Calls for Korean adoptions to end amid alleged orphan 'trafficking' scandal
The government should freeze all intercountry adoptions and sever ties with its South Korean adoption partner, according to a senator representing Australia on an international human trafficking taskforce.
The call comes following a Background Briefing investigation that found the Korean adoption agency — Eastern Social Welfare Society (ESWS) — falsified documents while sending thousands of children to Australia in the past.
Scores of adoptees say they've grown up unaware they had siblings and believing they were orphans, only discovering as adults that their original paperwork was falsified.
An insider who worked at ESWS in the 1970s and 1980s alleged that bribes were paid to hospital workers in exchange for babies.
Since 1978, ESWS has facilitated thousands of Australian adoptions from South Korea.
Senator Linda Reynolds represents the government at the Interparliamentary Taskforce on Human Trafficking and is the legislative leader of the Taskforce's Working Group on Orphanage Trafficking.
"The Australian government should cease all intercountry adoptions from South Korea and this organisation [ESWS]," Senator Linda Reynolds said.
The senator also called on the Australian government to pause intercountry adoptions until there is further review and certainty that overseas adoption is the last option for sending countries.
Senator Reynolds said the situation with South Korea is of "great concern" but not unique.
"It's time that we completely re-examined the need and the ethics of intercountry adoption."
he senator said she would call for an inquiry in the next parliament to look at the Republic of Korea and other sending countries that have adopted children using falsified paperwork or false identities.
"This is a bellwether case," she said.
"It is a clarion call that we should look at this issue and I'd call not just for intercountry adoptions but other forms of trafficking of vulnerable children.
"As a nation, this is a form of trafficking that we have created."
According to the Interparliamentary Taskforce on Human Trafficking, orphanage trafficking involves the transfer of "paper orphans" who are described as orphans on falsified paperwork to elicit sympathy from potential adoptee parents and international funding. It's estimated around 80 per cent of children in orphanages have living parents or relatives.
Senator Reynolds said an inquiry would look into how Australia and other countries had "created a demand for orphans for exploitation" either through intercountry adoption or volunteerism, and emphasised the need to assist sending countries to better protect their children.
"Because we've created this demand," said Senator Reynolds.
"I think we have a moral obligation to stop it."
The allegations against ESWS uncovered in the Background Briefing investigation add to a growing number of harrowing stories internationally in what has become a global adoption scandal.
Hundreds of adoptee cases are now being investigated for human rights violations by South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, including those of 16 Australians.
Senator Reynolds said Australian federal, state and territory governments need to do more to assist adoptees in Australia from South Korea and other nations who want to find out more about their own adoption circumstances.
"The Australian government needs to halt intercountry adoptions and work with those who suspect or know that were subject to false documents and have families in the originating country," Senator Reynolds said.
"We need a parliamentary inquiry in the new parliament to look at this further and then make recommendations to the Government on what needs to be done."
Senator Reynolds announced earlier this year that she will not seek to be a candidate for the next federal election, with her term expiring in June 2025.
Lynelle Long, who was adopted from Vietnam in the early 1970s, is the founder of Intercountry Adoptee Voices.
Long welcomed Senator Reynolds's comments and the calls on the government as a "glimmer of hope".
"For too long we as a community have been calling for this," Long said.
"It has been falling on deaf ears because it's not a political topic that people want to deal with."
Melbourne adoptee, Anna, was sent to Australia from South Korea as a six-month-old. More than 30 years later, she discovered what ESWS, her adoption agency, had told her was a lie.
Anna is among 3,600 Australians adopted from South Korea via ESWS. Like many others, she was told she had been given up because she was an orphan.
Anna said Senator Reynolds's call for the government to end the relationship with ESWS was reassuring.
"In making that stance the government would be recognising and acknowledging what has happened," Anna said.
"But also that we are no longer allowing it to happen again."
ESWS has not responded to an interview request or detailed questions from Background Briefing.
The Minister of the Department of Social Services and Minister of Home Affairs did not respond to Background Briefing's requests for interview or comment.
Australia still has an adoption arrangement with South Korea and ESWS specifically, but ESWS has informed Australia that they are not currently accepting new adoption applications.
For intercountry adoptees impacted by unique or difficult adoption practices, specialist support is available through the Intercountry Adoption Family Support Service (ICAFSS). If this story has raised any issues for you, reach out to Lifeline on 13 11 14.