- Headline: Honor Bestowed Upon 'Pilgrim of Love'
- Subheading: Sopa Bang Jung Hwan Award goes to Ms. Spoelstra, who helped 1,200 orphans find families
- Source: Chosun Ilbo
- Date of Publication: November 25, 1971
- Summary:
Saessakhoe, led by Director Yoon Seok Jung, awarded the 16th annual Sopa Bang Jung Hwan Award to Ms. E. Elvinah Spoelstra (46), an American and director of the Christian Adoption Program of Korea. From August 1966 to December 1971, Ms. Spoelstra placed 1,200 orphans with adoptive families and, in 1969, launched the first counseling program for unwed mothers within CAPK.
Her work included “establishing a counseling office for unwed mothers within CAPOK, working closely with the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, and collaborating with legal and social welfare leaders to help draft Korea’s first domestic adoption law.” Spoelstra’s efforts “made a significant contribution” toward creating a system that would place children of unwed mothers with adoptive families. In 1969, an American Social Welfare Specialist Established a Counseling Center for Unwed Mothers within the Christian Adoption Program of Korea (CAPOK).
Christian Adoption Program of Korea, responsible for domestic adoptions, began offering counseling services for unwed mothers in 1969, followed by the government-designated four major international adoption agencies, which collectively launched similar counseling services in 1972. The matrnity homes built from the 1970s onward ultimately operated as a system effectively securing and placing children of unwed mothers for adoption, as illustrated by the following statistics.
The impact of these facilities is reflected in the statistics: during the 1960s, the number of children from unwed mothers adopted domestically totaled 1,163, with 1,304 placed for international adoption. By the 1970s, domestic adoptions surged to 9,075, an increase of nearly tenfold, while international adoptions rose dramatically to 17,627, a fourteenfold increase (Kwon, 2019, p. 29).
Reference: Kwon, Hee Jung. The Birth of Unwed Mothers: The History of Exiled Mothers (unofficial translation). Antonia’s Books, 2019.
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Note: Articles are in Korean, and English translations are not provided in the library.  Photo:'I can hardly believe it!' Mrs. Spoelstra, beaming as she accepts the Sopa Bang Jung Hwan Award.
The English summary and translation of this article is provided by UMI4AA.
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