Under the new system, key procedures, such as assessing prospective adoptive parents and matching them with children, will be deliberated by a ministry committee, in accordance with the principle of the “best interests of the child”.
Previously, this had been done by major adoption agencies, with minimal oversight from the state.
“With this restructuring of the public adoption system, the state now takes full responsibility for ensuring the safety and rights of all adopted children,” said Kim Sang-hee, director of population and child policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Activists, however, say the measure should be merely a starting point and warn it is far from sufficient.
“While I think it’s high time that Korea close down all private adoption agencies, I don’t believe … having the state handle new adoptions is enough,” said writer Lisa Wool-rim Sjoblom, a Korean adoptee who grew up in Sweden.
The government should prioritise implementing the findings of the truth commission, issue an official apology and work to help the tens of thousands of Koreans who were sent abroad for adoption, she told AFP.
“The government urgently needs to acknowledge all the human rights violations it enabled, encouraged, and systematically participated in, and, as soon as possible, begin reparations.”
