Some of the big changes are:
- Birthmothers must wait 7 days before relinquishing the babies for adoption: this sure seems tough. In the US the waiting period is 24-72 hours. It's unclear in this article if the birthmothers in Korea will remain in contact with the babies during this waiting period.
- Domestic adoptions will be on the public record: this seems like the biggest and most potentially problematic rule change. Adoption in Korea is still quite secretive and the majority of the adoptive parents there do not tell family or children about the adoption. So if the adoption is now a public record, will it make Koreans less inclined to do it? This would have the exact opposite result that the government has been aiming for which is to promote domestic adoption.
Thanks for posting. I think Korea's adoption laws were long overdue for some modernization, and I'm glad they're finally working on it. It is a huge change, though, and there will definitely be some growing pains. I just believe putting this process out in the open is the right thing to do and is ultimately in the best interest of the adopted children. I think it is the government's duty to do that. I have also heard that writing this law was truly a grass roots effort in that it incorporated input from adoptees' rights groups, which is extremely unprecedented. Of course, laws often have unintended consequences; I'm curious to see what the real impacts are.
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