- Headline: "Rising Numbers of Babies Born to Unwed Mothers Raise Growing Concerns"
- Source: Kyunghyang Shinmun
- Date of Publication: March 30, 1973
- Summary:
For over a decade, the Christian Adoption Program of Korea (CAPOK) has worked tirelessly to address the needs of abandoned and orphaned children. According to its president, Ms. Hyunsook Shim, the organization has cared for more than 3,500 children as of 1972, placing 1,473 of them with domestic adoptive families. Since 1968, CAPOK has focused on finding homes for babies relinquished by unwed mothers through its counseling program. Over that time, 1,119 unwed mothers, ranging in age from 14 to 47, have sought help from CAPOK, and 931 of their babies have been placed for adoption. The statistics reveal a significant trend: while 50% of unwed mothers in the West choose to give up their children for adoption, the number is far higher among Korean unwed mothers, with 90% relinquishing their babies. CAPOK ensures that adoptive parents are informed about the child’s genetic background, health, and the biological parents’ height and intellectual level, while guaranteeing complete confidentiality. Yet, concerns and hesitations still persist among many prospective parents. Despite these challenges, success stories are emerging. Ms. Kim, a 37-year-old resident of Seogyo-dong, Seodaemun-gu, adopted a 3-year-old boy to join her biological 11-year-old daughter. "There is no difference at all between my own child and my adopted son," she shared. "All my worries turned out to be unfounded." Ms. Shim is optimistic about the future of domestic adoption; If more people embrace the idea that "bloodlines are not everything," we can find homes for many of Korea’s orphans and abandoned children. The Korean Christian Adoption Program (CAPOK) formally initiated counseling services for unwed mothers in 1969, although some sources suggest these efforts began in 1968. Over the following years, there was a marked increase in both the number of unwed mothers receiving counseling and the adoption of their children. This trend suggests that counseling services were closely tied to the facilitation of adoptions, raising critical questions about the role of such interventions in encouraging the relinquishment of children rather than supporting unwed mothers in retaining custody.
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