URGENT Info. for KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees

KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees with ANY interest in a birth family search should request a birth family search and their “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary” NOW - before the files are moved from KSS to NCRC in July 2025.
We strongly recommend that KSS Adoptees submit their OFFICIAL requests to KSS BY EARLY 2025 as KSS currently has a 1-4 MONTH long response time!

Please NOTE: This page is ONLY relevant to KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees.

If you are NOT a KSS Adoptee and instead you are a HOLT or ESWS / ECWS (Eastern Social Welfare Society / Eastern Child Welfare Society) or KWS (Korea Welfare Society) - previously SWS (Social Welfare Society) / CPS (Child Placement Service) Adoptee, please see the Korean Adoptee Starter Guide.

Korean Adoptees often do not know what their Korean Adoption Agency was. Contacting KSS if you are NOT a KSS Adoptee can WASTE SEVERELY LIMITED RESOURCES. Please do everyone a favor and try to determine what your Korean Adoption Ageny was BEFORE contacting KSS. You can see a list of the 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies and their corresponding Western (US / European / Australian / Canadian) Adoption Agencies here:

https://mfof.se/download/18.3fb844b2179a8fcfa4548418/1622550452816/Leaflet_Adoption%20Information%20Disclosure%20Service(Eng).pdf?fbclid=IwAR2QSuaZrq4JhoRvcD08ruh2MIZpMjJHSwbP2IbTaMWAcCGPaYkJUgyBSs4

Please check the list above to determine if you were a KSS Adoptee.

KSS was the SMALLEST of the 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies. KSS did NOT adopt to Canada, Australia, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, France, England, or Norway. If you were adopted to any of these countries, you are NOT a KSS Adoptee.

KSS ONLY adopted through the following list of Partner Western Adoption Agencies in the US and Europe:

https://www.paperslip.org/list-of-all-kss-partner-western-adoption-agencies-1

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If and only if you are a KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptee, please read below:

URGENT Info. for KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees:

Update: August 18th, 2024:

We cannot more strongly recommend that KSS Adoptees request BOTH a birth family search AND their formerly secret “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary” NOW - BY EARLY 2025 in order to give KSS enough time to respond to a big influx of requests prior to the July 2025 transfer of adoption files from KSS to NCRC. We believe that AFTER the files are moved from KSS to NCRC, that KSS Adoptees may face SIGNIFICANTLY LONGER WAIT TIMES for responses to birth family search requests through NCRC. So we strongly recommend that KSS Adoptees with ANY interest in birth family search file their official requests with KSS, NOW!!!

For KSS Adoptees ONLY:

Please see the “Step By Step Illustrated Guide” about halfway down this page for complete instructions on how to officially request a birth family search AND your “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary” (which was NOT obtainable prior to mid 2021):



https://www.paperslip.org/step-by-step-kss-birth-family-search

Explanation:

Many of you know that we personally don’t consider that the movement of KSS adoption records from KSS to a Korean government organization (NCRC: the National Center for the Rights of the Child) will be a good thing (which will begin to happen by Korean LAW starting in July 2025). We can't predict the future of what happens to KSS documents. Consider that NCRC currently has just 2-3 birth family search workers for ALL Korean Adoptees around the world, and wait times for responses to emails are already incredibly long. On the other hand, KSS has around 3 social workers to service the needs of ONLY KSS Adoptees, and even though wait times for email responses from KSS can be up to 1-4 months, KSS at least will respond to your emails in due time. Unfortunately, we personally DO NOT believe that the Korean government will responsibly handle our records any better than KSS. We also think that if / when our documents are physically transferred, they are at risk of getting MIXED UP, DAMAGED or LOST. 

Recently the Head of NCRC admitted that NCRC lacks the budget, staff, and building space required for the transfer of Korean adoption files. He said that it could be up to 10 YEARS before the file transfer issues might all be sorted out!!!

NCRC’s Birth Family Search Division is chronically underfunded by the Korean government. Currently NCRC does not have the budget, staff, or building space to transfer and house ALL Korean Adoption files. Such a massive transfer of files from Korean Adoption Agencies to NCRC will likely be an unprecedented MESS. We fear that birth family search could be tied up in limbo for YEARS as this massive transfer of files gets sorted out.

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The Korean article below (translated through ChatGPT) discusses how the 2012 Special Adoption Law was recently revised and how ALL Korean Adoption Agency records will be transferred from the 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies to a Korean government facility beginning in July 2025.

It is for this reason that even if you do not wish to do a birth family search, we cannot more strongly recommend that you request your Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary from KSS (and any other documents you would like to request) BEFORE July 2025. The formerly SECRET “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary” is a document which MAY contain birth parent info, even if your ENGLISH “Adoptive Child Study Summary” says that you were “abandoned” with “unknown parents”. In fact, we really recommend you request your documents, beginning with the formerly secret “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary”, NOW. 

Please note that you can only request ONE document type from KSS at a time. However you can request BOTH a birth family search AND you “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary” at the SAME time (and you SHOULD do so if you have interest in birth family search). Please see the “Illustrated Step By Step Guide” on the “Step by Step Korea Social Service (KSS) Birth Family Search” page here:

https://www.paperslip.org/step-by-step-kss-birth-family-search

Please see the “Illustrated Step By Step Guide” here for instructions on how to request your Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary, and request a birth family search (if desired). Please note that you can choose to ONLY request your Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary WITHOUT requesting a Birth Family Search through KSS, if so desired. However, IF you choose to request a Birth Family Search, you should ALSO request your Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary at the SAME time:

https://www.paperslip.org/step-by-step-kss-birth-family-search

Please be sure to view the link above on a laptop and not a phone, so that you can follow the GRAPHICS for how to correctly fill out your forms. 

*Please feel free to email these forms to us in advance at paperslipadoptee@gmail.com if you would like us to review them before you submit them to KSS. Often KSS Adoptees make mistakes on these forms, and these mistakes could cost you years of wasted time. So we are happy to check your forms before you send them to KSS if you would like.

For anyone planning a visit to KSS in Seoul, please see:

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

KSS Is Preventing GOAL Staff + Korean Translators “Who Don’t Work For A Company” From Accompanying Adoptees To KSS

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Korean Article: 

https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/421/0007086132?sid=102&fbclid=IwAR39pqXOsGYfbpB5U1BbdqSIezK_oaqtQAxtzVf9D9rULSsSqT59CqH03HA

Translation via ChatGPT (please note we have added some bolds for emphasis): 

Title: "Adopted Children Hope to 'Find Roots'... Two Years to Prepare for the Challenge"

"I had no choice but to personally run from place to place," said Kim Yuri (50), who was adopted to France at the age of 13 in 1984. Starting in January last year, she visited various government agencies, including the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to find her adoption records.

She was determined to confirm her uncertain adoption process. However, the adoption agency that had facilitated her adoption refused to disclose the records, despite her being the adoptee. This was because there were no legal provisions for record preservation or regulations for permanent preservation of adoption records.

The process of obtaining adoption records by personally visiting various institutions for nearly a year was also challenging. She had to prove her residency in Korea, and since records were scattered across multiple agencies, she often found herself going in circles.

Kim said, "Even though it's my record, it wasn't easy to access it," and expressed her hope that adopted individuals like her could more easily discover their adoption history and roots.

As per Kim's wish, there is hope that overseas adoptees can now more easily access their records with the enactment of the "Special Adoption Act" (Adoption Special Act), which strengthens the government's responsibility throughout the adoption process and was passed by the National Assembly on June 30th (Paperslip note: 2023).

According to this law, starting in July 2025, the records of past overseas adoptions will be managed by the National Child Rights Protection Agency (Paperslip note: NCRC: National Center for the Rights of the Child). This will also centralize adoption information disclosure requests to the agency, eliminating the need for individuals like Kim to navigate multiple institutions. Many adopted individuals who want to find their roots are eagerly awaiting the implementation of this law.

However, it is noted that preparation needs to be expedited for adopted individuals to benefit from the law's amendment. Although there are still two years until the law takes effect, it is considered a short time given the numerous tasks ahead.

First, an exhaustive investigation of the estimated 250,000 adoption records needs to be carried out, and agreements with adoption agencies across the country must be finalized. Additionally, new facilities for preserving adoption records will need to be constructed.

According to a policy report released during the 2021 National Audit by Kim Sung-joo's office, the four major domestic adoption agencies (Holt Children's Welfare Association, Korean Society of Welfare for Children, Eastern Social Welfare Society, and Catholic Social Services) earned approximately 189 billion won through adoptions from 2012 to the first half of 2021 (Paperslip note: this figure must not include KSS since KSS stopped processing adoptions in 2012). The government provides support of 2.7 million won to welfare ministry-approved adoption agencies and 1 million won to provincial-approved agencies per adoption, based on adoption fees and other criteria. Furthermore, approximately 90% of all income earned by adoption agencies (89.6% for Holt, 87.2% for Eastern, 93.2% for Catholic) comes from fees and donations. As of 2020, the fees per overseas adoption were around 20 million won.

The amendment to the law will result in the transfer of around 250,000 adoption records from adoption agencies and child welfare facilities to the National Child Rights Protection Agency (Paperslip note: NCRC: National Center for the Rights of the Child). However, the problem is that the storage capacity at the agency is already saturated.

According to the agency, there are currently an estimated 248,000 domestic adoption records. Of these, 18,000 are held by the National Child Rights Protection Agency, and the remaining 230,000 are distributed among adoption agencies nationwide.

Director Jung Ik-jung of the National Child Rights Protection Agency said, "We need additional space to move the records immediately," and explained that there are still many issues to be resolved with only two years remaining until the law takes effect.

He added, "The estimated 250,000 adoption records are just a rough calculation based on the total number of overseas adoptees. If we conduct a comprehensive investigation, the number of records could increase."

Given the current situation where the exact number of adoption records is not confirmed, it appears challenging to transfer all records to the National Child Rights Protection Agency within the remaining two years.

Additionally, the construction of a so-called "Adoption Records Center," which is suggested as a solution to store the extensive adoption records, is still in its early stages. Details such as budget, operational methods, and scale have not been determined yet.

Director Jung emphasized that while the "Adoption Records Center" is the most ideal solution for centralizing adoption records, it cannot be achieved through their efforts alone. Since it is a national project, discussions with the Ministry of Planning and Finance regarding budget issues are necessary. Policy discussions with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the supervisory agency, are also essential. Furthermore, discussions are needed with the national adoption agencies that currently hold the records and regarding the method of transferring records.

Director Jung concluded, "The amended law only states that adoption records will be centralized at the National Child Rights Protection Agency. There are no specific details, so it's crucial to work with various institutions to find the best solution as we are just in the beginning stages."

(Reporter Won Tae-sung, khan@news1.kr)