A lot of South Koreans adopted by Western families in the postwar years grew up believing they were orphans. In many cases, it was a lie.

By Priscilla Ki Sun HwangSep. 27, 2023

Father: No record.

Mother: No record.

The number of adoptions by relatives and step parents has increased significantly since the new adoption regulations were implemen... Read More

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NEW DELHI: Since the new adoption regulations were notified in September last year, data available with the Central Adoption Resource Authority shows a significant rise in the number of orders issued in favour of relatives keen on taking an orphaned child in their family or prospective parents waiting to adopt their step children.

 

Father: No record.

Mother: No record.

Place of birth: Unknown.

Kelly Foston always thought she was an orphan.

That’s because her adoption paperwork, riddled with “no record” and “unknown” and signed by Korean authorities, declared her to be one.

On September 17, 2023 the New York Times published an article titled “World’s Largest ‘Baby Exporter’ Confronts Its Painful Past.'” In response, Holt President and CEO Dan Smith wrote a letter to the editor reinforcing Holt’s long-standing commitment to ethical international adoptions. Below you can read this letter as well as a description of Holt’s history and an explanation of our work on behalf of orphaned and vulnerable children around the world.

To the Editor: 

Holt International Children’s Services commends your story titled World’s Largest ‘Baby Exporter’ Confronts Its Painful Past that sheds light on past adoption practices. But it didn’t tell the whole story. 

Holt International Children’s Services, an accredited child placement agency, has advocated for 65 years for stronger and standardized adoption practices worldwide, which led to U.S. adoption in 2008 of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption to ensure the interest of children is given priority. 

Holt has a longstanding commitment to ethical standards that emphasize family-strengthening services that result in children remaining with their birth families. For children without the option of remaining with a birth family, we advocate domestic adoption so children grow and thrive in the culture of their birth. 

LUCKNOW: Twenty-one years after she was adopted from a Lucknow shelter home by a US woman, Rakhi - now called Mahogany Emberkai -- is back to her city to trace her roots, shrugging off two decades of abuse by her foster mother.

Rakhi was found abandoned at Lucknow's Charbagh railway station in 2000 when she was just three. Transferred to a local shelter home, she was adopted by one Carol Brand from Minnesota two years later.

However, her ordeal started right when she boarded the US-bound flight. It turned out that Carol had submitted her fake profile for adoption. She was allegedly a drug addict and alcoholic, who left Rakhi with a life-long trauma by her abusive excesses.

"Gradually I took care of my studies and subsistence. At the age of 12, I became a babysitter in order to pay rent to live with Carol. After I turned 18, Carol forced me out of the house and I started living on the University campus," said Rakhi, who changed her name to Mahogany Emberkai at the age of 20, which reflected her strong character as a tough wood. Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown hardwood and Emberkai is derived from Ember which means low burning wood.

"As a child I have suffered verbal, physical, mental and even sexual abuse from Carol. She was a fraud investigator in the health insurance sector in Minnesota, but she faked her profile to adopt me. Due to her cruel nature, none of my classmates dare come to console me. As a kid, I, too, was very afraid of her and never went against her to complain about her behaviour. Although I did try to inform her sister Nancy, I hardly got any support," said the 26-year-old who wanted to become doctor, but was never supported by her foster mother.

In 2002, when Mahogany was Rakhi, at Lucknow shelter home. Her poster mother Carol Brand is also seen in the photo.

Mahogany graduated from University of Minnesota in health science.

CHENNAI: Social worker Shaila Samuel said, in a recent statement to TNIE, that baseless and vexatious allegations by the then Chennai Child Welfare Committee chairperson have completely undone her good work over past three decades.

She referred to a series of articles published in TNIE on June 23, 26, and 30, of 2010 in which the then CWC, Chennai chairperson was quoted as referring to Shaila as the “queen-pin of adoption ring” and an alleged “child trafficker” and “she used Guild of Service (GoS) name, stamp and other related documents to carry out the unlawful adoption when she was working with GoS.”

Rebutting the articles, Shaila said the allegations were made by a statutory authority without any inquiry or an explanation being sought from her. “Everything I toiled to build over 30 years of unwavering effort, unconditional social service and unyielding sacrifice, all came crumbling down solely due to such allegations,” she said. She said she was scorned by her peers and despised by members of her community. 

“All my good work was completely undone without any recourse to defend myself,” she said. According to Shaila, on October 7, 2009, the Commissioner of Social Welfare issued a letter to Cheshire Homes, India to grant permission to transfer five medically challenged children to rehabilitate them. On December 4, 2009, the then CWC, Chennai chairperson certified her to be the fittest person to take temporary custody of the children, she said. On April 7, 2010, the Probation Officer of Coimbatore declared the child legally free for adoption.

“Yet, out of the blue, the then chairperson of the CWC directed the Probation Officer, Erode to conduct further inquiries. The officer submitted a report dated June 16, 2010, stating he had traced the child’s parents and they had abandoned the child in the hospital as chances of the child surviving were very bleak. After five years, on learning that the child was still alive, the biological parents wanted the child back,” she said.

After her American foster mother died, Mahogany found out she was adopted and now wants to know more.

Over 23 years later, Mahogany has returned to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh where she's running from pillar to post, trying to find her identity, roots, and any connection to her biological family in the city.

"I was given the name Rakhi at birth, said 26-year-old Mahogany who found out about her real name only a few years ago," she said.

Back in 2002, railway officials found her abandoned at the Charbagh Railway Station and sent her to an orphanage called Lilavati Munsi Bal Greh.

Speaking to The Quint, Mahogany said, "I was adopted by a US woman in America. I was taken there in 2002. I was taught to reject my culture and I didn't know anything about my history. She didn't tell me where I was adopted from or anything about it."

Maryland family faces international adoption nightmare: Their daughter is stuck in Nepal

Jimmy Lippert Thyden of Ashburn, Virginia told Chilean President Gabriel Boric during a visit to Washington: 'You can't make this right, but you can make it better.'

A group of U. S. citizens stolen from their birth mothers in Chile converged on the U.S. capital Saturday to confront visiting Chilean President Gabriel Boric.

They left with a promise.

"How can I help?" Boric told Jimmy Lippert Thyden, an Ashburn, Virginia man who was taken from his mother in Chile as a baby and adopted out to unsuspecting parents in the U.S. about 40 years ago.

It was a major victory for Thyden and other stolen children, who have struggled for years to get the attention of Chile's government.

A growing number of Indian couples are specifically requesting to adopt girls, according to adoption agencies in the country. Data from the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) shows that more girls are being adopted compared to boys. Some couples believe that daughters are more caring and attached to their families, while others want to challenge the traditional preference for male children.

Pune-based couple Protima Sharma and Shyne Kochuveed wanted to have one biological child and a second via adoption. When they were unable to conceive, the doctor suggested they go for in-vitro fertilisation. But the 30-somethings decided they would go for adoption right away. While filling the adoption registration form in 2015, they opted for a girl child — the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) which oversees adoptions in India allows parents to state a gender preference or remain neutral. Soon, they brought home a three-month-old baby girl and named her Ivanka.
In 2017, they registered for another adoption and once again ticked the box for ‘girl child’. After a wait of two years, they became proud parents to threemonth-old Verushka. “Friends and family members were surprised. They would ask us why we didn’t ask for a boy, at least this time around, to complete our family. But we didn’t feel the need to defend our choice. I would tell them, ‘this is our complete family’,” says Sharma.
Sharma and Kochuveed are among a small but growing number of Indian couples who prefer a girl child. A look at CARA’s statistics show that more girls are being adopted compared to boys. In 2021-22, 1,698 girls were adopted as op posed to 1,293 boys. While these figures also reflect an unfortunate reality — more girls are being abandoned and, therefore, landing in the adoption pool, senior officials in CARA and adoption counsellors in cities say they have witnessed an uptick in the proportion of parents who specifically ask for a girl child. “Over the past three years, we have observed that seven out of 10 couples who register for adoption opt for a girl child while filling the form. The other three are neutral and open to a child of either gender but when you ask them what their heart desires, two still say they yearn for a girl. Only one couple would perhaps say, ‘I would like a boy’,” says Sunil Arora, executive director of Bal Asha Trust, which is one of the leading adoption centres in Mumbai.
Arora, who counsels parents considering adoption, points out that while earlier this trend was seen only in urban centres, now a sizeable number of parents from smaller towns is also asking for girl children. This is heart-warming considering India has a long-standing obsession with ‘raja betas’, especially in the more patriarchal north where daughters are considered a ‘burden’ (thanks to dowry culture) and sons, a ‘boon’ as they take over the family business and produce heir/heirs who carry forward the family name.
 

Smriti Gupta, co-founder of a non-profit called ‘Where are India’s Chil dren’ which aims to change the mindset about adoption, says the landscape of adoption has changed in a big way. “Now, a lot of families adopt out of choice, and not because they are unable to have a biological child and have exhausted all possible medical treatments. They want to become ‘parents’ and are less fixated on gender,” says Gupta.
Some feel that daughters are more caring and attached to their families. “Others fear that a boy may not take the news that he was adopted positively when he is a little older and may not care for his parents,” says Parul Agrawal, founder of the Adoption Action Group, a support group for prospective adoptive parents. She adds that a few families also feel that if they are “elevating the lifestyle” of an orphan, they would rather help a girl. “We have a history of believing that looking after a kanya gets you more punya; agar savarni hai to ladki ki zindagi savaro,” she says.