NEW! Step By Step KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptee Birth Family Search.

Posted to Paperslip —June 29th, 2025.

If your native language is not English, we strongly recommend using ChatGPT to translate this page. Or, the page should automatically translate in your browser.

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Update — Please See The Newly Updated Related Page:

How To Use NCRC For Birth Family Search

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Please Note:
The 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies are:

-Holt Children’s Inc. in Korea (not to be confused with Holt International — the Western branch of Holt)
-Eastern Social Welfare Society (ESWS) / formerly Eastern Child Welfare Society (ECWS)
-Korea Welfare Society (KWS) / formerly Social Welfare Society (SWS)
-*Korea Social Service (KSS)

*KSS ONLY adopted to the US, Netherlands, Denmark and Switzlerland from 1964-2012 through a specific list of Partner Western Adoption Agencies. If you were adopted to ANY other country, you are NOT a KSS Adoptee!

This page is written with KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees primarily in mind. However, some of the information can be broadly adapted to apply to ALL Korean Adoptees. Please read carefully to note what information is related ONLY to KSS Adoptees, and what information is broadly applicable to ALL Korean Adoptees.

Please do NOT contact KSS if you are NOT a KSS Adoptee! KWS (Korea Welfare Society) is NOT the same Korean Adoption Agency as KSS (Korea Social Service)!

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PREFACE:

We know that birth family search can be confusing and overwhelming for many Korean Adoptees, who often refer to the beginning of the journey as “Opening Pandora’s Box”.

We recommend that you share this page with trusted loved ones if you feel comfortable asking others for help in going through this process. For most Korean Adoptees, this is an emotional journey that often requires support from loved ones and / or fellow Korean Adoptees. There are thousands of us connected through online communities and events around the world! There is no shortage of resources if you take the time to look for them. Please see the bottom of this section and the bottom of this page for a link to various Korean Adoptee resources.

We also offer paid one-on-one consultations for both KSS and non-KSS Adoptees with questions about the birth family search process. Please note that we do not do on-the-ground birth family search in Korea, but we can save you significant time, energy, and potentially thousands of dollars by helping you to understand the sequence of steps that you should undertake during a search. Many Korean Adoptees waste years of time or travel to Korea without much clue about how to conduct a search. We can help point you in the right direction so you do not waste time, money, and energy running in a circle without any clue — whether you travel to Korea or not.

We strongly suggest that you read this page in its entirety BEFORE taking ANY steps in the birth family search process.

KSS Adoptees with questions can reach out to us at paperslipadoptee@gmail.com

KSS Adoptees ONLY may join the private KSS Adoptee group: KSS Cribmates. Please be sure to answer the membership questions. If you are not sure if you are a KSS Adoptee, please email us.

Non-KSS Adoptees, please note that we only answer individual questions in the context of a paid Zoom consultation. Apologies, but due to our limited resources, we cannot be a 24 hour help desk for non-KSS Adoptees.

We strongly recommend that ALL Korean Adoptees join online Korean Adoptee communities for general questions and to connect with the Korean Adoptee community. Please see:

Korean Adoptee Resources - MAIN

Thank you!

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Update — July 9th, 2025:

NCRC Video: Notice on the Reform of the Adoption information Disclosure Petition System

Released by NCRC on July 8th, 2025 KST.
Posted to Paperslip on July 9th, 2025.

Please watch this new video below regarding the future of birth family search which was recently released by NCRC.

Please note that this is mainly a PR video and that it really remains to be seen how NCRC truly handles our records. However, at least it has information straight from the source — NCRC.

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IMPORTANT NOTICE:

AFTER June 15th, 2025, it is NO LONGER POSSIBLE to submit a birth family search request or request for adoption documents — including the formerly secret “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” (a document unique to KSS) — directly to KSS in Seoul, either in person or via email.

This is because ALL Korean Adoption Agency files — including KSS’ files — move to the Korean Government Agency NCRC (National Center for the Rights of the Child) starting on July 19th, 2025.

NCRC has told us twice directly that KSS Adoptees will still be provided with the “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary” if they submit a Petition for Adoption Information Disclosure (birth family search request) through NCRC via the KAS website after September 16th, 2025. However, it remains to be seen how reliably NCRC will be able to manage and locate KSS Adoptees’ files (or any Korean Adoptees’ files) following the start of the transfer on July 19th, 2025.

For questions about the historic transfer of ALL Korean Adoption Agency files — including KSS’ files — to NCRC starting on July 19th, 2025, please see:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Regarding KSS’ Post Adoption Services Building In Seoul:

We assume that KSS’ last remaining building — its Post Adoption building in Seoul — will permanently close sometime after July 19th, 2025. However, a KSS social worker has said that KSS will remain for an unspecified period of time in the same location. KSS Adoptees will no longer be able to review their adoption files at KSS after June 15th, 2025. However, contact KSS if you plan to be in Korea and wish to visit the office — we simply do not know however what KSS’ response may be to your request:

Contact + Appointment Info for KSS - Korea Social Service - Korean Adoption Agency

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IMPORTANT!!!

KSS Adoptees — Try To Locate Your ENGLISH “Adoptive Child Study Summary”! Please see:

English Adoptive Child Study Summary Examples

*Please note that if you were adopted to Europe, your document title may be something different. However, the document will look similar to the examples above.

You should try to locate and READ and BACK UP this document, as this document MAY contain birth parent information for some KSS Adoptees.

(However, for many KSS Adoptees, this document may say that you were found with a “paper-slip” or “memo” or at a “police station” — which is frequently false Orphanization information).

Due to the fact that the transfer of ALL Korean Adoption Agency files — including KSS’ files — to NCRC may take YEARS to sort out (and it may NEVER be sorted out) — we cannot more strongly recommend that you BACK UP in MULTIPLE FORMATS (print / digital) all of the adoption paperwork currently in your possession. This is especially important if any of your adoption paperwork — such as the English or Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary — contains birth parent name/s and birthdate/s, or other important background information about a maternity clinic or hospital!

You will be allowed to submit good quality scans (or photos) of your documents in PDF format to NCRC via the KAS website — which is the future of birth family search for ALL Korean Adoptees, including KSS Adoptees.

*Frankly, make sure that you are organized BEFORE you submit a birth family search request to NCRC via the KAS website, because there is a time limit on how long they will spend on your birth family search, and they are extremely short staffed!

Please note you can make ONE birth family search request PER YEAR.

IF your adoption documents contain birth parent information, we STRONGLY URGE you to submit scans of your adoption documents in PDF format to NCRC via the KAS website when you submit your Petition for Adoption Information Disclosure (birth family search request) via the KAS website. Of course, NEVER submit originals anywhere.

We urge you to take charge of your information in this way, because there is no guarantee that NCRC will be able to successfully locate your adoption file which was transferred from KSS during the file transfer process, (beginning July 19th, 2025).

Please See:

Now More Than Ever, Safely Back Up Any Documents You Have Which Contain Birth Parent Information!

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Regarding The Future Of Birth Family Search Through NCRC via the KAS Website — Starting September 16th, 2025:

KSS Adoptees — and ALL Korean Adoptees — must wait until September 16th, 2025 to submit a Petition for Adoption Information Disclosure (birth family search request) to NCRC via the KAS website.

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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After ALL Korean Adoption Agency files start to move to NCRC (National Center for the Rights of the Child) on July 19th, 2025, ALL Korean Adoptees with an interest in birth family search will have to submit a Petition for Adoption Information Disclosure (birth family search request) through the
KAS (Korea Adoption Services) website — linked below. New requests will not be accepted until September 16th, 2025.

However, please be sure to read this IMPORTANT page below BEFORE you submit your request to NCRC via the KAS website!

Reading and understanding the page below may save you YEARS of wasted time!

Now More Than Ever, Safely Back Up Any Documents You Have Which Contain Birth Parent Information!

KAS website — the portal for ALL future birth family search requests. Please note that we STRONGLY RECOMMEND submitting GOOD QUALITY PDF copies of ANY RELEVANT adoption documents you already have in your possession at the time that you submit your Petition for Adoption Information Disclosure (birth family search request) to NCRC via the KAS website:

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

Please note you can make ONE birth family search request PER YEAR.

Below:

NCRC’s Old Video for submitting a Petition for Adoption Information Disclosure (birth family search request) through the *now KAS website.

*Please note that KCARE is a former Korean Government Agency which preceded NCRC:

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URGENT Information For KSS Adoptees Who Plan To Visit Korea After June 15th, 2025 —
Regarding The Future of Requests For Adoption Certificates:

Please Note — You only need Adoption Certificate/s — which are not historical documents, but only documents which are used for modern day requests of varying types — for the following purposes:

-If you plan to apply for an F4 Visa or Dual Citizenship

-If you plan to visit Korea for on-the-ground birth family search, and plan to visit Jumin Centers, City Halls, or Police Stations

-If you plan to take the Korean Missing Persons / KNPA DNA test at a police station in Seoul

-If you plan to take the Korean Missing Persons / KNPA DNA test at a Korean consulate in your Western country of Adoption (this requires the NCRC Certificate from NCRC)

Please note that with the exception of the NCRC Certificate for the purpose of taking the Korean Missing Persons / KNPA DNA test at a Korean consulate in your Western country of Adoption, the OTHER types of Adoption Certificates typically expire after 3 months from their date of issue.

Please note that until July 19th, 2025, you can try to contact your Korean Adoption Agency for your Adoption Certificate/s. However, AFTER July 19th, 2025, the responsibility for issuing Adoption Certificate/s will transfer to NCRC. NCRC however has told us in person in June 2025 that they do not yet have protocol in place for handling Adoption Certifcate requests starting July 19th, 2025.

So…yeah. We highly recommend that you attempt to obtain your Adoption Certificate/s from your Korean Adoption Agency and / or NCRC prior to July 19th, 2025. Please note that sometimes you can get by without an Adoption Certificate. It just depends on the circumstances.

Apologies in advance — the information below is going to be CONFUSING. This is in large part because NCRC does not even know yet (as of June 15th, 2025) how it plans to handle future requests for Adoption Certificate/s. In the meantime, the time period between June 15th, 2025 - September 16th, 2025 (and through an unspecified end date) is an uncertain one for requesting the Adoption Certificate/s you need for on the ground search in Korea.

Please read below for more information about what Adoption Certificate/s are and what you may need them for. Read through this whole section for a general understanding, then read it again.

Technically you should still be allowed to request your Adoption Certificate/s from KSS between June 15th, 2025 - July 19th, 2025. However, KSS may need at least one week to get the Adoption Certificate/s to you — and they technically close on July 19th, 2025 — so the longer you wait to request your Adoption Certificate/s from KSS, the less likely it is that KSS will have time to respond to your request.

Please note — KSS never shares with Adoptees their exact timeline for things. So we are basically guessing at this timeline based on available information.

The information about Adoption Certificate/s below was originally posted here:

June 2025 — Paperslip's Visit To NCRC To Ask Questions About The Upcoming File Transfer

*Please note that the information below is generally applicable to ALL Korean Adoptees, but there is information which is SPECIFIC to ONLY KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees:

IF you are a KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptee and you plan to visit Korea AFTER June 15th, 2025 and you have an interest in birth family search, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you read about the section in the post below regarding ADOPTION CERTIFICATES:

According to NCRC:
NCRC DOES NOT YET KNOW how Adoptees will request adoption certificates AFTER July 19th, 2025.

So if you plan to visit Korea AFTER June 15th, 2025, then you should REQUEST YOUR ADOPTION CERTIFICATE FROM KSS (or your Korean Adoption Agency) NOW — BEFORE JULY 19th, 2025!

Please note - different Korean Adoption Agencies may have different types of adoption certificates.

*KSS Adoptees PLEASE NOTE: You will need to submit a copy of your CURRENT PASSPORT showing the photo page to KSS in order to receive your adoption certificate/s relating to use in Korea: such as the Standard Adoption Certificate and Adoption Certificate for DNA Testing. KSS has recently stated that they will not accept only a Drivers License for the purpose of requesting Adoption Certificate/s.

*However we do not know if the same is true for NCRC in requesting an NCRC Certificate for the purpose of taking the KNPA DNA Test at a Korean Consulate in your Western country of adoption.

Please note that we only have specific information regarding KSS’ (Korea Social Services’) Adoption Certificates available. If you do not know the specific adoption certificates available for your specific Korean Adoption Agency, then we recommend that you join Facebook groups for your specific Korean Adoption Agency. You can find links to these Facebook groups here. Learn how to identify your Korean Adoption Agency here.

INFORMATION FOR KSS (KOREA SOCIAL SERVICE) ADOPTEES ONLY:

KSS (Korea Social Service) seems to have 2 different Adoption Certificates:

1. Standard Adoption Certificate
We believe that the “Standard Adoption Certificate” can be used for birth family search requests made at Jumin Centers, City Halls, Police Stations, and for the F-4 or Dual Citizenship process — but to be honest, we are not totally sure. It is best to contact KSS by email PRIOR TO JULY 19th, 2025 to request your adoption certificate/s and to state the purpose/s of the adoption certificate/s you are requesting, and the dates that you will be in Korea. Please see our important note about adoption certificates only being good for 3 months below.

2. Adoption Certificate for DNA Testing (the KNPA Test) at a Korean Police Station in Korea - please note you must specify your dates of travel and the police station you are going to take the DNA test at. We recommend specifying JONGNO Police Station (in Seoul).

Please note that Adoption Certificate/s are only good for 3 months. However, we strongly recommend you request your Adoption Certificate from KSS (or your relevant Korean Adoption Agency) NOW even if you plan to visit Korea over 3 months from now - because there may be a GAP OF TIME between when you can get your adoption certificate from KSS, and when you can get it from NCRC!

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For KSS Adoptees: We recommend that you request your adoption certificates for BOTH DNA testing in Korea AND for Dual Citizenship — even if you do not plan to apply for dual citizenship. Hopefully this covers all of the bases for you in birth family search in Korea in terms of adoption certificates. Do what you need to do to get your adoption certificates for the dates that you will be in Korea.

Please note that a separate NCRC Certificate is required if you wish to take the KNPA Test at a Korean Consulate in your home country of adoption. We do not know if NCRC will continue to provide THIS specific kind of adoption certificate between July 19th, 2025 - mid September 2025. We think it is best to request this NCRC Certificate NOW — prior to July 19th, 2025 — if you plan to take the KNPA Test at a Korean Consulate in your home country after July 19th, 2025. Supposedly the NCRC Certificate has no 3 month limitation — supposedly this NCRC Certificate no longer expires.

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If you plan to visit Korea, and wish to visit NCRC, please note their NEW address (as of early 2025):

IMPORTANT! New Changes Coming To NCRC in 2025 - Including NEW Address!

Please note that NCRC will be closed between June 16th - September 16th, 2025. They will not accept in person requests or respond to emails during this time.

Please see:

NCRC Notice: Temporary Suspension of New Adoption Information Disclosure Requests and Related FAQs

Please note that NCRC workers can write emails in English — however if you plan to visit in person in Seoul, you may need to hire a translator to both make an appointment by phone with NCRC and to visit with you in person. Most NCRC workers do not speak English.

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Please See Other Relevant Links Under The DROPDOWN MENU On Paperslip’s Homepage Called “KSS Birth Family Search”.

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ALL Korean Adoption Agency Files Transferred To NCRC Starting On July 19th, 2025 Will Be Temporarily Stored In A Facility One Hour North Of Seoul — In Gyeonggi Province.

Please note: ALL of the adoption documents transferred from the Korean Adoption Agencies to NCRC starting July 19th, 2025 will be stored in a temporary storage facility ONE HOUR NORTH of Seoul:

“NCRC Secures Adoption Records Preservation Facility in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province”

As of June 2025, It is currently unclear if Adoptees will be allowed to visit this hard-to-reach facility for a file review in the future. NCRC told us in June 2025 that they have not decided yet about how this will be handled.

For more information, please see:

June 2025 — Paperslip's Visit To NCRC To Ask Questions About The Upcoming File Transfer

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Birth Family Search In Korea. We Recommend Working With GOAL.

If you plan to visit Korea for birth family search, we strongly recommend joining GOAL with an inexpensive one year membership. We have recently had a very good experience working with GOAL and think that they have good people on staff.

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However, we feel it is important to issue a caution regarding a separate Seoul-based organization called KoRoot, which, under the leadership of DKRG, has recently developed a troubling reputation. Reports indicate that KoRoot has solicited fees and personal documents from Adoptees, requested that Adoptees sign over Power of Attorney, and then ceased all communication without explanation — a practice commonly described as “ghosting.”

This writer has personally experienced similar treatment over the past three years from DKRG leadership, prior to their involvement with KoRoot. Although no fees were collected in my case, DKRG — specifically Peter Moeller — did collect my personal adoption documents and requested that I sign over legal representation to him after falsely representing himself as a lawyer. Unfortunately I naively did sign over legal representation to Peter Moeller, whom I did not know at the time had been written about in six articles in the Danish publication Politiken about his previous fraudulent activities in Denmark dating back to at least 2011.

To our knowledge, Peter Moeller has never been a licensed attorney. Since first becoming aware of him in 2022 through the present time (June 2025), we have found no public record confirming that he is, or has ever been, a lawyer, despite his repeated claims in international media from 2022 to at least 2025.

After I signed over legal representation based on this misrepresentation, DKRG permanently ended all contact with me, without providing any explanation. I have not received a single communication from them since December 7th, 2022, despite my repeated attempts at communication.

Peter Moeller later knowingly gave false credit for Paperslip’s KSS K-Number research to a Dutch DKRG supporter, who is a Dutch / Korean DoKAD (Descendant of a Korean Adoptee). It took over one year for this Dutch / Korean DoKAD to finally admit he had had nothing to do with our original research — which I had unfortunately shared with him in a private Zoom before DKRG even began.

Please note that DKRG / KoRoot’s Boonyoung Han — a Danish KSS Adoptee who directly witnessed my KSS K-Number research happening in real time, yet never tried to prevent her husband Peter Moeller from attempting to assign false credit for it — is the wife of Peter Moeller. Some consider that she is the one running the show, since she is the only one of the two who speaks Korean.

Unfortunately many others have been treated in the same way by DKRG / KoRoot — you can’t say we didn’t try to WARN you.

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Please Understand The Extraordinary Times In Which You Are Attempting To Conduct A Birth Family Search.

For those Korean Adoptees who wish to initiate a birth family search through NCRC via the KAS website starting September 16th, 2025, it is SO important to understand the extraordinary times in which you are embarking on your journey.

We hate to say it, but NCRC may never completely have the file transfer completely sorted out. The head of NCRC has previously stated privately that the file transfer could take 10 years to sort out. Unfortunately, NCRC previously did an abominable job of “preserving” orphanage records over 10 years of time.

We do not think that it does Adoptees any favor to sugar coat things — because of NCRC’s track record of past failures, we cannot more strongly recommend that you read and enact the advice from the page below, BEFORE you submit any requests to NCRC via the KAS website:

Now More Than Ever, Safely Back Up Any Documents You Have Which Contain Birth Parent Information!

We personally believe that because of the transfer of ALL Korean Adoption Agency files to NCRC starting July 19th, 2025, that taking ALL possible DNA Tests will become even more important for Korean Adoptees who are seeking to find any blood relatives.

This does NOT mean that you should not try a birth family search through NCRC via the KAS website — particularly IF you have adoption documents already that contain birth parent information, we STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you provide GOOD QUALITY SCANS of that information in PDF format to NCRC via the KAS website when you submit your Petition for Adoption Information Disclosure (birth family search request) to NCRC via the KAS website.

We also suggest you submit copies of your adoption documents this way EVEN IF YOU DO NOT have birth parent information in the adoption documents in your possession! You want to help yourself by helping NCRC to identify you. Please do NOT assume that NCRC will ever have the adoption file transfer completely sorted out at any near point in the future.

NCRC has previously told us that they will only have about 8 birth family search workers to serve the needs and requests of ALL Korean Adoptees around the world. This is not nearly enough!

Please organize yourself in advance of submitting your search requests to NCRC via the KAS website, and do not flood NCRC with questions — because this only backs up the line for EVERYONE. NCRC will only spend a limited time on each birth family search request, so please do yourself a favor and organize your documents BEFORE you submit a birth family search request!

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Please Understand That 2025-2026 (And Likely Many Years Following) Will Probably Be Very Chaotic For NCRC.

Please Know You Can Submit A New “Petition For Adoption Informaton Disclosure” (Birth Family Search Request) ONCE PER YEAR To NCRC Via The KAS Website.

We encourage Korean Adoptees who KNOW that there is birth parent information in their adoption file to submit a birth family search request ONCE PER YEAR to NCRC via the KAS website.

For a variety of reasons, birth family members may not come forward on a first try. And sadly, they may never come forward. Due to the lack of transparency in the NCRC birth family search process, you will have no way of knowing even if the right birth parent has been contacted or not by NCRC.

Unfortunately the only way to try to get anywhere is to keep resubmitting requests each year.

If you know that there is birth parent information in your file, you might try writing and having translated to polite Korean by a professional translator a more personal letter to your birth parent/s — and asking NCRC to send that to your birth parent/s. Sometimes this can help guilt-ridden birth parents to come forward.

We think you should know that because of all of the anticipated attendant problems with the transfer of ALL Korean Adoption Agency files to NCRC, NCRC may not be able to adequately do a proper birth family search for some Adoptees at a near point in the future — or in some cases, ever. We simply won’t know what is happening behind the scenes, unless we are given insider information.

It is for this reason that we so strongly encourage Korean Adoptees with an interest in birth family search to take ALL possible DNA tests.

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Contacting Or Visiting Your KSS “Feeder Orphanage” — Especially “Nam Kwang Orphanage” in Busan and “Star of The Sea” in Incheon.

Please know that some of KSS’ “Feeder Orphanages” — where many KSS Adoptees stayed prior to being transferred to KSS in Seoul — still exist, and may still have records about you.

We particularly recommend contacting Nam Kwang Orphanage in Busan and Star of the Sea Orphanage in Incheon, which both remain open for visitors — Nam Kwang may provide Adoptees with some background information. You do not have to fill out any form to request information from Nam Kwang. Please note that social workers from these orphanages can write an email in English, but few speak English in person. So if you plan to visit in person, you may need to hire a translator.

We know this is certainly true for Nam Kwang (that few social workers there speak English in perosn) — however, we have less familiarity with Star of the Sea.

Please see the page before for contact information:

Sources of KSS Orphans + Orphanage List

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DNA Testing:

If You Have Serious Interest In Birth Family Search, Please Take ALL Possible DNA Tests.

We recommend in the meantime that you use this time to take ALL possible DNA tests. Please see:

DNA Testing

Please be sure to read the section about Adoption Certificate/s above. You will need an Adoption Certificate to take the Korean Missing Persons / KNPA DNA test at a police station in Seoul, or the NCRC Certificate to take the same test at a Korean consulate in your Western country of adoption.

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KSS Adoptees ONLY are welcome to join the KSS Adoptee Facebook Group KSS Cribmates.

Please be sure to answer the membership questions! If you are not sure if you are a KSS Adoptee, please email us at paperslipadoptee@gmail.com

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If you are a KSS Adoptee who has questions about the birth family search process, please contact us at paperslipadoptee@gmail.com ONLY after you have read this page in its entirety.

We simply do not have the time to explain this page one-on-one for free if you have made no attempt to read it.

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We offer PAID Advisory Sessions for both KSS and non-KSS Adoptees for deeper dive questions (those which will take an hour for us to explain).

Please reach out to us at paperslipadoptee@gmail.com with specific questions.

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However, please DO NOT consider us a 24 hour help desk for non-KSS Adoptee questions. We recommend joining online Korean Adoptee forums to connect with the community and to ask general questions. Please see the section below for more info.

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For links to other Facebook groups for non-KSS Adoptees, and for links to various Korean Adoptee Facebook groups, please see:

Korean Adoptee Resources - MAIN

Thank you!