Note:

*While this website is mostly geared toward Adoptees who were adopted through the Korean Adoption Agency Korea Social Service (KSS), there is also information here which is relevant to ALL Korean Adoptees, regardless of their Korean Adoption Agency. Please read carefully to note what info. is purely relevant to KSS Adoptees and what is generally relevant to ALL Korean Adoptees.

The information below is relevant to ALL Korean Adoptees.

What Both Korean Birth Parents and Korean Adoptees Should Know, But Often Don't Know.

Korean birth parents and Korean Adoptees are often both lied to by the Korean and Western Adoption Agencies in order to prevent reunions from happening. This is not always true, but is often true.

  • It is as though both sides can be pushing from different sides of the same wall, without being able to break through. The wall is the Korean and Western Adoption Agencies, which often seek to prevent reunions from happening.

  • Nevertheless, both Korean birth parents and Adoptees must both give written permission to the Korean Adoption Agencies to be put in contact with one another. Without this written permission, the Korean Adoption Agencies will not reunite Korean birth families with Adoptees.

  • Even after contacting the right Korean Adoption Agency, both Korean birth parents and Adoptees should take as many DNA tests as possible. Information on DNA testing can be found here for Korean birth parents and here for Korean Adoptees.

  • DNA testing after reunion is a must. Because of faslifcation in Adoptees’ files, DNA is the only truth.

    • Both Korean birth parents and Korean Adoptees can get a FREE DNA test from 325Kamra, both in Korea and around the world.

  • DNA tests:

    • 23 and Me is the largest database for those of Korean descent. We recommend taking this test FIRST if possible.

      • However, due to the fact that different people take different DNA tests, both Korean birth parents and Korean Adoptees must take all possible DNA tests in order to have the best chance of a reunion.

      • 23 and Me does not ship directly to Korea. For a FREE 23 and Me test, Korean birth parents can contact 325Kamra.

    • FTDNA and MyHeritage are also recommended DNA tests. Once a person takes a paid test like 23 and Me, raw data can be transferred for FREE to FTDNA and MyHeritage. FTDNA is a very small database. 325Kamra will help with this process.

    • Ancestry is another large database. Both 23 and Me and Ancestry are tests which must be paid for (325Kamra distributes multiple types of DNA tests in Korea for free to Korean birth parents, and distributes free DNA tests around the world to Korean Adoptees).

  • Many Korean birth parents do not know which Korean Adoption Agency their children were sent through for adoption, nor whether or not their children were ever adopted. Korean birth parents should know that starting in 1976, there were just 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies, all of which still have Post-Adoption Services for Korean Adoptees: Holt Korea, ESWS (formerly ECWS), KWS (formerly SWS), and KSS. So if a Korean birth parent does not know which agency their child was adopted through, they could try contacting all of the agencies, as there were just 4 beginning in 1976. (However, many private adoptions also occurred outside of the 4 major Korean Adoption Agencies).

  • Many Korean Adoptees do not know the name of their Korean Adoption Agency. In order to find out, Korean American Adoptees can file a FREE FOIA request which will return a great deal of information about an Adoptee’s adoption, including the name of her or his Korean Adoption Agency (if applicable). Please note that FOIA requests can take several months to process. Also please note that a FOIA request will NOT initiate a birth family search through either a Korean or a Western Adoption Agency. It is simply a request for information about one’s immigration to the US, and because Korean Adoptees were adopted across international borders, the FOIA documents often contain a treasure trove of adoption documents which the Korean Adoptee may or may not already have.

  • Most Korean Adoptees do not know that until and unless she or he initiates a birth family search through her or his correct Korean Adoption Agency, that even if the Korean birth parent has returned to the Korean Adoption Agency to try to locate their child, the Korean Adoption Agency will not put the birth parent into contact with the Adoptee. Both Korean birth parents and Korean Adoptees must give written permission to the Korean Adoption Agency in order to be put into reunion.

    • KSS Adoptees ONLY may initiate a Birth Family Search through KSS following the “Illustrated Step By Step Guide” on the Step By Step KSS Birth Family Search page.

    • Adoptees who were adopted through HOLT Korea, ESWS (formerly ECWS), or KWS (formerly SWS) should initiate a Birth Family Search through their respective Korean Adoption Agencies. General birth family search tips for ALL Korean Adoptees, regardless of their Korean or Western Adoption Agency, can be found on the Birth Family Search Tips For ALL Korean Adoptees page.

  • Orphanization: Many Korean birth parents and many Korean Adoptees don’t know that the vast majority of Korean Adoptees were “Orphanized” - told in their English adoption paperwork that they were “abandoned” with “no birth parent information”, even if the Korean Adoption Agency secretly kept information about known birth parents or family. Therefore, a lot of Korean Adoptees grew up thinking that there was no way to locate or search for their Korean birth parents. As part of the process of "Orphanization”, Korean Adoptees’ birthdates, Korean names, and cities of birth were often made up or changed / falsified, for the purpose of hiding what was often known information about their Korean birth parents. This is another reason why DNA testing is so important (please see above).

    • Secretly, the Korean Adoption Agencies kept information about Korean Adoptees’ real origins which the Adoption Agencies do not easily shared with Korean Adoptees.

    • KSS Adoptees ONLY can request their Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary, the KSS specific document which sometimes but does not always contain birth parent names, by following the “Illustrated Step by Step Guide” here.

      • More information about Orphanization as it relates to KSS Adoptees can be found on the Orphanization page.

      • More information about Orphanization as it relates to Korean Adoptees in general can be found on the Orphanization Part II page.