Korea Social Service (KSS) Last Remaining Building: Post-Adoption Services in Seoul.

Korea Social Service (KSS) History.

Timeline of KSS Adoption Through Its Partner Western Adoption Agencies.

Update - February 12th, 2024:
Please see the NEW KSS History - NEW Updates page for more information.

General History Note: KSS had connections to the Korean military. Korea was run by dictators until sometime between 1987 - 1993. It’s important to understand that under the Korean dictators who ruled S. Korea in the wake of the Korean War, that there was a government program to “purify” the society, reduce the number of mouths to feed, and form geopolitical ties to the West. Adoption was the way in which much of this was accomplished. Korea moved 1% of all live births out of the country via adoption in the 1980s.

In 1976, Harry Holt and the military dictators decided that the adoption agencies in Korea should be controlled by Koreans. Holt (the largest of the adoption agencies operating in Korea) therefore split into Holt Korea and Holt International (so that Holt could remain "run by indigenous Koreans" in Korea), and also have a Western counterpart.

The Korean government placed military people at the head of all Korean adoption agencies, or in close cooperation with them. KSS is unique amongst the Korean adoption agencies in that it doesn't have any history yearbooks - so we don't know who the military generals were who were affiliated with KSS. We know that military people were affiliated with KSS, but we don't know who.

In the 1970s and 80s - adoption was a part of the military regime - the Korean government wanted to modernize S Korea. Dictators in the 1970s and 1980s designed a social program to remove vagrants from the streets (Brothers Home in Busan trigger warning which had ties to Nam Kwang Orphanage in Busan which in turn had ties to KSS, Holt, and possibly the other Korean adoption agencies was a part of this effort).

One part of this social program was adoption.

  • 1964 - early 1980s (exact date in the 1980s is unknown but is probably around 1982): KSS adopts to Welcome House (WH) in the US.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • 1964 - 2011 or 2012: KSS adopts to Lutheran Social Services (LSS) in the US.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • 1969 - 2006: KSS adopts to Wereldkinderen in the Netherlands. The vast majority of Dutch Adoptees are adopted through KSS.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • 1970 - 2011 or 2012: KSS adopts to Adoption Center (AC) in Denmark in this time period.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • 1972 - 1978 or 1979: KSS adopts to Terres des Hommes (TH) in Switzerland in this time period.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • 1985 - 2011 or 2012: KSS adopts to Family / Foreign Adoption Consultants / FAC / F&CS Foster Care and Adoption Service (Michigan) in the US since 1985.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

    • Source: Link

In both a 4 and 5 digit KSS K number, the FIRST digit is encoded (Relinquishment Years 1968 - 2011/2012) per KSS’ Partner Western Adoption Agency. 

The 3 digit “Case” Numbers used prior to Relinquishment Year 1968 are not believed to be encoded, and appear to be purely sequential. 

  • Source: KSS Adoptees

KSS Timeline:

  • Of the approximately 200,000 Korean Adoptees sent around the world for adoption throughout Korean Adoption history, KSS sent about 20,000 Adoptees to the USA, Netherlands, Denmark + Switzerland from 1964-2011/12. 

    • Source: KSS


KSS was the smallest of the 4 Korean Adoption Agencies (Holt, ESWS, SWS, and KSS) which could send children for international adoption, starting from 1976 (though KSS was founded in 1964 and sent children for international adoption 1964-2011/12). While KSS is no longer in the business of adoption, it still has a Post-Adoption Services building in Seoul where Adoptees can schedule an appointment to conduct a file review with a KSS social worker.


Below is a Timeline of KSS History.



*Please Note: If you know of any significant dates to add to this timeline, or if you find any mistakes, please let us know.

*Trigger warning: Upsetting content.

  • 1949: Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠) was a public official at the Kyung-gi (Gyeonggi) provincial government and his position in 1949 was the head of the notorious (Trigger Warning: Very Upsetting Content) Seongam Academy (선감학원 ).

    • Important Update: Please note that we do not know the exact nature of what Seongam Academy was like in the 1940s when KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠), was Vice President and later President of Seongam Academy. We have recently learned that Seongam Academy may have been at its most notorious in the 1970s, which is decades after KSS Founder Baek Gun Chil was in charge of Seongam Academy. At this time we do not have any documentation to support this claim. When that becomes available, we will include it here.

      • Source: Various

  • 1940s: KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠) is high ranking amongst the Japanese under occupation. Kun Chil Paik is appointed by the Korean government as Vice President and later President of (Trigger Warning: Very Upsetting Content) Seongam Academy (선감학원 ), a notorious concentration camp originally founded by the Japanese in 1942 on an island in Gyeonggi Province near Seoul. Seongam Academy was a place for “vagrant” boys from the streets which was a part of the Korean government’s “social purification” efforts.

    • Source: Various

    • Important Update: Please note that we do not know the exact nature of what Seongam Academy was like in the 1940s when KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠), was Vice President and later President of Seongam Academy. We have recently learned that Seongam Academy may have been at its most notorious in the 1970s, which is decades after KSS Founder Baek Gun Chil was in charge of Seongam Academy. At this time we do not have any documentation to support this claim. When that becomes available, we will include it here.

      Trigger warning: Very Upsetting Content. There is a documentary by SBS on Seongam Academy called 그것이 알고 싶다 (“I want to know about it”) on YouTube.

  • 1949: (Pearl S.) Buck’s personal experiences with motherhood and her life in China, resulted in the creation of Welcome House in 1949. This organization, which she co-founded, was the first international, interracial adoption agency. It focused on placing Asian children with families in the United States. Continuing in her work for children, she also formed the Pearl S. Buck Foundation in 1964.

  • “Among the receiving countries, it is no coincidence that those who had sided with the anti-Communist alliance in the war and continued to be important political allies and trade partners took in the most children; the United States, Norway and Sweden beginning in the 1950s, Denmark, Canada, France, Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands from the 1960s, and, finally, Luxembourg in 1984. In addition, since the 1960s, Korean children also went to West Germany, Italy and Switzerland and smaller numbers to England, New Zealand, Ireland, Spain and Finland.” (Hubinette 2004)

  • 1949: KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik was a public official at the Kyung-gi (Gyeonggi) provincial government and his position in 1949 was the head of (Trigger Warning: Very Upsetting Content) Seongam Academy.

    • Important Update: Please note that we do not know the exact nature of what Seongam Academy was like in the 1940s when KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠), was Vice President and later President of Seongam Academy. We have recently learned that Seongam Academy may have been at its most notorious in the 1970s, which is decades after KSS Founder Baek Gun Chil was in charge of Seongam Academy. At this time we do not have any documentation to support this claim. When that becomes available, we will include it here.

  • According to a trusted source: "Following Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, (Kun Chil) Paik attended an English-language school run by the U.S. military and then studied at Oxford University for eight months at the end of the Korean War. Shortly after he came back from Britain, he was picked for the Minnesota project in 1954 – I think his experience with working with the U.S. army, U.N. aid groups and ability to handle English would have factored. After he came back to South Korea, Paik didn’t choose work as SNU professors like his other colleagues, but instead went into “field work.”"

  • 1950s: KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik goes to study at the University of Minnesota in 1954 in the US as part of The Minnesota Project, and becomes the first Korean to receive a Master’s degree in Social Work from a US University. Kun Chil Paik interns at Lutheran Social Services (LSS).

  • 1950s: In 1957 KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik returns to Korea and initially heads Child Placement Services (CPS) which was overseen by ISS, a Swiss social welfare agency. ISS is later kicked out of S. Korea by the Korean government (likely for trying to process adoptions with too many child protections), when in 1976, KSS was designated as one of the 4 native Korean Adoption Agencies which could process international adoptions.

  • 1954 and 1957: Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠) went to Minnesota to obtain his Master's Degree in Social Work at the University of Minnesota in 1954 and came back to Korea in 1957.

    • Source: Various

  • 1961: "Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠) , following his studies at the University of Minnesota, became President of the Daehan Placement Service / 대한양연회 in 1961. That organization preceded the Social Welfare Society (SWS), which now calls itself in English the Korea Welfare Services (KWS). Paik left the Daehan Placement Service after a few years and established the Korea Social Service (KSS) in 1964.

    Note:     The following Korean Adoption Agencies are all the SAME organization, the name has just changed over time:

    CPS (Child Placement Service) = SWS (Social Welfare Society) = KWS (Korea Welfare Society - the current name) = Daehan Placement Service (Daehan means Korea)

    Daehan Placement Service / 대한양연회 was established as an organization under the Health Ministry after the 1950-53 Korean War, with the purpose of sending war orphans and biracial children to Western adoptive parents (I think the organization dates back to 1954, before it was renamed to Daehan Placement Service in 1961). KWS’s government roots, I personally think, is one of the reasons why that organization had more interests than just adoptions (it was also involved in government projects related to developing farming communities etc.) and was less aggressive than Holt or Eastern in procuring babies, although they did send plenty of children abroad."

  • September 30, 1961: “One of the first actions of the [S. Korean] military government was to pass the Orphan Adoption Special Law, Korea’s first modern adoption law, on September 30, 1961, followed by the Child Welfare Act, to facilitate international adoption as an alternative to costly institutional care (Chang Pilwha, 1996; Kim Chin & Carroll, 1975; Tahk, 1986a). Through this decree, a legal basis for international adoption of Korean children was finally established, making private adoptions illegal and establishing a framework for the most effective adoption program in the world with efficient agencies, speedy procedures and secure logistics (Penner, 1996: 35-36; Py.n, Yi & Kim, 1999: 47-48).” (Hubinette 2004)

  • 1964: (Pearl S.) Buck’s personal experiences with motherhood and her life in China, resulted in the creation of Welcome House in 1949. This organization, which she co-founded, was the first international, interracial adoption agency. It focused on placing Asian children with families in the United States. Continuing in her work for children, she also formed the Pearl S. Buck Foundation in 1964.

  • 1964: KSS is founded by Kun Chil Paik. KSS partners with Welcome House (WH) which is a subsidiary of the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, in the US.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • 1964: Korea Social Service began to process international adoptions, the first agency to be entirely run by Koreans. (Hubinette 2004)

  • 1964: KSS partners with Welcome House (WH) in the US.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees / KSS Website

  • 1964: KSS partners with Lutheran Social Services (LSS) in the US.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees / KSS Website

  • 1964-1968: KSS uses a 3 digit Case # for orphans, in which the year precedes the sequential number. For example, a child (presumably relinquished) in 1967 and the 123rd child would be 67-123. This 3 digit Case # does not appear to be encoded in any way, and seems purely sequential.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • 1966: International social workers in S. Korea report that “There is a quite a bit of rivalry and competition among the different agencies, and it is not beyond agencies to bribe or pressure the Mothers for the release of these children, and agencies, including ISS have to go to find the Korean-Caucasian children by visiting prostitute areas, as it is not common practice for the mothers to approach the agencies for the release of their children.” Report on Korea, August 1966: p. 6, International Social Service (ISS), a social and family welfare and aid organization, files Social Welfare History Archives (SWHA).

    • ISS workers increasingly concerned about the dependency of S. Korea on overseas adoption - “forced emigration, under the guise of inter country adoption.” The S. Korean government saw children as the source of foreign exchange and the dollars that they could bring in to the country. ISS expresses strongly the necessity for S. Korea to develop an indigenous social welfare program.

  • 1967: Korean orphanage numbers peak at 70,000+.
    “As a result of the industrialisation of the country and the rapid disappearance of traditional extended family networks, international adoption was supplied by the tens of thousands of Korean children often born to young factory workers who were abandoned, and declared foundlings in the brutal turmoil of internal migration and urbanisation. The number of abandoned children increased dramatically from 715 in 1955 to 11,319 in 1964 after when it started to slow down, while the number of orphanage inmates reached its peak in 1967 with 71,816 children affiliated to 602 institutions (Miller, 1971). Between 1955-70, a total of 80,520 children were abandoned with urban poverty as the reason stated for half of the cases...” (Hubinette)


  • It’s highly notable that from 1964-1966, KSS was only dealing with two Partner Western Adoption Agencies: Welcome House / Pearl S. Buck Foundation - (Pennsylvania, US) and Lutheran Social Services (LSS) - (Minnesota, US). Later KSS formed partnerships with Wereldkinderen - (Netherlands), Adoption Center (AC) - (Denmark), and Terre des Hommes - (Switzerland). (KSS wouldn’t partner with Family / Foreign Adoption Consultants (FAC) / F&CS Foster Care and Adoption Service - (Michigan, US) until 1985). (Please see the complete timeline of these partnerships below this section).

    • It’s highly possible that owing to the “Korean orphanage numbers peaking at 70,000+” in 1967 (Hubinette - see bullet point above) that KSS was spurred to form additional partnerships beyond it’s first Western Partner Adoption Agency: Welcome House / Pearl S. Buck Foundation - (Pennsylvania, US).

      • Source: KSS Adoptees

      • Source: Dr. Philsik Shin (Korean orphanage numbers peaking in 1967/1968)

  • 1967: Lutheran Social Services (LSS) initiated a Korea adoption program in Minnesota.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • 1967: Adoptions to Sweden begin, extend to rest of Scandinavia “by end of decade”. (Note: KSS did NOT adopt to Sweden).

  • 1968: 70,000 children in 600 institutions (orphanages) nationwide.

  • 1969: Western receiving countries have expanded beyond the U.S. to include countries in Scandinavia, western Europe, Canada, Australia, and NZ.

  • 1969 or 1970: KSS begins to adopt to the Netherlands. The vast majority of Dutch Adoptees are adopted through KSS.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

    • 1969: Dutch expat Jan de Hartog, who lived in the US and became a Quaker, wrote a book about adopting 2 Korean daughters: “Before starting work on the second in the Martinus series, Jan wrote of the experience of adopting his two daughters, who were Korean War orphans, in ‘The Children’, which appeared in 1969.”

  • 1970 (or 1969): KSS begins to adopt to Denmark around 1969. According to a Danish KSS Adoptee: “Adoption Center (AC Børnehjælp) got a license to operate with KSS in 1969 and Glemte Børn (later Danadopt) got permission to work with Holt. And Terres de Hommes also (got permission to work) with Holt for special needs children over 5 years of age. Before 1969 it was Glemte Børn alone but they were not very organized and only got limited permission for around 12 children. From which agency I do not know. But (there were) a very limited number of adoptions to Denmark from Korea before 1969.”


  • End of 1960s: “At the end of the 1960s, Korea’s international adoption program suddenly gained worldwide popularity. Even if the initial impetus arose out of a rescue mission to adopt mixed children, international adoption had become a last resort for infertile middle-class couples, under pressure to live up to the post-war mandate of building a normative nuclear family. In the West, adoption was legitimised by a left-liberal ideology that framed it as a progressive, anti-racist act of rescuing a destitute child from the “miseries of the Third World”, and a way to create a so-called rainbow family (Benet, 1976: 120-126; Kirton, 2000; Masson, 2001; Solinger, 2003: 20-32; Triseliotis, 2000). The demand from Western countries for Korean children increased concurrently with a growing shortage of working class children available domestically. This was a result of the legalisation of abortion, increased availability of contraceptives, a growing societal tolerance for single mothers who became eligible for government welfare, but, above all, the general strengthening of women’s rights after the sexual revolution of 1968 (Doreen Farrar, 1999; Solinger, 1992; Zelizer, 1985) was a major contributing force.” (Hubinette 2004)

  • Relinquishment Years 1968/9-1978: KSS introduces a new 4 vs. 5 digit K-Number system for Adoptees sent to the US, Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland. KSS begins to encode the first digit of a 4 or 5 digit K-Number with a code for its Western Adoption Agencies (US, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland - see below for codes). KSS numbers siblings and twins sequentially in the last digit.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • 1968/9-2011/12: KSS numbers siblings sequentially in the last digit.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • Beginning of the 1970s: Already from the beginning of the 1970s, the absolute majority of the children adopted overseas were by now full Korean and still mostly girls, although the proportion of boys was on the increase. The abandoned children who had constituted 55-65 percent of the total in the 1960s as well as those coming from broken families had, by the end of the decade, increasingly been replaced with the children of unmarried mothers from middle class backgrounds. About half of the children were from these unwed women, with the remaining half still comprised of young factory workers (Spencer, 1988; Tahk, 1986a, 1986b). Furthermore, the ratio of disabled children was gradually growing, constituting one out of four adoptions. Among the receiving countries, it is no coincidence that those who had sided with the anti-Communist alliance in the war and continued to be important political allies and trade partners took in the most children; the United States, Norway and Sweden beginning in the 1950s, Denmark, Canada, France, Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands from the 1960s, and, finally, Luxembourg in 1984. In addition, since the 1960s, Korean children also went to West Germany, Italy and Switzerland and smaller numbers to England, New Zealand, Ireland, Spain and Finland. (Hubinette)

  • 1968/9 – 2011/12: KSS uses a 4 vs. 5 digit K-Number system in the US. Unlike European Adoptees after 1978, who began to receive all 5 digit K-Numbers beginning in 1979, KSS uses a 4 vs. 5 digit K-Number system for US Adoptees up to different points of time per KSS’ Partner Western Adoption Agency (Welcome House, LSS, and FAC).

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • 1972: KSS begins to adopt to Switzerland around this time.

    • Source: KSS Website (Note that KSS Adoptees believe that KSS began to adopt to Switzerland around 1968).


  • 1970s/80s: Peak years of Korean adoption coincided with the expansion of Korean immigration to the US (1965 Immigration and Nationality Act).

  • The first half of the 1970s: The first half of the 1970s also saw international adoption as playing a part in the struggle for legitimacy waged between the two Koreas. North Korea accused its southern neighbour of selling Korean offspring for profit to Westerners (Park Soon Ho, 1994: 52). The negative attention led to several panic-stricken temporary stops to Northern Europe and the promotion of domestic adoption, while the adoption program itself was transformed into something close to a state secret as its numbers were classified from 1974 and separated from emigration and diaspora statistics (Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2002; Pyôn, Yi & Kim, 1999: 47). (Hubinette).


    The temporary stops mainly concerned the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway and Denmark between 1970-75, partly motivated by a high preponderance of disrupted adoptions where adoptees were placed at institutions and foster homes and the discovery of cases of maltreatment of adopted Korean children in those countries, and partly by the open reporting of North Korea criticism in the left-leaning Scandinavian media (Dagens Nyheter, 1/7/71; Korea Newsreview, 2/8/75; Korea Times12/15/74; Seoul Shinmun, 12/5/74). Nevertheless, business resumed after intense lobbying from the three Scandinavian counties. Particularly, Sweden played an important role in the campaign to abolish the temporary prohibitions by making use of its position in the U.N. Security Council. During the turbulent period, adoptive parents were encouraged to come to Korea and pick up their children to avoid negative publicity of escorted “mail order babies”, and they were explicitly told to observe secrecy in the media concerning their adoption of Korean children.


    In response to the North Korean accusations and to bolster the negative image of the country, a revision of the law, in 1976, renaming it the Special Adoption Law (Ibyangt’ûgryêbôp), made domestic adoption, foster care and sponsorship easier, and a plan for the gradual phasing out of international adoption by 1981 (with the exception from mixed and handicapped children) was announced (Breckenridge, 1977; Chun Byung Hoon, 1989; Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2002; Sarri, Baik & Bombyk, 1998; Korea Herald, 9//15/76; Korea Times, 7/18/86). At the same time, the number of receiving countries was restricted to eleven, and the agencies, limited to four, were required to be wholly run by Koreans: Social Welfare Society, Holt Children’s Services, Korea Social Services and Eastern Child Welfare Society. The Five Year Plan for Adoption and Foster Care (1976-81) aimed at reducing the number of international adoptions by 1,000 annually and simultaneously increasing domestic adoptions by 500 through the introduction of a system of quotas. Regulated by the Social Welfare Society, the quota was based on the number of domestic adoptions placed the previous year (Kim Una, 2002; Yun Yông-su, 1993: 42-43).
    (Hubinette: http://www.tobiashubinette.se/adoption_history.pdf)

  • 1972: “Eastern Child Welfare Society was founded as the fourth of the Korean agencies still handling international adoption today. Thus, at the beginning of the 1970s as many as seven agencies operated in the field: Seventh Day Adventists, Child Placement Service, Catholic Relief Service, Holt Children’s Services, Korea Social Service, Welcome House and Eastern Child Welfare Society (Chakerian, 1968: 49-57).” (Hubinette 2004)
    *Note: Welcome House operated physically in Korea.

  • 1973: “Holt’s director Jack Theis stated: “Korean orphans adopted abroad have turned into some of the country’s best goodwill ambassadors” (Korea News Review, 2/10/73). Two years later, the Swedish ambassador Bengt Odevall said in an interview: “The adoption program is one of the most successful undertakings between our two countries…I might say the relations between us can be likened to a blood-bonded one in consideration of the successful adoption program (Korea Newsreview, 10/18/75).” (Hubinette 2004)

  • 1973: According to the Love Suwon journal article, KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik's nephew, Kim Won-young established Kyung-gi (Gyeonggi) Social Service, alternately known as The Kyonggi (Gyeonggi) Social Service Center in Suwon.

    • Source: Dr. Kyungeun Lee

  • 1974: “Canadian social worker Sydney Byma (1974) also warned that international adoption actually hindered the development of a domestic social welfare system in Korea, while International Social Service and Save the Children concluded that the existence of an efficient adoption policy in Korea encouraged parents to abandon their children in their belief of a better material life in a Western country, or, even more disturbingly, to use adoption as form of retroactive abortion (Kim Una, 2002; Lee Hye-Kyung, 1993; Korea News Review, 12/21/74).” (Hubinette 2004)

  • October 14, 1974: St. Paul Pioneer Press “Multiracial Adoption was Couple’s Need”... “influenced by the progressive race politics of recent civil rights struggles… The family profiled, the Greggs, were portrayed as the model transracially and transnationally adoptive family, having adopted a Korean girl and mixed-raced African American boy not because of infertility but out of humanitarian interests.” (Park Nelson 15)

  • 1975: Adoption Slowdown in Korea. In response to criticism from N. Korea about S. Korea’s international adoption program, S. Korean dictator Park Chung Hee creates a quota system which required that a certain number of domestic adoptions be accomplished before international adoptions could resume. This quota system failed, due to the concept of adoption being foreign to native Koreans.

    • Source: Dr. Kyungeun Lee

  • Around 1975 foreign aid began to decrease for orphanages. Rather than pick up the slack and provide support for orphanages which were overflowing with children, the Korean government declined to provide orphanages with financial support, and instead put an increased emphasis on international adoption. Thus children began to be moved in great numbers from orphanages to adoption agencies. (You can see this reflected in the fact that in the decade of the 1970s, 1976 was the absolute peak of international adoption from Korea). Thus orphanages and adoption agencies were at odds - orphanages could not say no to the transfer of children from their facilities to adoption agencies. Many orphanages consolidated or closed in the wake of the loss of foreign funding.

    • Source: Dr. Philsik Shin

  • 1975/1976: Mrs. Choon Hee Kim (Mrs. Kim) begins to work as a social worker at KSS in Seoul. According to Mrs. Choon Hee KIM herself (who as of 2023 still works as a social worker at KSS and is likely KSS’ Director), when she first began working at KSS she was not a social worker, but worked in Administration.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • August 10, 1975: August 10, 1975 Seattle Times Magazine article with the headline “Adopted Koreans Fully ‘Americanized’” (successful assimilation of Korean adoptees, positioning them as “All-American”)...the article uses Korean adoption as a precedent (20+ years earlier) comparison to Vietnamese Operation Babylift “to reassure readers that Vietnamese adoptees will grow up well-adjusted, well-assimilated and happy.” (Park Nelson 4).

  • 1976: Dag Ahlander (1976), secretary at the Swedish embassy in Seoul, informed his countrymen that international adoption must be considered a Western upper-class phenomenon and that it causes strongly negative reactions in the countries of origin. Ahlander referred to how Korean media had portrayed the leading adopting country of Sweden in a negative way as the Swedes demanded more and more Korean children. (Hubinette 2004)
    *Note: Mrs. Kim of KSS had said that Denmark at some point paid (either KSS or the Korean Government, it’s unclear) to restart adoption from S. Korea to Denmark following an adoption slowdown in the 1970s.

  • 1976: The Korean government designated 4 major native Korean Adoption Agencies which could process international adoptions: Holt, ESWS, SWS, and KSS. KSS was always the smallest of the 4 Korean Adoption Agencies. Holt, a US Adoption Agency, at this point split into Holt Korea and Holt US, so as to qualify as one of the 4 “native” Korean Adoption Agencies.

    • Source: Hubinette (paraphrased)

  • 1975 or 1976: KSS temporarily slows or stops adoptions to Scandinavia (including Denmark) due to abuse cases of Adoptees reported in the press. Adoptions eventually resume following intense pressure and it is rumored that perhaps KSS was paid to restart adoptions to Denmark.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • 1976: Peak year of international adoption of the decade of the 1970s.

    • Source: Wikipedia, multiple sources

  • 1978: KSS stops adopting to Switzerland.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • After 1979: Currently, we can find no examples of KSS Twins adopted after 1979. (Please let us know if you know of any). This is possibly due to the fact that Welcome House appears to have stopped sourcing children from KSS around the late 1970s or early 1980s.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • 1979: KSS implements a new K-Number system for European Adoptees, and begins to give ALL European Adoptees (those sent to the Netherlands and Denmark) sequential 5 digit K-Numbers. By contrast, KSS continues to differentiate between 4 and 5 digit K-Numbers for the US between 1969 – various points per each of KSS’ Partner Western Adoption Agencies.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • 1980: Around this year, KSS’ US partner Agency Welcome House seems to stop working with KSS. Welcome House begins to work first with SWS in Korea, and in the early – mid 1980s, begins to work with Holt in Korea instead of KSS.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • Early – mid 1980s: KSS’ former US partner Agency Welcome House appears to begin to work with first SWS (now KWS) in Korea, and then Holt as its Korean partner Adoption Agency.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • 1985: KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik dies.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • 1985: KSS begins to work with Family / Foreign Adoption Consultants / FAC/ F&CS Foster Care and Adoption Service (Michigan) in the US. Perhaps this is because KSS was no longer working with Welcome House in the US and needed a replacement partner US Adoption Agency.

    • KSS and FAC have been working together since 1985. Family Adoption Consultants is now F&CS Foster Care and Adoption Services.

      • Source: KSS Adoptees

      • Link

  • 1988: The S. Korean government precipitously slows international adoption in the wake of criticism it had received for its “Baby Export” program as a result of publicity surrounding the Olympics.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees, multiple sources, widely known

  • 2006: KSS stops working with the Netherlands. It is rumored that there was a personal falling out between KSS and Wereldkinderen, the Dutch Adoption Agency.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees

  • 2011 or 2012: KSS stops processing adoptions.

    • It is said that KSS was supposed to turn over a certain portion of the millions of dollars it had accrued to the Korean government once it stopped processing adoptions. However, KSS apparently said that because it was still doing “Post Adoption Services”, that it was still open, and thus it held onto the millions of dollars and never turned it over to the government. (See below).

    • KSS is still in operation as a business, despite no longer processing adoptions. It has a major park and it may also operate facilities for the elderly or handicapped.

  • 2012: Special Adoption Law in Korea implemented.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees, multiple sources, widely known

  • 2011 - Present: KSS conducts files reviews for Adoptees at its Post Adoption Services building in Seoul. Apparently: "When KSS left the adoption business they kept the money, amounting to 9 to 10 million US dollars. Since the adoption agency needs the government's permission to do inter-country adoption, when you leave the business, you need some permission or authorization too. KSS kept the money on the basis that they stopped the intermediary work of inter-country adoption, but they will continue the post adoption services." In other words, KSS kept money it was supposed to turn over to the government, due to the post-adoption services which they provide for KSS Adoptees.

    • Source: KSS Adoptees


  • As of 2022: While KSS ceased its overseas adoption program in 2011 or 2012, KSS is still in business. It operates the Green Hill Training Center / 청려수련원.

  • As of 2022: As of 2022 we believe that KSS is currently owned by the daughter-in-law of KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠). We believe that KSS is currently owned by Kun Chil Paik’s deceased son’s wife. Kun Chil Paik’s son was a past Director of KSS.

KSS History From The Korean Version of KSS’ Website.

Below is KSS’ history according to its own timeline on its Korean website:

http://www.kssinc.org/kor/donation/history.php

(To learn how to do a Birth Family Search through KSS - ONLY if you are a KSS Adoptee - please see:

Step by Step Korea Social Service (KSS) Birth Family Search)

KSS History From The Korean Version of KSS’ Website.

*Please note that the English translations were generated via ChatGPT.
*Please note that we have bolded some important items.

2011년 ~ 현재

  • 2011

    • 강남대학교 사회복지 학과 협약식 (사회복지 분야 산학 공동연구 및 전문인력 양성을 위한 협력)

    • 제 1회 경기도 동탄 연말 독거노인 사랑의 쌀나눔 행사

  • 2014

    • 동탄 한림대학교병원 MOU 협약체결 (인프라교류 및 사회공헌문화 정착 관련)

    • 오산 한국병원 MOU 협약체결 (인프라교류 및 사회공헌문화 정착 관련)

  • 2016

    • 서울사무소 리모델링 후 상담소 이전식( 쌍문동 533-5번지)

    • 법인사무소 주소 이전(서울시 도봉구 삼양로162가길 42-49)

    • 가족 복지 프로그램을 위한 청려 패밀리 파크 조성 착수

    • 동탄 4동 종합사회복지관 MOU체결 ( 지역사회복지 관련 교류 및 사회공헌문화 정착)

  • 2017

    • 동탄 사랑의 밑반찬 나눔 재가 방문 서비스 사업 시행 준비

    • 지역상생 프로젝트 - 나눔농장 사업 착수

    • 노인 주야간 보호 센터 사업을 위한 준비

+
 
 2011 ~ Present

    • 2011

      • Signing ceremony for the Department of Social Welfare collaboration at Gangnam University (collaboration for joint research and professional workforce development in the field of social welfare)

      • The 1st Gyeonggi-do Dongtan end-of-year rice sharing event for elderly living alone

    • 2014

      • Signing of MOU with Dongtan Hallym University Hospital (related to infrastructure exchange and establishment of a culture of social contribution)

      • Signing of MOU with Osan Korea Hospital (related to infrastructure exchange and establishment of a culture of social contribution)

    • 2016

      • Relocation ceremony for counseling center after remodeling of Seoul office (533-5 Ssangmun-dong)

        • *Paperslip Note: 2016 is the year that KSS tore down the old campus and sold the land for apartment development.

        • You can find Google Maps links which allow you to see what the old campus looked like, as well as find the current location of KSS’ last remaining Post Adoption Services building here:
          The KSS Receiving Home in Seoul -The Old KSS Campus.

      • Relocation of corporate office address (42-49 Samyang-ro 162ga-gil, Dobong-gu, Seoul)

        • *Paperslip Note: 42-49 Samyang-ro 162ga-gil, Dobong-gu, Seoul is the present day address of KSS’ Post Adoption Services building in Seoul. It is the last remaining building of KSS’ campus, and all of our adoption files are stored here.

        • *Learn how to request your Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary, conduct a birth family search and schedule an appointment to meet with a social worker at KSS in Seoul here:
          Step by Step Korea Social Service (KSS) Birth Family Search.

      • Commencement of Cheongryeo Family Park development for family welfare programs

      • Signing of MOU with Dongtan 4-dong Integrated Social Welfare Center (exchange in local community welfare and establishment of a culture of social contribution)

    • 2017

      • Preparation for implementation of Dongtan Love Side Dish Sharing Home Visit Service

      • Launch of Community Coexistence Project - Sharing Farm Project

      • Preparation for Senior Day and Night Protection Center project


+

2000년 ~2010년

  • 2001

    • 청와대 이희호 여사 '애덤 킹( 한국명: 오인호)군' 초청행사
      참석

  • 2005

    • 법인 목적 사업 확대에 따른 정관 변경

    • 제1회 본 회 주최 가정의달 행사
      (장소: 본회 잔듸밭,참석자: 위탁모, 자원봉사자)

    • 국내입양 홍보 가두캠페인 실시

  • 2006

    • 전봉윤 회장 취임

    • 제1회 입양의 날 기념식 참석

  • 2007

    • 이명림 한국사회봉사회 회장 취임

    • 새싹동산 청려수련원 3층 증축

  • 2008

    • 조선피(JOH SUN P) 이사장 취임

    • 제 1회 후원자의 날 행사(법인주최, 장소: 청려수련원 강당)

  • 2009

    • 제 1회 경기도 동탄면 독거노인 어르신 "복달임 행사"
      (법인주최, 장소: 청려수련원 강당)

    • 제 1회 경기도 동탄면 어르신 경로잔치
      (법인주최, 장소: 청려수련원 강당)

  • 2010

    • 경기대학교 청소년학과 협약식
      (청소년육성사업 산학 공동연구 및 프로그램 개발 관련)

    • 무봉종합사회복지관 협약식
      (청소년 수련활동 및 프로그램 교유를 위한 협력)

    • 평택시 무봉산 청소년수련원
      (청소년 수련활동 및 프로그램 교유를 위한 협력)

    • 화성시 다문화 가족지원센터 MOU협약 체결
      (다문화가족지원 사업 및 프로그램 교류 및 기획)

+
 
 2000 ~ 2010

    • 2001

      • Attended an event hosted by First Lady Lee Hee-ho at Cheong Wa Dae, inviting Adam King (Korean name: Oh In-ho)

    • 2005

      • Amendment of articles of association due to expansion of corporate objectives

      • The 1st event hosted by our organization for Family Month (Venue: Our organization's garden, attendees: foster mothers, volunteers)

      • Domestic adoption promotion and campaign conducted

    • 2006

      • Chairman Jeon Bong-yoon takes office

      • Attended the commemoration ceremony for Adoption Day

    • 2007

      • Inauguration of President Lee Myung-rim of the Korean Social Welfare Society

      • Expansion of the 3rd floor of Ssaesakdongsan Cheongryeo Training Center

    • 2008

      • CEO Joh Sun-p takes office

      • The 1st event for sponsors (Hosted by our organization, Venue: Cheongryeo Training Center Auditorium)

    • 2009

      • The 1st event for elderly living alone in Dongtan-myeon, Gyeonggi Province, "Bokdalim Event" (Hosted by our organization, Venue: Cheongryeo Training Center Auditorium)

      • The 1st event for the elderly in Dongtan-myeon, Gyeonggi Province, "Gyeongnojan Chi" (Hosted by our organization, Venue: Cheongryeo Training Center Auditorium)

    • 2010

      • Signing ceremony for cooperation with the Department of Youth Studies at Gyeonggi University (collaboration for research and program development in youth development projects)

      • Signing ceremony with Mubong Comprehensive Social Welfare Center (cooperation for youth training activities and program exchange)

      • Cooperation with Pyeongtaek Mubong Mountain Youth Training Center (cooperation for youth training activities and program exchange)

      • Signing of MOU with Hwaseong Multicultural Family Support Center (cooperation for multicultural family support projects, program exchange, and planning)


+

1980년 ~1990년

  • 1980

    • 경기도 화성시 동탄면 중리 산 129-4에 아동 및 청소년을
      위한 새싹동산 사회복지센터 부지조성공사 착공

  • 1985

    • 김종희 이사장 취임

    • 미국 사회복지기관(FOREIGN ADOPTION CONSULTANTS)
      과 상호협조 협정

    • 미국 사회복지기관(FAMILY ADOPTION CONSULTANTS)과
      상호협조 협정

  • 1986

    • 경기도 화성시 동탄면 중리 산 129-4에 새싹동산 사회복지
      센터 부지 조성공사 완공

    • 경기도 화성시 동탄면 중리 산 129-4에 아동 및 청소년을
      위한 새싹동산 청려수련원 신축공사 착공

  • 1987

    • 경기도 화성시 동탄면 중리 산 129-4에 새싹동산 청려수련원
      신축 공사 완공

  • 1988

    • 새싹동산 청려수련원 개원 및 김종희 원장 취임
      청소년육성사업을 목적사업으로 함에 따라 정관 변경

  • 1989

    • 청소년육성법에 의거 새싹동산 청려수련원의 청소년전용시
      설 설치·운영 신고

  • 1990

    • 청소년기본법에 의거 새싹동산 청려수련원의 청소년수련마
      을 설치 및 운영인가

    • 김종희 회장 취임

~
 
1980 ~ 1990

    • 1980

      • Commencement of site development for Saessakdong-san Social Welfare Center for children and youth in Jungni Mountain, Dongtan-myeon, Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province (Address: 129-4)

    • 1985

      • CEO Kim Jong-hee takes office

      • Mutual cooperation agreement with FOREIGN ADOPTION CONSULTANTS, a social welfare agency in the United States

    • 1986

      • Completion of site development for Saessakdong-san Social Welfare Center in Jungni Mountain, Dongtan-myeon, Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province (Address: 129-4)

      • Commencement of construction for Saessakdong-san Cheongryeo Training Center for children and youth in Jungni Mountain, Dongtan-myeon, Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province (Address: 129-4)

    • 1987

      • Completion of construction for Saessakdong-san Cheongryeo Training Center in Jungni Mountain, Dongtan-myeon, Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province (Address: 129-4)

    • 1988

      • Opening of Saessakdong-san Cheongryeo Training Center and appointment of Director Kim Jong-hee, with the purpose of youth development projects, resulting in an amendment to the articles of association

    • 1989

      • Registration of installation and operation of a youth-only facility at Saessakdong-san Cheongryeo Training Center, in accordance with the Youth Development Act

    • 1990

      • Establishment and operation approval of a youth training camp at Saessakdong-san Cheongryeo Training Center, in accordance with the Basic Act on Youth

      • Chairman Kim Jong-hee takes office


+
 

1960년 ~1970년

  • 1963

    • 한국사회봉사회 창립준비위원회 조직 및 백근칠
      창립위원장 선임

  • 1964

    • 재단법인 한국사회봉사회 설립 허가 및 백근칠 이사장 겸
      회장 취임

    • 혼혈아동 및 전쟁고아를 위한 위탁 및 거택 보육사업 착수
      (미국 사회복지기관 FOSTER PARENTS PLAN 협조)

    • 아동상담사업 및 입양위탁 사업 착수

    • 아동복지시설 인가 및 일시보호소 개소 미국 사회복지 기관
      (WELCOME HOUSE, INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SERVICE,
      LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICE)과 상호협조 협정

  • 1969

    • 네덜란드 사회복지기관(NETHERLANDS INTERC
      OUNTRY CHILD WELFARE OGANIZATION)과 상호협조
      협정

    • 김종준 이사장 취임

  • 1970

    • 덴마크 사회복지기관 (AC INTERNATIONAL CHILD
      SUPPORT)과 상호협조 협정

  • 1971

    • 재단법인을 사회복지법인으로 변경함에 따라 정관 변경

  • 1972

    • 불우아동 후원사업 착수(국내후원자 및 한화아동재단 협조)

    • 스위스 사회복지기관 (TERRE DES HOMMES)과 상호협조
      협정

  • 1974

    • 김영희 회장 취임

  • 1975

    • 한국사회봉사회 부설 한화의원 개원

  • 1977

    • 법인 소재지를 서울특별시 도봉구 쌍문동 533-3으로
      변경함에 따라 정관 변경

    • 법인 목적사업을 확대함에 따라 정관 변경

  • 1978

    • 경기도 화성시 동탄면 중리 산 129-4에 새싹동산 청려수련원
      사업 착수

  • 1979

    • 백근칠 이사장 취임

+

1960 ~ 1970

    • 1963

      • Establishment of the preparatory committee for the founding of the Korean Social Welfare Society and appointment of Chairman Baek Geun-chil

    • 1964

      • Approval and establishment of the Foundation Corporation, Korean Social Welfare Society, and appointment of Baek Geun-chil as both Director and Chairman

      • Commencement of foster care and adoption programs for mixed-race children and war orphans (in cooperation with the social welfare agency FOSTER PARENTS PLAN)

      • Commencement of child counseling and adoption placement services

      • Licensing of child welfare facilities and opening of temporary shelters in cooperation with international social welfare organizations (WELCOME HOUSE, INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SERVICE, LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICE)

    • 1969

      • Mutual cooperation agreement with the Netherlands Intercountry Child Welfare Organization (NETHERLANDS INTERCOUNTRY CHILD WELFARE OGANIZATION)

      • CEO Kim Jong-jun takes office

    • 1970

      • Mutual cooperation agreement with AC International Child Support, a social welfare agency in Denmark

    • 1971

      • Amendment of articles of association due to the change of the Foundation Corporation to a Social Welfare Corporation

    • 1972

      • Commencement of sponsorship program for underprivileged children (in cooperation with domestic sponsors and the Korea Child Foundation)

      • Mutual cooperation agreement with Terre des Hommes, a social welfare agency in Switzerland

    • 1974

      • Kim Young-hee takes office as Chairman

    • 1975

      • Opening of Hanhwa Center, affiliated with the Korean Social Welfare Society

    • 1977

      • Amendment of articles of association due to the change of the corporation's location to 533-3 Ssangmun-dong, Dobong-gu, Seoul

      • Amendment of articles of association due to the expansion of the corporation's objectives

    • 1978

      • Initiation of Saessakdong-san Cheongryeo Training Center project in Jungni Mountain, Dongtan-myeon, Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province (Address: 129-4)

    • 1979

      • Baek Geun-chil takes office as Director

Below: The Establishment Dates of the 4 Major Korean Adoption Agencies.

Source: Power, Resistance, and Subjectivity: An Exploration of Overseas Korean Adoptees in Korea, by Andrea Kim Cavicchi (page 61)

The establishment dates of the 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies.

KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠) was connected to all of the other agencies in various ways, including SWS (now KWS), Holt, and ESWS.

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