Foster care better for I.Q. than orphanage, study finds
Thursday, December 20, 2007
The results of U.S. research in Romania, being published on Friday in the journal Science, found that toddlers placed in foster families developed significantly higher I.Q.’s by age 4, on average, than peers who spent those years in an orphanage.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2883720
December 10, 2007
HONG KONG ? A high-ranking Dutch diplomat and his wife, who adopted a 4-month-old Korean girl in 2000 when he was posted in Korea, gave up the child last year, officials here said.
Now, officials here are looking for someone to take care of the school-age child.
The girl, Jade, is still a Korean citizen because the adoptive parents, whose names were not released, never applied to give her Dutch citizenship, according to an official at the Hong Kong Social Welfare Department.
She doesn’t speak any Korean. She speaks only English and Cantonese, according to people close to her. And she doesn’t have Hong Kong residency status, either. The Hong Kong Social Welfare Department, where the Dutch diplomat left Jade in September last year, has had responsibility for her ever since, the official said. Jade has been in Hong Kong’s foster care system, according to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post.
The paper also reported that the diplomat, who has a senior management role at a European consulate in the city, said “the adoption had gone wrong,” without any further explanation.
“It’s just a very terrible trauma that everyone’s experiencing,” he told the paper. “I don’t have anything to say to the public. It is something we have to live with.”
The diplomat’s wife thought she was infertile when the couple adopted the Korean girl in 2000, the official said. After they moved to Hong Kong, the wife got pregnant. They now have two children of their own.
The story has fueled anger among the Korean immigrant community in Hong Kong, which criticized the diplomat couple for “irre-sponsibly renouncing their custody of a child who’d been with them more than six years after delaying the naturalization process in Netherlands for years.”
A couple of potential families in Hong Kong showed interest in the adoption, but are struggling to complete the adoption process because of the strict legal qualifications here, Koreans familiar with the incident said.
The Korean Consulate in Hong Kong said it is aware of the situation.
“We could send her back to a Korean orphanage, but she’s been away from Korea for so long, and it would be very difficult for her to readapt in Korea,” said Jeong Byeong-bae, a consul of the South Korean consulate in Hong Kong. “So it is for the best under the circumstances to find a Korean family in Hong Kong.”
By Choi Hyung-kyu JoongAng Ilbo/ Lee Yang-kyoung Staff Reporter [ enational@joongang.co.kr ]
SAVE THE DATES: August 1 – August 3, 2008
In 2008 Global Overseas Adoptees’ Link will celebrate its 10th anniversary. To commemorate this significant milestone, G.O.A.’L will host a special celebration together with our annual summer conference. More info will be forthcoming, so check our homepage for updates: www.goal.or.kr or contact Nicole Sheppard (ia_goal@yahoo.com).
Hi all …
Analee and myself are working with Becker Entertainment who are in the
early stages of a possible documentary for SBS on the Search for Birth
Family by 3 inter-country adoptees. This is a terrific opportunity for
anyone who is wanting to search and who is open to sharing this emotional
experience with the media.
If you are one of the 3 successful applicants, you need to be comfortable
in opening up your life during this extraordinary journey to Becker and
handing over all rights to any footage filmed. In return, they will be
paying for your travel expenses during production and some pre and post
counselling. Further details below in the synopsis.
If you would like to have the opportunity to participate, please contact
Claire at clairea@beckers. com.au or myself at icasn@bigpond. net.au
Many thanks
Regards
Lynelle
www.icasn.org
THE MOTHER COUNTRY
A documentary series following the experiences of three Australian
adoptees as they search for their birth parents
(3 x 60 mins for SBS TV)
Inter-country adoption is the most common form of adoption in Australia.
Since the 1970s approximately 15,000 adopted children from overseas have
grown up as Australians. In the 1970s, Vietnamese orphans were airlifted
into the arms of ill-prepared Australians; in the 1980s, Colombian,
Bolivian and Korea made up the vast majority of adopted children; and in
the past two decades, it’s been predominantly Romanian, Ethiopian, and
Chinese adoptees. These children have all found new homes and new lives in
Australia.
Many, up to several hundred every year, decide at some point in their
lives to return to their home country and search for their birth parents
and families. ‘MOTHER COUNTRY’ is their story.
This is a series following three Australian adoptees who decide to look
for their birth parents and families. A multi-racial story set in three
overseas locations, ‘MOTHER COUNTRY’ is an emotional journey through
grief, loss, anger and racism. It is ultimately about love and loss and an
opportunity to open a unique window on the soul of multicultural
Australia.
The problems for inter-country adoptees are considerable. Like other
adoptees, overseas children experience a feeling of abandonment or
rejection; of being different. But to add to these problems, some overseas
adoptees also feel separate from the dominant culture. Returning to their
mother country is as much about being part of the cultural whole as it is
about finding their birth parents. As we reveal the adoptees’ stories we
will get an insight into the historical and political backdrop to the
adoptees’ early lives which led to their adoption.
THE DEVELOPMENT PERIOD
The six week development period will focus on finding the three subjects
for the series. This search period will be conducted by a dedicated TV
researcher. During this process, biographical dossiers of the adoptees
will be compiled and footage shot of each contributor.
It is hoped that the series will be directed by Belinda Mason who directed
‘Growing Up and Going Home’, a 1-hour documentary about three Ethiopian
adoptees in Australia who returned to visit their original home. This
documentary won the 2007 Ruben Mamoulian award at the Sydney Film
Festival.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR ADOPTEES
This series is aiming to find participants who want to undertake a search
for their birth parents and families and are willing to share their
experiences with a wide audience.
All adoptees participating in the series will have their travel expenses
paid for by the production and a counselling service will be provided
before and after their journey.
Adoptees of all ages are encouraged to apply and are welcome to bring
their adoptive families who may also want to undertake the journey,
however due to budgetary constraints the family’s trip will have to be at
their own expense.
Adoptees travelling individually are also welcome to bring a friend or
partner to accompany them however their friend or partner’s trip will have
to be at their own expense.
Filming of this series is currently planned to be completed by the end of
2008. Adoptees will therefore have to be able to undertake their journeys
after June 2008.
Venue: Stamford Plaza Double Bay, Sydney, Australia
Dates: Tuesday 2nd September 2008 - welcome drinks and registration
Wednesday 3rd to Friday 5th September 2008 - conference
The 9th Australian Adoption Conference “Connecting Past, Securing Future” will be held from 2 to 5 September 2008 at the Stamford Hotel, Double Bay, Sydney.
The theme for the conference was inspired by a quote from Hundertwasser who said: “If we do not honour our past, we lose our future. If we destroy our roots, we cannot grow.” It was felt that that for each adoption journey, by acknowledging the past, we are able to make sense of and secure the future.
The organising committee is very excited about this up and coming conference and we believe it will be dynamic, memorable and challenging for all participants. To date, we have received an enthusiastic response from around the globe, and from previous conferences we believe we will attract approximately 400 delegates across the three days.
The conference website, www.australianadoptionconference.com contains further information on the conference and speakers, as well as the Abstract Application form.
ASFC are currently seeking Intercountry Adult Adoptees from Western Australia to nominate for the Intercountry Adoption Peak Body. For further details, please refer to information below or contact Sonya Mahoney.
Peak Body Intercountry Adoption Nominations
As some of you may be aware one of the recommendations of the Bishop Inquiry into Overseas Adoption was that that a peak body consisting of Non Government Organisations (NGOs), adoptees and professionals be convened by the Federal Attorney Generals Dept. Finally we are at the stage of nominations, they close 17th September. Adoption Support for Families and Children (ASFC), formally Australia for Children and prior to that ASIAC WA is the only parent run adoption support group in WA, our membership though large does not include all families and adoptees through Intercountry Adoption (ICA) in Western Australia, we would like to nominate an Intercountry adult adoptee to be one of WA’s representatives.
The commitment would be 3 - 4 meetings a year involving travel interstate paid for by the Commonwealth please read attached information sheet. WA’s Department of Child Protection Adoption Service does not have an ICA consultative forum, however ASFC does meet regularly with DCP, and we are meeting to forward nominations on 28th August.
If you would like to consider yourself available for nomination you can do so directly by nominating directly to the AG’s Department, ASFC would also like to put forward a nomination from a WA Intercountry Adoptee .
If you are interested please get back to us on info@asfc.info or you can call me on 9272 9156 to discuss further by the Monday 27th August. You would need to complete a short resume to go with the nomination. The peak body will hopefully be ongoing so the opportunity is for over time the wider ICA community to be involved.
Please forward this to other Intercountry adoptees you know.
Regards,
Sonya Mahoney
on behalf of Committee
Adoption Support for Families and Children Inc
Earlier this month, the Network of Professional Adopted Koreans (NoPAK) announced a direct connection had been made with the producers of KBS, a Korean television program which showcases adopted Koreans searching for biological parents and family members. NoPAK will be providing producers with a list of members who would like to be featured on the show.
Korean adoptees searching for their biological family and are willing to tell their adoption story are encouraged to join NoPAK and take advantage of this opportunity.
More information can be found on the NoPAK forums.
University of Newcastle PhD student Jessica Walton is exploring the unique experiences of Korean adoptees affected by being adopted to another country.
After being adopted to the United States in 1983 at the age of eight months, Jessica returned to South Korea in 2004 to teach English in Korean public schools.
Jessica said she was confronted with issues about what it meant to her to be Korean by birth, but grow up in America.
“I began to question the significance of where home is and what it means to belong,” she said.
“I wanted to know what other Korean adoptees felt about these ideas and so I decided to make sense of these issues through research.”
Jessica is researching the processes and experiences involved in being a Korean adoptee from an anthropological perspective, through the School of Humanities and Social Science.
She is looking for South Korean adoptees, aged 18 to 50 years, to participate in her research through email interviews.
“I’m looking at how adoptees consider their identities, how they view where they belong and where they feel their home is,” she said.
“I’ve found that Korean adoptees explore art, film, poetry and academic research to express themselves and identify with their birth country in diverse and challenging ways.
“As part of my research, I’ll travel to Seoul in South Korea next month, where I’ll interview Korean adoptees about their experiences in Korea.”
Intercountry adoption is now the most common form of adoption in Australia, following a decline in the number of Australian-born babies available for adoption in the past few years.
Anyone interested in participating in Jessica’s research can contact her via email on Jessica.Walton@studentmail.newcastle.edu.au