in Korea, and you never know what may happen when you are engaged with Birth Family Search. If you end up not using the DNA test on a potential birth family member in Korea, you can simply donate your unused DNA test kit to 325Kamra in Seoul before you leave Korea.

We cannot recommend more that you do your own DNA test on a potential birth family member (with their permission of course) AFTER any required test performed by an Adoption Agency or by NCRC.

Too many Korean Adoptees have ended up being put into false reunion by their Korean Adoption Agencies. DNA testing is the only truth.

Tip 4: Take Korean Birth Family Search Fliers To Elderly Community Centers / Senior Centers (노인정) or (경로당) In The Area Where You Were Born or Found.

The thing about Korea is, a lot of times, birth parents don’t move from the original location or area where they were living when they gave birth to you. While this is not always true, it has been found to be true in many cases. So one tactic which Korean Adoptees have tried is to create their own Birth Family Search fliers and to visit in person (with a translator) Elderly Community Centers 노인정 in the area where she or he was born or supposedly found. Note that Korea uses A4 size paper.

We recommend you try using Canva to make a flier:

https://www.canva.com/create/flyers/

You can create and photocopy a flier with photos of you as a baby, teen, and adult, along with basic written (in Korean) facts such as: season and year in which you were born, and anything else which you know about yourself (such as whether or not you remember having birth relatives such as birth parent/s, sister/s, brother/s, grandmother/s, aunt/s uncle/s) etc. You can include your Korean orphan name, though bear in mind that this might have been made up by your adoption agency. You should also include a KakaoTalk number to contact, and an email address and / or phone number to contact. If you prefer you can create a specific Gmail address (which you only use for birth family search) which you set up to forward to your real email address.

To see examples of birth family search fliers, please click here.

Important Update: It’s worth noting that making such a flier for your birth family search can be useful in another important way: once you make a flier, you can post this to Korean Adoption forums, which will effectively advertise to other Korean Adoptees that you are doing an active birth family search in Korea. Other Korean Adoptees may reach out to you to help you in your birth family search as a result of your posting your flier online.

Below: Example of a KSS Adoptee Birth Family Search Flier.

To view social media search pages / fliers for KSS Adoptees, please see:

KSS Adoptees Seeking Birth Family: Media Links

Tip 5: Search the KAS (former NCRC) website using Google.

Did you know that you can use Google to more efficiently search ANY website, including the KAS (former NCRC) site? Take any website URL, remove the "http://www." and enter the remaining URL. For example, let's say you want to search the KAS site, whose full URL is:

https://www.kadoption.or.kr/

Let's say you are searching for information on KSS or for a KSS adoptee: Go to Google, and enter: site:kadoption.or.kr + kss

To get this result.


You can substitute any search term for "kss". Use quotes "" to search for an exact term such as:

site:kadoption.or.kr + "nam kwang orphanage"

To get this result.

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Think about using this search tip in the context of these KAS available pages:

For Adoptee Searching for Birth Family

https://kadoption.or.kr/en/board/board_list.jsp?bcode=42_2

Searching for Adoptees

https://kadoption.or.kr/en/board/board_list.jsp?bcode=42_1

This Google search tip is also mentioned elseshere on Paperslip here:

https://www.paperslip.org/finding-known-maternity-birth-medical-clinics-hospitals

Tip 6: When In Korea, Call Or Visit NCRC and / or GOAL.

Both NCRC and GOAL may be more responsive to you when you are physically in Korea. For this reason, we highly recommend that when you are in Korea, to have a translator contact NCRC on your behalf if you have previously initiated a Birth Family Search with NCRC. We most highly recommend setting up an in-person appointment with NCRC via email. We have found that most of what happens in birth family search only happens when we are physically in Korea. You can find NCRC’s contact information here:

How To Use NCRC For Birth Family Search

We also highly recommend contacting GOAL in advance of your trip, and letting them know when you will be in Korea. To utilize their Birth Family Services, you will need to pay a small fee.