- Headline: Koreans learn from Parent/Child Center to aid unwed mothers
- Source: Addison County Independent
- Date of Publication: July 22, 2009
- Summary:
The Addison County Parent/Child Center’s programs helping young parents have long been replicated in similar centers throughout Vermont and the nation. A delegation organized by the Korean Unwed Mothers Support Network (KUMSN) made a pilgrimage of sorts to the Parent/Child Center this week, taking notes of how the Middlebury-based center has become successful in serving unwed parents and getting them on the path to self-sufficiency. The KUMSN is an organization devoted to increasing awareness of the plight of Korean women who have children out of wedlock. These women, explained KUMSN founder and Director Dr. Richard Boas, are considered virtual outcasts for what many in Korean society consider to be the shameful act of bringing a child into the world without two parents. The South Korean government provides few resources to train and care for unwed mothers and their children; consequently, many women who conceive out of wedlock choose abortion — even though it is illegal — rather than bring their babies to term in an environment where they will be stigmatized. Other women put their babies up for adoption, and the United States remains one of the primary destinations for such Korean babies. The visitors noted that unlike in Korea, U.S. society does not confer a stigma on unwed mothers. And they were also impressed with the extent to which federal, state and local governments offer programs to single women with children. Members of the delegation stressed they did not expect Korea to be able to duplicate the Parent/Child Center — at least not anytime soon. But the visit gave the visitors confidence that Korea can at least take some baby steps in elevating conditions for unwed mothers.
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