Korean-British couple left in blind spot for adoption

Korea's domestic adoption system bars international couples from becoming adoptive parents

By Lee Hyo-jin

This July marks a significant milestone for British national Thomas Pallett and his Korean wife surnamed Kang: seven years of unsuccessful attempts to adopt a child in Korea.

The couple, who live in the southeastern port city of Busan, have faced persistent rejections from local adoption agencies, which primarily cite Pallett's British nationality as the obstacle. They got married in Korea in May 2019, with Pallett obtaining an F-6 marriage visa that grants him permanent residency.

“Our discussions on adoption began in July 2018 even before we were married. When we first met, I was 35 and my wife was 40. We knew having our own child could be difficult,” Pallett said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.

“We tried numerous fertility treatments, including three rounds of in vitro fertilization (IVF), but all were unsuccessful," he said.

The couple approached major adoption agencies in Korea — Holt International, Korean Social Services and Eastern Social Welfare Society — but all responded that they could not work with them, refusing to go through the verification process for prospective adoptive parents.

Reasons for the refusals varied: One agency insisted on both spouses being Korean nationals for domestic adoption, another cited an absence of an agreement with the United Kingdom and the other agency stated they lacked an adoption program for foreign couples residing in Korea.

Despite numerous emails and phone calls with these adoption agencies, the couple's attempts have been fruitless.

In March 2023, Pallett lodged a complaint with Korea's Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.

The commission's response read: "Under adoption laws, foreigners residing in Korea can adopt children subject to domestic protection if they are qualified as adoptive parents. Therefore, it is not impossible for Korean-foreigner couples living in Korea to adopt."

The government agency directed the couple back to the same agencies that had previously turned them away.

“I had been researching related laws, expecting to find a law explicitly prohibiting international couples from adopting a Korean child, only to discover that the refusals were baseless,” Pallett said.

In January this year, Pallett obtained a "No Objection Letter" from the British Embassy in Seoul, stipulating that the British national is no longer "habitually resident" in the United Kingdom and thus the British authorities have no further role in the matter.

A "No Objection Letter" issued to Thomas Pallett by the British Embassy in Seoul in January / Courtesy of Thomas Pallett

Pallett showed this document claimed that adoption process should be handled solely by the Korean government, yet their efforts remained unproductive.

Now 42 and 47 respectively, Pallett and his wife worry about their age being a potential barrier to adoption.

“On the whole, life in Korea has been good to me. I don't have many complaints, apart from that huge one that we've been prevented from being a mom and dad to our own child. And it's becoming our concern that although we still feel a good age that we hope that doesn't count against us because, five years ago, we were probably an ideal age to adopt,” Pallett said.

When asked about potential legal action against the agencies, he replied, “I don't want money from them. We just want to be allowed to adopt.”

Attorney Min Ji-won of IPG Legal, representing Pallett, argued that a significant blind spot in the country's adoption system is barring dozens of international couples, including Pallett, from going through the evaluation process as prospective adoptive parents.

"Refusing international couples without legal grounds goes against the government's policy of prioritizing domestic adoption, ultimately sending hundreds of children overseas every year," Min stated, mentioning that Article 7 of the Act on Special Cases Concerning Adoption mandates that domestic adoption be prioritized, allowing overseas adoption only if no parents are found locally.

From a broader perspective, the main reason why Pallett's efforts have seen no improvement is because the government plays no role in facilitating adoption, the lawyer pointed out.

"I got the impression that local adoption agencies do not know how to handle cases regarding interracial families. Not only have they rarely handled such cases, but also they have not been given clear guidelines from the government," she said.

For decades, child adoptions in Korea have been facilitated by private-run agencies focused primarily on overseas rather than domestic adoptions, as intercountry adoptions used to be a lucrative business for the agencies between the 1960s and 1980s. Various controversies have arisen over this practice, with some accusing the agencies of human trafficking across borders, sometimes without following legal procedures.

"With the government playing virtually no role in child adoption, this has resulted in the bitter irony where Korea continues to send babies overseas to foreigners who do not have any connection with Korea, while denying international couples settled here the chance to raise these kids," Min said.

The Korea Times reached out to Holt International and Eastern Social Welfare Society with inquiries on their programs for international couples, but they were unavailable for comment. Korean Social Services replied that they had not arranged any adoptions since 2011.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which oversees the adoption system, acknowledged the struggles faced by Korean-foreign couples located here, but attributed the reluctance of agencies to difficulties in verifying and managing foreign adoptive parents.

"We have requested cooperation from adoption agencies multiple times, but they seem to face challenges in evaluating foreign would-be parents. We aim to incorporate improvements into the adoption system reform that will be effective from July 2025," a ministry official said.

Earlier this May, the welfare ministry announced a reform under which the government will take over the adoption process from private agencies in July 2025. This change aims to enhance child welfare and better support adoptive families.

Shin Pil-shik, secretary-general at the Adoption Solidarity Forum, agreed that international couples in Korea should be given the opportunity to undergo the evaluation process for child adoption.

“It's regrettable that international couples who could be eligible adoptive parents have been left out due to systemic loopholes,” he said.

But he cautioned that integrating foreign nationals into the country's adoption system would require a thorough review and stricter criteria. The adoption expert pointed out that post-adoption management challenges could potentially arise if the couple decided to move abroad with the child.

“For instance, a non-Korean national should only be allowed to participate in domestic adoption when there is a government-to-government agreement or cooperative system in place that guarantees post-adoption management. Every adoption should be carried out in the best interest of the child,” Shin said.