We Are Korea Social Service (KSS) 한국사회봉사회 Adoptees.


Your History Is More Than A Paperslip.

This is a website by and primarily for Korea Social Service (KSS) Adoptees.

Above: The KSS Receiving Home (Left) which was the main building of its main campus in Seoul (Right). KSS was an Orphanage and Korean Adoption Agency in one. The original KSS campus no longer exists — it was torn down in 2016. There is just one remaining Post Adoption Services building on the edge of the old KSS campus. However, KSS no longer processes Post Adoption Services after June 15th, 2025.

Please click here for information on the old KSS Receiving Home and old KSS campus.

Please click here for information on KSS’ “Feeder Orphanages” — such as Nam Kwang Orphanage in Busan, Star of the Sea Orphanage in Incheon, Choon Hyun Babies Home in Gwangju, Church Social Service Choong Nam in Hong Song, YangJu Orphanage in Dongducheon and others.

KSS was served by a network of the above mentioned Feeder Orphanages, Maternity Clinics, Hospitals, Single Unwed Mothers Homes, Police Stations, Churches, etc. The full scope of KSS’ child acquisition network for adoption may never be fully known. In addition to these sources, some birth parents or relatives are also known to have relinquished children directly to KSS in Seoul. Not all relinquishment scenarios involved the knowedge or consent of one or both birth parents.

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Many sections of Paperslip are now relevant to ALL Korean Adoptees.

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~ Purveyors of Fine Quality De-Gaslighting of Korean Adoptees Since 2020 ~

Paperslip is an evolving free toolkit for birth family search and reunion for KSS Adoptees and ALL Korean Adoptees.

We are the living memory of the 20,000 Korean Adoptees who were adopted to the US, Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland from 1964-2012 through Korea Social Service (KSS)—S. Korea’s smallest of the 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies.

Did KSS (Korea Social Service) flip a coin to decide which term of Orphanization they were going to use that day for a child’s “English Adoptive Child Study Summary” — “paper-slip” or “memo”? These terms appear in countless KSS Adoptees’ English Adoptive Child Study Summary documents, which were provided to Western adoptive parents at the beginning stage of the adoption process. Countless KSS Adoptees have grown up believing this often false “abandonment” story and have internalized this sense of “abandonment”. However, many of these exact same KSS Adoptees have later come to find that their formerly secret “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” documents (which we at Paperslip only figured out how to request and obtain from KSS in 2021) often contain more information about their history — sometimes, though not always including information about their birth parents.

Paperslip.org Has Evolved Into A Source of Birth Family Search Information For ALL Korean Adoptees.

Starting September 16th, 2025:
You Can Now Submit Requests To NCRC via the KAS Website.

Please See A VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE with NCRC’s NEW GUIDANCE on our page:

ALL Korean Adoptees Start Here! General Birth Family Search Steps Through NCRC — Overview

DIRECT LINK TO NEW PAGE:

NCRC Guidance on the Adoption Information Disclosure Request Process and Visitor Reservations
(To Visit The Temporary Storage Facility Where All Former Korean Adoption Agency Documents Are Housed) — PLUS:
NCRC’s 2025 Adoption Information Disclosure Petition Manual

 We think it might be a good idea to wait a bit before you submit your requests to NCRC via the KAS website.

Please note that NCRC has said that it will likely update its long outdated KAS website in early 2026. Also, NCRC may still be engaged in transferring the physical files from the Korean Adoption Agencies to NCRC’s Temporary Storage Facility in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do. So, we suggest that you give it some time before you submit your requests to NCRC via the KAS website. In the meantime, be sure to organize and back up your relevant adoption documents!

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Specifically please see this important DROPDOWN MENU on our homepage titled:

”DROPDOWN: AFTER July 19th, 2025, ALL Birth Family Search Requests Must Be Processed Through NCRC/KAS”

IMPORTANT NOTICE — June 15th, 2025:

Due to the historic movement of ALL Korean Adoption Agency files (including the adoption files of KSS / Korea Social Service) to the Korean Government Agency NCRC (National Center for the Rights of the Child) beginning on July 19th, 2025 — it is unfortunately TOO LATE to submit requests for a birth family search or for your formerly secret “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary” directly to KSS in Seoul, either in person or by email.

After July 19th, 2025, ALL birth family search requests by ALL Korean Adoptees around the world — no matter what their Korean Adoption Agency — will have to be submitted through NCRC via the KAS website. New requests will be accepted by NCRC through the KAS website starting on September 16th, 2025.

But WHEN should you submit your first request to NCRC via the KAS website?

Please see:
IMPORTANT DATES

*Please be advised that NCRC is NOT likely to have the file transfer sorted out anytime soon — and especially NOT immediately starting September 16th, 2025. We advise that you WAIT some time to submit any “Petition for Adoption Information Disclosure” request/s to NCRC via the KAS website — as you can only do so ONCE PER YEAR.

If NCRC cannot locate your file because they are in the midst of the file transfer process, there is no point in making a request.

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KSS Adoptees:
Also be sure to check out the DROPDOWN MENU titled “KSS Birth Family Search” on Paperslip’s home page for other relevant pages.

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ALL Korean Adoption Agency files have moved to NCRC’s temporary storage facility — a cold storage warehouse located one hour north of NCRC’s main office in Seoul — starting July 19th, 2025.

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Read Why Paperslip.org Spent 15 Months Warning KSS and ALL Korean Adoptees About The Transfer of ALL Korean Adoption Agency Files to NCRC:

Paperslip Concludes A 15 Month Campaign To Warn KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees About The Transfer of ALL Korean Adoption Agency Files To NCRC

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*Please Note:
Due to the historical transfer of ALL Korean Adoption Agency files (including those of Korea Social Service / KSS) to the Korean Government Agency NCRC (National Center for the Rights of the Child) starting July 19th, 2025, areas of this website are now becoming more relevant to ALL Korean Adoptees — no matter what your Korean Adoption Agency. ALL future birth family search requests must be made through NCRC via the KAS website.

Currently Paperslip is the ONLY Korean Adoptee related site with comprehensive and updated information about birth family search AFTER the July 19th, 2025 transfer of ALL Korean Adoption Agency files to the Korean Government Agency NCRC. Birth family search is far more complex and multi-pronged than simply submitting a request to NCRC. Please click here for more info.

Connect With Paperslip.org Online!

Stay Informed!
Like + Follow Our PUBLIC Page On Facebook: Paperslip

KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees Only:
Please join the PRIVATE Facebook group KSS Cribmates!

*Please note that all KSS (Korea Social Service) Adoptees are welcome to join KSS Cribmates! This is our primary way of staying in touch with the KSS Adoptee community. Please be sure to answer the membership questions or your request will be declined. If you are not sure if you are a KSS Adoptee, please contact us at paperslipadoptee@gmail.com

ALL Korean Adoptees may request to join:

Korea Social Service (KSS) Adoptees 한국사회봉사회 + Friends

Please be sure to answer the membership questions or your request will be declined.

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Feeling Overwhelmed By The Amount Of Info. On Paperslip.org?

Click Here To Learn How To Search Our Site Efficiently Using Google!

Have Questions About How To Begin A Birth Family Search? Schedule A One-On-One Zoom Consultation With Paperslip.org’s Co-Founder.

Things are changing quickly in the world of birth family search for Korean Adoptees. We are here to help! Please see:

NEW! Advisory Sessions - For Both KSS and Non-KSS Adoptees

Now More Than Ever, DNA Testing Is Important.

With active birth family search becoming increasingly challenging after July 19th, 2025, we cannot more strongly recommend that Adoptees with interest in birth family search take ALL POSSIBLE DNA TESTS.

Please see below for more info:

NCRC NOTICE: DNA Testing for Adoptees Without Identifiable Birth Family Information

DNA Testing

KSS (Korea Social Service) No Longer Handles Post Adoption Services After June 15th, 2025.

IMPORTANT UPDATE — JUNE 15th, 2025:

Please note that KSS (Korea Social Service) no longer handles / accepts birth family search requests.

ALL future birth family search requests will have to go through NCRC via the KAS website. Please see:

ALL Korean Adoptees, please see this IMPORTANT NEW page:

ALL Korean Adoptees Start Here!
General Birth Family Search Steps Through NCRC — Overview

If you are a KSS Adoptee, please ALSO see this IMPORTANT NEW page:

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

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Many Korea Social Service (KSS) Adoptees were supposedly “abandoned” and “found with a “paper-slip” or “memo” in their “clothing”. Chances are, this is NOT true.

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”

You were likely NOT “abandoned” with no information, you were likely “relinquished” by a birth family member, who may have left their information with Korea Social Service (KSS).

Please note that you should also try to locate your ENGLISH Adoptive Child Study Summary, which would have been given by your Western Adoption Agency to your adoptive parents in the process of your adoption. In some KSS Adoptees’ cases, this document MAY contain birth parent information.

*Please note that KSS Post Adoption Services are PERMANENTLY CLOSED after July 19th, 2025!

*Please note that ALL KSS files will move to the Korean Government Agency NCRC (National Center for the Rights of the Child) starting on July 19th, 2025. After this date, ALL Korean Adoptees around the world, including KSS Adoptees, will have to submit birth family search requests to NCRC via the KAS (Korea Adoption Services) website. Please see the links above for more info.

An example of a KSS “ENGLISH Adoptive Child Study Summary from the 1970s. This document was provided to the adoptive parents of the KSS Adoptee and is the primary means by which KSS “orphanized” the child. The style of the ENGLISH Adoptive Child Study Summary changed over the years, but the purpose of the document remained the same: to “orphanize” children who had likely NOT actually been abandoned and found with a “paper-slip” or “memo” in their “clothings” - but who were rather more likely “relinquished” by a birth family member to KSS in Seoul, or to a KSS “feeder orphanage”, or to a maternity clinic, single unwed mother’s home, hospital, or other source of children for KSS.

This false “Orphanization” process meant that many KSS Adoptees grew up thinking that KSS had no birth family information about them - but in many cases, this was NOT true, and KSS kept a secret KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary, which sometimes, but not always, contained birth parent and sibling information. KSS still has many Adoptees’ files at its Post-Adoption Services building in Seoul, which is the last remaining building of its original campus.

For Korea Social Service (KSS) Adoptees ONLY:

Please note that if you have the name and birth date of your birth parent/s, you can go to the police in Korea and attempt to get their missing person’s unit to look up the person for you. While it is extremely helpful to have the person’s ID number (which KSS almost never provides to the Adoptee because they often did not record it) you do not have to have an ID number to do a search through Korean police. KSS will tell you that you need an ID number, but this is not true.

While an individual KSS Adoptee’s KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary does not always contain birth parent information, it often contains more truthful information about where the Adoptee was born or found.

*IMPORTANT NOTE: Everyone’s case is different.

  • Not everyone’s English Adoptive Child Study Summary contains totally *FALSE information.

  • Not everyone’s KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary contains totally *TRUE information.

However, KSS wrote in the English Adoptive Child Study Summaries of thousands of KSS Adoptees that they were “abandoned” and that “both parents are unknown”. In VERY MANY cases, this was simply untrue, and KSS secretly kept the often more truthful KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary in its records and never told the adoptive parents of the KSS Adoptee, nor the KSS Adoptee about the existence of this document.

*The above (redacted) documents of the exact SAME KSS Adoptee have been used by permission.

Adoption Documents Which Are Specific to KSS (Korea Social Service): 

  • *Top: ENGLISH Adoptive Child Study Summary (FALSIFIED)

  • *Bottom: KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary: Contains Birth Parent Names and Birthdates

In this Danish KSS Adoptee’s “ENGLISH Adoptive Child Study Summary”, (which we have partly redacted in black), it says that “her birthdate was known by the paper-slip which was found in her clothings. Information on the baby’s parents is not available from the records”.

Yet in this EXACT SAME Danish KSS Adoptee’s “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary”, a previously SECRET document (which we have partly redacted in black), it contains the NAMES and BIRTH DATES of both her Korean mother and Korean father. KSS has partly redacted the info. about the birth parents in this copy which the Danish KSS Adoptee recently received, per Korean privacy law. However, KSS has the full info. on birth parents in the case of this Adoptee, and can conduct a birth family search based on this info ONCE PER YEAR - upon the official request of the KSS Adoptee.

The “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary” is a formerly SECRET document.

Contact paperslipadoptee@gmail.com for more info.

한국 입양 아동들이 생가족을 찾고 있습니다.
Korean Adoptees Seeking Birth Family.

이 웹사이트의 이 부분은 모든 해외 입양 아동에게 관련이 있습니다.여기를 클릭하거나 이미지를 클릭하여 더 많은 정보를 얻어주세요.

The Korean Adoptees Seeking Birth Family page is relevant to ALL Korean Adoptees - not just to those adopted through KSS (Korea Social Service). Click the link or image above for more birth famiily search posters of Korean Adoptees.

Welcome! Welkom! Velkommen! Wilkomme!


*Please note that due to the complexity of our website, we recommend viewing it on a LAPTOP and not a PHONE.

We are continually adding new info. to the site. Please Refresh / Reload each page you revisit, to see the most up-to-date info.

We are a volunteer organization of Korean Adoptees adopted through Korea Social Services / KSS (S. Korea), dedicated to helping connect other adult Korean Adoptees who were adopted through KSS and its Partner Western Adoption Agencies:

*Note: The adoptions of some KSS Adoptees were also facilitated through Holt in Korea, and KSS’ Western Partner Agencies in the US.

Disclaimer: We do not represent Korea Social Service (KSS) nor any of its Partner Western Adoption Agencies in any way. We are fellow KSS Adoptees.

How Do I Know If Korea Social Service (KSS) Was My Korean Adoption Agency?

Many Korean Adoptees don't know that each major Korean Adoption Agency partnered with an evolving list of Western Adoption Agencies (US / European / Australian / Canadian).

You can find a list of all 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies and their corresponding Western Adoption Agencies here: 

NEW PDF LINK (For US Adoptees Only)

NEW PDF LINK - Tracing Your Origin (For ALL Korean Adoptees)

Korea Social Service (KSS) was one of the 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies designated by the Korean government to process international adoptions beginning in 1976. KSS was the smallest of these Korean Adoption Agencies, sending in total around 20,000 children to the US and Europe (roughly 10,000 to the US and 10,000 to Europe).

To view a list of all known KSS Partner Western Adoption Agencies, please see this page: List of All Known Korea Social Service (KSS) Partner Western Adoption Agencies in the US and Europe. If you were adopted through one of KSS’ Partner Western Adoption Agencies during the time period in which KSS was in partnership with them, then it is possible that KSS was your Korean Adoption Agency. It is important to know what your Korean Adoption Agency was, so that you can do a Birth Family Search through your correct Korean Adoption Agency.

The 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies designated by the Korean government to process international adoptions beginning in 1976 were:

  1.  Holt Korea (not to be confused with Holt International, which is the Western Holt Adoption Agency

  2. Eastern Social Welfare Society (ESWS) - previously Eastern Child Welfare Society (ECWS)

  3. Social Welfare Society (SWS) - now Korea Welfare Society (KWS)

  4. Korea Social Service (KSS)

Because many Korean Adoptees are ONLY familiar with their Western Adoption Agency (US / European / Australian / Canadian) they often don't know what their Korean Adoption Agency is.

Often, the Korean Adoption Agency is the best place to start for a Birth Family Search (BFS).

If you don’t know what your Korean Adoption Agency was, and you have no way of finding out from your adoptive parents or from your adoption paperwork (where we recommend starting if possible) then simply check this link:

EDIT, January 2025:  - Please see the NEW PDF links below for information about the corresponding Korean and Western adoption agencies:

NEW PDF LINK: Tracing Your Origin (For ALL Korean Adoptees)

NEW PDF LINK (For US Adoptees Only)

US Adoptees can also file a FREE FOIA request. Amongst other things, your FOIA request will return documents with your Korean Adoption Agency listed on them. However, some Korean Adoptees were adopted privately directly from Korean Orphanages, through the use of an intermediary such as a lawyer. In such cases, your adoption would likely not have been processed through a Korean Adoption Agency.

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Regarding Korea Social Service (KSS) ONLY:

The information below describes the relationship between the Korean Adoption Agency Korea Social Service (KSS) and its Partner Western Adoption Agencies in the US and Europe.

If you can identify your US or European Adoption Agency from the list in the sectionbelow, then you may have been a Korea Social Service (KSS) Adoptee.

KSS was the smallest of the 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies, having adopted "only" around 20,000 children internationally - around 10,000 to the US, and around 10,000 to Europe we believe.

Please contact us if you are a KSS Adoptee for some important information. KSS Adoptees ONLY are also welcome to join the private Facebook group KSS Cribmates.

Sources of KSS Children Sent For International Adoption By The Korean Adoption Agency Korea Social Service (KSS) + The Relationship of KSS To Its Partner Western Adoption Agencies: 

Some of us were Relinquished directly to KSS in Seoul, and some of us were Relinquished to KSS feeder orphanages in or outside of Seoul. KSS sourced children from all around Korea, but three major “feeder” orphanages were Nam Kwang Orphanage in Busan, Star of The Sea Orphanage in Incheon, and Choon Hyun Babies Home in Gwangju (Jeolla Province, not Seoul). All three of these “feeder orphanages” remain open and you can find out how to visit / request information from them here.

Some of us were Relinquished to: 

  • KSS in Seoul 

  • Feeder Orphanage (in or outside of Seoul)

  • Hospitals, Birth of Maternity Clinics (in or outside of Seoul)

  • Single / Unwed Mothers’ Homes (in or outside of Seoul)

  • Churches (in or outside of Seoul)

  • Police Stations (in or outside of Seoul)

  • Found Abandoned (in or outside of Seoul)


We use the term “Relinquishment” to describe when a child is given up by birth family or other non-related individual/s (such as police officers, doctors, midwives, citizens, etc.). to a Korean Adoption Agency (such as KSS in Seoul) or to another site of FIRST Relinquishment. 

We know and acknowledge that not all children sent for adoption were voluntarily Relinquished. Many children were acquired by an Adoption Agency rather than being voluntarily Relinquished by birth parent/s. Many children who went “missing” ended up too quickly sent by police stations to orphanages or adoption agencies, then sent overseas for adoption. 

Children were also abducted, and many birth families were pressured or coerced into Relinquishing their children for adoption, with promises of a better life, or other more underhanded means of acquiring children for adoption. Korean birth parents who visited orphanages and adoption agencies looking for their missing children were often told they would have to pay an exorbitant fee in order to get their child/ren back, or were told that their child/ren had already been adopted overseas (even if the child was still at the orphanage or adoption agency).

Korean Adoption Agencies could have gotten children from anywhere in Korea, through many different means. 

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KSS was a Korean Adoption Agency which had its own on-site Orphanage: The K.S.S. Receiving Home in Seoul. 

Adoptees often confuse KSS as only an Adoption Agency or only an orphanage, but KSS was both an Adoption Agency and Orphanage in ONE. However, only a Korean Adoption Agency - not an orphanage - could process children for international adoption (at least since 1976). KSS was one of the 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies designated by the Korean government since 1976 to process international adoptions.

KSS tore down the majority of its campus in 2016, without preserving any significant part of it for visitation by KSS Adoptees. However, one last “Post Adoption Services” building remains in the area where KSS used to be located, where KSS Adoptees can still meet with a social worker for an in-person file review upon request. All KSS Adoptees’ files remain at KSS’ “Post Adoption Services” building in Seoul. Please see the Illustrated Step By Step Guide here to learn how to request your Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary and to initiate a birth family search through KSS in Seoul.

KSS adopted children through a network of Partner Western Adoption Agencies in the US and Europe from 1964-2012:

*Please note that if your US or European adoption agency is NOT on the list above, then you are NOT a KSS Adoptee. Please do NOT contact KSS if KSS was not your Korean Adoption Agency, as this only wastes limited resources.

The Korea Social Service, Inc. (KSS) Logo from an ENGLISH Adoptive Child Study Summary (this document was alternately called a “Case Study Record” or a “Child Study Summary” in the 1960s). Learn about how this document was used to “orphanize” so many KSS Adoptees and learn about the KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary which has the more truthful information about your origins.

Note: If you are viewing our site on mobile, please click the MENU option at upper right.

We Wrote KSS History With Our Lives.

It’s ironically fitting that we should have to piece together the history of KSS ourselves, given that many Korean Adoptees have been given little information about their history by their Korean or Western Adoption Agencies. This is an evolving story, with many contributors. Thank you to those who have shared their stories and their recollections with us! Every bit of info. is valuable to us.

We Believe That The Basis of Truth In Korean Adoption Is Comparison.

We all grow up naturally believing that our adoption stories are unique and special. And many, but not all, of us have led good lives with our adoptive families. But it’s important to understand the history of how we came to be adopted in such high numbers from Korea to the West. KSS adopted at least 20,000 of us to the US, Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland between 1964-2012. (Please note that KSS partnered with different Western Partner Adoption Agencies during different time periods). We were processed en masse out of Korea in a bureaucratic system in the midst of the “purifying society” under the rule of Korea’s post-war dictators. Many of us (though not all) have great difficulty in getting the truth about our histories from our Korean and Western adoption agencies. We believe that in comparing information with one another, and by sharing information about ourselves that we know, that we can come to find deeper truths about our adoptions from Korea.

From a KSS Adoptee’s ENGLISH Adoptive Child Study Summary. There is more truthful information in the KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary, possibly though not always including birth parent name/s.

Please see: ALL Adoptees Start Here: General Birth Family Search Steps Through NCRC — Overview

Please Refresh / Reload When You Revisit Our Website.

We are constantly adding new information, so if you have previously visited certain pages of our website, please be sure to Refresh / Reload each page you have previously visited, in order to see new content. Thank you!