New adoption report shocks legal expert – Danish agencies known for cheating with identities

Changes to the identity of South Korean adopted children were clearly illegal, says legal expert.

It was common knowledge for Danish adoption agencies that their South Korean partners changed the identities of infants before they were sent to their new families in Denmark.

This is shown by a new report from the Danish Appeals Board, which uncovers adoptions from South Korea to Denmark in the period through the 1970s and 80s.

Klaus Josefsen, who is an external lecturer at Aarhus University and an expert in administrative law, calls the report's conclusions too serious.

- What strikes me is that the Danish organizations were aware that identity changes were taking place. It is quite serious reading.

- It is eerie that these organizations were approved to mediate adoptions, and they knew that there were changes to the children's identities, without them calling out, says Klaus Josefsen.

It was the two adoption agencies, AC Børnehjælp and DanAdopt, that were then responsible for the adoptions.

DR has previously revealed that South Korean children were made into foundlings and adopted to Denmark without the knowledge of the biological parents. Here we could talk about a letter that the adopted Louise Kwang had received from the South Korean adoption agency Korean Social Service.

The letter said:

'I'm sorry, but there was an error in your adoption file. On paper you are an orphan, but it was really something that we just came up with to make the adoption process easier.'

ASK QUESTIONS about the great adoption theft

Lise Rasmussen and Murugasan Nielsen are two of at least ten children from the same orphanage in India who came to Denmark almost 40 years ago. Several of them came without their biological parents having given consent, DR's documentary 'The Great Adoption Theft' shows.

The two answer your questions together with a legal expert on Monday 29 January at 21:00 on dr.dk.

Clearly illegal

In the new report from the Danish Appeals Board, it is stated in the conclusion that in the cooperation between Denmark and South Korea there was 'an unfortunate incentive structure where large sums of money were transferred between the Danish and South Korean organizations in connection with the adoption'.

It further states that within the rules then in force in South Korea, it was 'possible to change information about the child's background and to adopt a child without the knowledge of the biological parents'.

Klaus Josefsen particularly likes the last section:

- The identity changes are clearly illegal, because adoptions must take place voluntarily. The basic rules for adoption are being broken, because we have no certainty that the parents had knowledge of this.

- You are left with the question of whether the adoption of these children took place voluntarily. It is very violent reading, he says.

Supervision failed

It is not only the two adoption agencies that have failed - the authorities also have a responsibility.

- The authorities should have conducted a more thorough inspection in such a serious area. It is a very serious failure, says Klaus Josefsen.

In the two decades that the report has investigated, it was respectively the adoption board and the civil law directorate that had supervisory duties - a duty they have neglected, according to Klaus Josefsen.

- It is about children, and therefore the authorities should have carried out far more intensive supervision. I'm surprised they haven't. The authorities had the powers, and they even had harsh sanction options, he says.

He refers to the fact that the authorities could have put an end to the problematic adoptions if they had lived up to their responsibilities.

- They had the tools to conduct supervision, and they had a duty to conduct it. In my view, there has been a huge failure on the part of the authorities. If the authorities had carried out active supervision, it would have been stopped, he says.