South Korea Blog

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In 2009 51% of our families traveled to South Korea to pick up their children!!  South Korea historically allows the escorting of children to their adoptive countries, and many of our families chose this option.  Bethany Christian Services supports the research demonstrating the advantages to adoptees when adoptive parents travel to receive their child into the family.   Subjecting the adoptees to an additional transition through escorting by placing them into the care of a stranger is not good child welfare practice.  Travel by adoptive parents to meet their children in their country of origin is undoubtedly in the best interest of the children and can serve as one of the first steps of helping South Korean adoptees to realize the importance of their cultural identity.

In honoring the adoptee, their country of origin and their foster family, Bethany is no longer allowing the South Korean children to be escorted to the United States.  Bethany is offering a life-enriching opportunity for adoptive parents to experience South Korea, meet the foster family that cared for their child and for the adoptive family to care for their own child as they transition her/him into their new environment.  

All families in the South Korea adoption program with a home study approval date of February 1, 2010 or later are required to travel to South Korea to meet and receive their child.  Although it is strongly suggested that both parents travel, one parent may travel.   Please know that this is a BCSI requirement, and not a Holt -Korea requirement.   For families with an approved home study prior to February 1, 2010, it is expected that they too, consider the joys and benefits of traveling to South Korea.  To further support adoptive families when they travel, we are in the final stages of updating the Bethany travel packet for South Korea.  

We welcome your questions, concerns, or comments during this exciting change in the South Korea program.

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From adoptive parents Seth and Sarah who traveled in 11/08:

Traveling to Korea is something that we will always cherish, there are so many memories and deep emotions connected with our trip and we are so thankful that we traveled. We knew we wanted to travel to experience our son’s birth country for ourselves and to have little stories to tell him about our trip to pick him up as we talk with him about his adoption throughout the coming years….but what we didn’t realize was how much we would gain from traveling. Because we traveled, we were able to shop for neat little gifts that we can share with our son as he gets older, things to decorate our house with to bring Korea closer to us, and several keepsakes to remind us of Korea.

Before traveling, we had read blogs where people would talk about missing Korea and wanting to go back and we didn’t really understand that concept. How could you miss a place that you only visited for a few days? But now it is completely understandable after traveling to Korea. It is something that you do miss, feelings and emotions are experienced there that you cherish and long for. Traveling to Korea and experiencing it for ourselves gave us a deeper connection with our son’s birth country.

When we met our son’s foster mother, we presented her with small gifts to thank her for the great care that she provided our son. She was thankful for the gifts but then immediately said “Coming to Korea is the best gift that you could have given me”. It was apparent to us that she was thankful for the opportunity to meet us in person. It is undoubtedly a difficult task for the foster families to say goodbye to the children that they have cared for and bonded with for so many months. We hadn’t really thought of it that way until we met our foster mother and she shared her gratitude with us for traveling.

The opportunity to meet and thank the people that have cared for your child in person in itself is a huge gain. We took lots of pictures with our foster mom and will have those to share with our son as well. And lastly, we were able to take pictures as a new family with the big blue bunny! I mean, how can you pass up that opportunity? The big blue bunny is such a famous guy. He’s been in referral photos for decades. Now that in itself is worth the trip!

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From adoptive parents Nathan and Stacy who traveled to Seoul in 12/09:

Travelling to Korea was one of the most exciting things we have done.  This trip was unlike any other because everything we did was influenced by thoughts of our daughter.  We were excited and anxious to meet her, but we were also excited to experience the country of her birth.  We took full advantage of our week in Korea and did/experienced as much as possible!  We really enjoyed learning about Korean history thru the DMZ tour and visiting museums and palaces.  We also saw a show featuring traditional Korean music and dance, it was amazing!  It is one thing to read about Korea, but it is something else to experience it!  We also learned to appreciate the food our daughter was accustomed to eating.  We also had a small taste of how our daughter may feel living in our primarily white community.  Being in Korea was the first time we had felt like a true minority.  It is a humbling experience and we will be more aware of how our community impacts her development as well.    

Probably the best part of travelling was meeting our daughter’s foster family and watching her interact with them.  Her foster parents were the only family she knew and we learned a lot from meeting and talking with them (thru the interpreter of course!).  The foster parents were so glad to meet us in person too.  We were able to help smooth the transition for our daughter by learning about her routine, how she receives comfort, etc. from the people who knew her best.  We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Korea and hope to take our kids someday too!

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Bethany families received one referral in January.  Also in January, two children from South Korea met their forever families.  Two families are currently in South Korea this week meeting their children.  So far in 2010, 100% of BCS families traveled to South Korea...Let's keep up the trend - it is surely in the best interest of our children.

Lunar New Year is just around the corner - have you thought how your family will celebrate?

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Did you know that Bethany had 63 arrivals from South Korea in 2009!  

Let's break it down a bit...

• 51% of families traveled to Korea to pick-up their children.  This is the first year that the number of families who traveled to South Korea exceeded the number of families using an escort!  We hope that all families will travel to their child's homeland to receive their children, as this is the best transition for your child.  
• 41% were girls, and 59 % boys
• 33 % had special placement needs

No matter what way break it down, these children are a blessing from above!

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http://arirangeducation.com/main/

The above interactive website gives information regarding the Korean American experience, which is valuable for prospective adoptive parents to understand.

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"Seoul buried in the heaviest snowfall in 70 years" writes the AP (Associated Press).  To read more click here, or copy and paste this link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100104/ap_on_re_as/as_asia_storms

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Sae hae bok manhi baduseyo!  Happy New Year! What better way to usher in the new year and spend cold winter days than learning about the spicy traditional dish of Korea.

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The Holt office will be closed on Dec. 25(Friday), Dec. 31(Thursday), and Jan. 1(Friday) for Christmas and New Year's holiday.  Additionally, Bethany will be closed on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.

We are thankful to Holt for all of their hard work through the year!  In December, eight families have already traveled to Seoul to pick-up their children and three children were escorted to the US.  Two more children will be joining their forever families before year's end.  As for referrals, four families have received referrals in December.  Two families with November 2008 home study approval dates are still waiting for a referral, making the wait approximately 12-14 months.  

We have been blessed by the staff at Holt working to prepare referral information, care for the children, and host our families when they travel.  We are surely blessed through our partnership with Holt, and we pray for continued blessings for Holt Children's Services and the children and families they serve !

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Click here to link to the State Department statistics on the total adoptions of children coming to the United States in 2009.  If the link does not work, you may copy and paste this address:  http://www.adoption.state.gov/news/total_chart.html

You'll see that 1080 visas were issued to children coming to the US from South Korea in fiscal year 2009.  To date in calendar year 2009, Bethany families have welcomed 61 children into their families forever from South Korea!!!

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