On July 16, a meeting was held at the National Assembly between prospective adoptive parents and officials from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Child Rights Promotion Agency, both of which oversee child adoption services.
The meeting was organized to discuss countermeasures after concerns were raised that adoptions have stalled since the state took over management from private agencies in July of last year.
[Prospective Parent (June 25, SBS 8 News): Going through this sluggish process makes me want to give up, thinking, 'What kind of glory am I trying to achieve by doing this?']
During the meeting, prospective parents requested an increase in the frequency of adoption review committee meetings, which are currently held once a month. In response, an official from the Korea Child Rights Promotion Agency made the following remark.
[Prospective Parent: I heard that you would be holding them twice a month starting in April.]
[Official A, Korea Child Rights Promotion Agency: To add to that, I think I need to mention the volume.]
[Prospective Parent: Volume? What do you mean by volume?]
When the prospective parents questioned the term, the official apologized.
[Prospective Parent: Are you referring to the number of parents and children as volume?]
[Official A, Korea Child Rights Promotion Agency: I apologize. Yes. So, the number of cases of prospective adoptive parents whose home studies have been completed...]
[Prospective Parent (Attendee at the time): If they can say something like that so casually, how must they be referring to us in the office?]
A short while later, the official used the term "exhausted" while explaining the process of children finding new homes.
[Official A, Korea Child Rights Promotion Agency: Currently, there is not a large pool of parents who have completed home studies. Once 100 (children) are exhausted, there will be far more waiting parents.]
[Prospective Parent (Attendee at the time): Following the word 'volume,' it really feels like they think of children and parents like luggage.]
The official explained to reporters that they absolutely do not think of parents and children as objects, stating that they only used the term "volume" to refer to statistical figures, such as the number of completed home studies.
Prospective parents, arguing that such remarks reveal an anti-human rights perspective held by those in charge of adoption, have filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea against the head of the Korea Child Rights Promotion Agency.
(Video Editing: Park Na-young, Design: Kang Yun-jeong)
[Notice] Regarding reports such as '[Exclusive] "What do you mean by volume?" Prospective parents outraged... official explains slip of the tongue'
This broadcaster reported on the remarks "volume" and "exhausted" made by an official at the Korea Child Rights Promotion Agency in reports regarding delays in adoption procedures on March 27 and March 28.
The official mentioned in the report stated that they still regret making inappropriate remarks regardless of the circumstances, and that they apologized on the spot immediately after the remarks. They stated, "The expression 'volume' was intended to refer to statistical figures such as the number of completed home studies, and immediately after the remark, I corrected myself by saying, 'I think I need to mention the (statistics-related) numbers,' and apologized several times thereafter."
Furthermore, they stated, "The expression 'exhausted' was also an administrative and statistical term used in the process of explaining the number of cases where children who have been matched for adoption are excluded from the waiting list."
This report is in accordance with the mediation of the Press Arbitration Commission.
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