- Author: Principal Researcher (Lee, Mi-Jeong), Co-researchers (Kim, Hye-Young / Kim, Seung-Yeon / Ryu, Yuyn-Kyu)
- Title: Reviewing Issues on Unwed Mothers' Welfare in Korea - Intercountry Adoption, Related Statistics, and Welfare Policies in Developed Countries
- Language: Korean, English
- Publication Date: May 2009
- Publisher: Korean Women's Development Institute
- Sponsor: Korean Unwed Mothers' Support Network (KUMSN)
■ Summary
Intercountry Adoption and Unwed Mothers
The current welfare status of unwed mothers and their children are closely related to the practices of intercountry adoption in Korea. Expansion of intercountry adoption(hereafter ICA) in Korea during past decades has prevented the government from building sound welfare infrastructure for unwed mothers and children. There are few studies reviewing the effect of ICA on welfare system for unwed mothers and children.
Korea is the country which has sent the largest number of her children to foreign countries by ICA. As a temporary measure, ICA started after Korean War to save war orphans and mix-blooded children between US servicemen and Korean women. It is ironic that more number of Korean adoptees was sent to foreign countries during the period when Korea was attaining rapid socioeconomic development and moving vigorously toward a developed country rather than during the period when Korea was hit hard by war and poverty.
Though ICA started as a temporary measure, it has become institutionalized and expanded when there were not many war orphans and mixed-blooded children. Children out of wedlock have been the main source of supply for ICA since 1980s. Faced with social stigma and economic difficulties, most unwed mothers could not keep their children. In Korea where patriarchal lineage is strongly emphasized, families without a son wanting to continue the lineage have traditionally adopted a nephew. The adopted nephew maintains family relationship both with family of orientation and adopted family. The traditional practices also affect civil code articles on adoption.
There have been two tracks of laws for adopting children within Korea: Civil Code and Special Act relating to Promotion and Procedures of Adoption (hereafter SAPPA). The SAPPA is rooted in the 1961 Special Act to Promote Adoption of Orphans. Before the 1961 Act, people are adopted according to Civil Code heavily influenced by traditional adoption practices. The government needed a new law enabling orphans to be adopted across the national border. The adoption practices by Civil Code are very different from SAPPA. Traditional motivation for adoption is to continue patriarchal family lineage. Family without a son used to adopt a child of relatives. The adopted child keeps maintaining relationship with and rights to inherit from biological parents. According to Civil Code, adoption is not limited to children. Adults and even the married can be adopted too. According to Civil Code, adoption contract is made by mutual agreement of adoptee and adoptive parents. Adoptee less than 15 needs permission from parents or legal guardian. Dissolution of adoptive relation is accorded by agreement of the two parties. Adoption based on Civil Code is far behind in protecting the welfare of adoptee children.
The 1961 Act was abolished and renamed as 1976 Special Adoption Act to cover both inter country and domestic adoption. In 1995, it is renamed as SAPPA to strengthen the welfare of adopted children and to promote domestic adoption. Under the influence of Confucian tradition, family bond and lineage have been strongly emphasized in Korea, which consequently affect adoption law and practices. Despite the new special act for adoption, many are not ready to adopt abandoned and relinquished children even when they want adoption. High proportion of domestic adoption is presumed to be done secretly. Many adoptive parents report their adopted child as their birth child to administrative office.
According to 2008 adoption statistics issued by Office of Court Administration, only 49 out of total 1,306 cases based on SAPPA are reported to Court. It means that parents reported them as their own birth child rather than adopted child. Adoptive parents do not want to have their friends and relatives know their child adopted. Most domestic adoption cases collected by Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family are not reported to Court as adoption. It means they are adopted secretly. Adoption act regulating domestic adoption practices is not efficient in preventing secrete adoption practices. Though attitudes toward adoption are changing favorable, it is still not well received among most Koreans.
In the mid 1970s, faced with domestic and international criticism, Korean government has tried to curb down ICA from mid 1970s and succeeded in increasing domestic adoption and decreasing ICA until Chun regime came into power in 1981. Chun regime did not try to reduce ICA and the number reached it speak in the mid 1980s. In 1985, 8,837 Korean children were sent overseas as adoptees, which constitute 1.35% of new-born babies. Korea drew international attention as she hosted 1988 Seoul Olympic and got harsh criticism for high incidence of ICA by Western media. After the game, it decreased by 35% within a year and by 54% within two years. The drastic drop indicates ICA could be easily affected by adoption related policy. Adoption agency has played an important role in expansion of ICA. The motivation of adoption agency to maintain itself is related to high incidence of ICA in Korea. Various issues and problems of ICA have been raised regarding adoptee’s inconsistent records on adoptees, adoption fees, and adoption procedure without consent from biological mother. It is often reported that staffs in mother’s shelter run by adoption agencies have led unwed mothers to give up their children for adoption.
After the Olympic game, many adoptees have visited Korea to find their mothers and family. During the period of late 1980s and early 1990s, 3,000 to 5,000 adoptees are estimated to visit Korea. Stories of family search among adoptees have frequently hit the air and been covered by media. In 1998, President Kim apologized for failing to protect them within Korea and sending them overseas. In 1999, the status of overseas Koreans and accordingly favorable visa status and benefits were given to them. In 1995 SAPPA, it is required to provide various service and support for adoptees in the form of culture, language, and family search program.
Watching family search program of adoptees and sharing their stories, most Koreans have felt strong empathy for them. Their stories have brought heightened attention to adoptees and related past of Korean society. But, public attention has seldom given to unwed mothers who are mothers of most adoptees. They have been silent and hidden from eyes of Korean society. Government and most opinion leaders agree that ICA has to stop in near future and domestic adoption has been suggested as the alternative. They have not well recognized that top priority should be given to unwed mothers and their children. It is quite contradictory to worry about low-level of fertility while 1,250 Korean children were still sent overseas as adoptees in 2008.
The outpouring of narratives has revealed painful journey in search of self-identity and root among adoptees. Growing up in the society whose majority have different race from adoptees, they said they felt confused and marginal. Adoptees returning to and residing in Korea formed activist groups to advocate the rights of adoptees and unwed mothers. Advocacy for unwed mothers is first publically spoken by adoptees rather than themselves.
Despite prevalence of social prejudice, the attitudes of unwed mothers toward themselves and their children have changed tremendously. Analysis based on case studies and materials on unwed mothers during the period of 1984 and 2009 shows that they have felt less ashamed of non-marital births, more openly expressed their love for babies, and are more optimistic about their future among recent mothers. Although most of them worry about how to earn their livelihood, their will to keep their children is strong than ever. Abolition of patriarchal family registry, Hoju system decreases the importance of male presence to establish legal status of new-born baby. More economic opportunities are available to women nowadays than past several decades. One teenage mother even rejects marriage proposal of child’s father saying that it is not a good solution to fix broken relationship.
According to small scale surveys based on mothers residing in facilities, increasingly more unwed mothers want to keep their children instead of giving them up for adoption. The proportion of mothers who want to keep their children has increased from 5.8% in 1984 to 31.7% in 2005. It indicates that government should play an active role in providing adequate services for unwed mothers. Government services have been focused on shelters and residence providing services for the mothers who are close to delivery and care infants. The residence period of these facilities is limited to 1 or 2 years. Once they are out of the facilities, there is no way to trace where they are. Low-income unwed mothers with children living in community are supposed to get welfare payment based on National Minimum Protection Law. But, the welfare coverage seems to be very limited.
The importance of welfare policy for unwed-mother family has been largely ignored. Despite the surge of women’s movement during the past two decades, there have been no self-help and advocacy groups for them.
Most adoptees sent overseas in recent decades are children of unwed mothers. They organized advocacy groups and have demanded government to improve welfare support for the mothers. Moral judgment against out-of-wedlock births has decreased among the public. The mothers themselves are also more concerned about how to make a living and support children rather than how to be perceived. Government should make efforts to provide adequate support and services for unwed mother family in community.
Related Statistics on Unwed Mothers
It has been believed that Korean Population Census contains statistics on unwed mothers. But, it is confirmed through this study that it is not the case. Misunderstanding arises from a cross table National Statistical Office provides. In the table showing the distribution of never-married household type by family composition type, the number of never-married household is broken down by mother-child or father-child family type. The combination of never-married household and mother-child family looks like family consisting of unwed mother and children. But, it is not. In the Population Census questionnaire, birth experiences are not asked to those women who answered never-married to marital status question. In sum, the 1995 Korean Population Census questionnaire is not designed to collect information on whether never-married women have a child and how many children they have. Therefore, it is impossible to figure out the number of unwed mothers based on Census.
Unwed mother is defined as a woman who is pregnant or have given birth without legal marriage. Mother in de facto marriage is not classified unwed mother. Despite the simple definition, figuring out who is unwed mother is very complicated matter. Marital status of a woman is not fixed and could change over her life cycle. Unwed-mother status disappears after marriage. Biological fathers of the children of unwed mothers are not necessarily unmarried. In patriarchal Korean society, many unwed mothers are one of many partners of a socioeconomically able man.
In the old Hoju system, the child is often enlisted in father’s family registry while living with its biological mother and supported by father. In this case, child and mother are in different family registry. Married, divorced, and separated women could give births out-of-wedlock and they are regarded as unwed mothers by definition. But, with their children within marriage, they are not unwed mothers. They can be both wed and unwed mothers according to couples’marital status under which a child is born. In sum, it is almost impossible and unnecessary to count total number of unwed mothers matched the definition.
The reason why we want to know the number of unwed mothers is to figure out the amount of resources required to support unwed mothers raising children under economic difficulties. It is easy and feasible to estimate the number of unwed mothers through child related statistics. Birth statistics including number of out-of-wedlock births and non-marital birth rates are presented in Table 1.
According to Table 1, the number of out-of-wedlock births has reached its peak in 1994 and decreased to the lowest in 1997. Korea was hit hard by economic crisis, which notably affected marriage and fertility behaviors of young people. Since the 1997 recession, the number increased to 7,774 in 2007. Non-marital birth rates have ranged from 0.6 to 1.6 during the period of 1989 and 2007. The rate is extremely low compared to other OECD countries. According to a survey funded by Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family, the number of abortion among never-married is estimated to be 143,918 cases in 2005. 95.7% of total out-of-wedlock pregnancy resulted in abortion.
Table 2 shows the destination of children of unwed mothers. 2,758 children are adopted domestically and internationally in 1991. The statistics on the adopted are provided by Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family. 899 children of unwed mothers are adopted within country and 1,859 outside country in 1991. 472 children are estimated to live with their own mothers in 1991. But, we cannot figure out specifically where 4,029 remaining number of children are located. Estimated number of unwed mothers raising their own children is presented by children’s age. In 2009, there are 2,464 unwed mothers living with children aged 2 and below and 15,783 unwed mothers with children aged 18 and below.
Table 4 presents expected location of unidentified children of unwed mothers. They are expected to be adopted domestically, in foster care, or in institutional care. The adopted should be reported in court to gain a legal status. The court record on domestic adoption is supposed to include all domestic adoption cases kept in statistics of Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family. But, 96.2% to 97.5% of the statistics are not reported in court. In 1991, 2,568 cases of adoption reported in court contain only 2.5% to 3.8% of domestic adoption statistics of Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family. Unidentified children of unwed mothers could be placed in domestic adoption reported in court, in foster care, or in institutional care. If more detailed information on children in the three types of care is available, we can figure out more specific number of children unidentified in each type of care.
Welfare Policies in Developed Countries
It is similar to Korea that the number of single parent family is increasing in advanced countries. But there’s no need to provide benefits for unwed mothers because divorce and cohabiting is prevailing. Nevertheless there’re many policies for unwed(single) parents for their relatively storing need for income, housing, employment and childcare.
Advanced countries have diverse policies for supporting unwed mothers and their children. There’s no need to differentiate unwed mothers with others, for they don’t differentiate between legitimate and illegitimate birth in Sweden. Moreover, Swedish social benefits are so universal and generous that there’s no need to provide extra benefits for single parent families except childcare support system. Although French social benefits are less universal than Swedish policies, those family policies are very advanced and there’re many kinds of benefits for single parent.
The UK has many kinds of special benefits for single parents. It’s characteristic that it has special supporting policies and service programs for teenage unwed parents because of the increasing rate of teenage unwed parents. Australian government abolished children’s allowances and enacted childcare tax benefit and benefits for single parents. Those policies are very similar to other English Speaking countries such as the UK. Japanese social policies for single parents and unwed mothers are similar to Korean policies. Very few policies for unwed mothers are very residual and those prejudices for unwed mothers are prevalent. The Development of policies and Movement for unwed mothers and their children: Examples of Australian CSMC
Australian Council of Single Mothers and their Children (CSMC), which was established by unwed mothers who decided to raise their children in 1969 when there was no policies for them. CSMC, is self-help group for unwed mothers and their children. CSMC moved to reform and enact social policies to advocate unwed mothers.
The Council of Single Mothers and their Children responds to the wide ranging needs of single mothers in a variety of ways: providing support and advice to single mothers and those who support them, assisting with provision of material aid, providing information to single mothers about issues affecting them via website, newsletter and resources on specific issues, facilitating connections between single mothers to overcome isolation via email, conducting and participating in research, presenting talks and lectures to community groups and students, advocating for single mothers and their children in the media and participating in a range of community and government committees.
Implications for Korean social policies for unwed mothers and their children
Firstly, there needs to extend income maintenance policies targeted for single mothers due to the insufficient benefits for them in advance although it’s desirable that universal and comprehensive policies for families should be developed.
Secondly, self-help group or supporters’ organizations for unwed mothers and their children should be organized and actively operated for their empowerment like Australian CSMC considering Korean Prejudice for the unwed mothers.
Thirdly, special programs for unwed mothers and their children should be designed, for the need of unwed mothers and their children is different from other (divorced or widowed) single parent families. British Sure Start Plus can be good example of such programs. Finally, they should develop the policies for unwed mothers to continue education and employment besides the income maintenance policies.
Example of Case management for teenage unwed mother – ‘Care pathway model’ of the United Kingdom
'Teenage Pregnancy Support Service’ is a comprehensive service program for teenage parent, in which case managers(social workers), nurses, education mentor, counselors, tutors, and health professionals work together at related settings (such as children’s center, school, drop-in health center). This service program will be a good practice model for benchmarking in our community center, drop-in center, family service center and health center for unwed mothers and their children. The process of this practice is as follows:
Before birth
● Access to confidential advice and information ● Support for decision-making ● Support from teenage pregnancy advisor and access to multi-agency ● Common assessment ● Access to dedicated midwife and ante-natal care ● Multi-agency support for client’s education and care ● Accessing ante-natal support from the children’s centre and involving the father ● Reviewing client’s support in school ● Provision of alternative education and care out of school
Supported birth: supporting client’s birth and breastfeeding and providing information
After birth: supporting raising baby
● Post-natal support and advice for clients and their parents ● 8 week post-natal check and continued support for client and baby ● Return to school ● Sex and Relationship Education ● Support for client to remain in education ● Taking part in teenage parent group ● Review of clients and their babies’ progress ● Support for post-16-education ● Information, advice and guidance from Connexions ● 8 month review ● post 8~12month review
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