Is it possible to adopt a North Korean orphan?

Описание: Frequently asked questions about North Korea (FAQs about North Korea)

Our work in China includes caring for North Korean orphans, and because of this, we get asked quite frequently whether it is possible to adopt a North Korean orphan. The short answer to this question is that adopting a North Korean orphan is virtually impossible.

But the answer is complicated and deserves further examination.

In this video, we will cover three different factors that impact this issue:

1 - there is the legal framework that needs to exist between an orphan’s country of origin and his destination country.

2 - we explain the many different countries of origin a North Korean orphan can be from and how each of these contexts pose different challenges for North Korean children.

3 - we will look at what changes need to take place to make adopting a North Korean child a reality.

The Law
Let’s talk about the law that impact adoption. It’s important to start here because laws are the backbone behind any adoption process, especially international adoptions. It gets pretty technical but the basic idea behind these laws is that there has to be some way of proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that a child has legally been abandoned by their parents and put up for adoption. And if the adoption is international, the two countries must then agree on what standards must exist in order to make that adoption a reality.

The issue both countries want to avoid is sending a child overseas to a new family and realizing later that the parent never actually or legally abdicated their rights and try to get the child back. This happens more often than one might think.

Additionally, in order to have a child adopted from country A to country B, the first necessary step the two countries must take is to establish an official diplomatic relationship. Then the two countries must agree on what legal paperwork and procedures must be present in order to execute the actual adoption.

Different contexts and countries

North Korean orphans fall into three broad categories:

Those who live in North Korea
Those who escape unaccompanied into China
Those who were born in China

Let’s start with orphans who were born in and currently live in North Korea. Right now North Korea does not allow foreign adoption. In fact they have a long history of criticizing South Korea for its policies around international adoption.

Even if North Korea did allow international adoption, they do not have official diplomatic relations with many countries, especially the US.

Second, what about North Korean children who escape into China? Currently China does not acknowledge any North Korean who crosses into its borders as a refugee. They receive no protection or statehood from China. This applies even for the most vulnerable orphan who comes in from North Korea. And because these children are given no ID and no official designation other than illegal economic migrant, this means that there is no legal designation that would make these children legally adoptable.

Finally, what about the children in Crossing Borders’ network? These children are often the result of the trafficking of North Korean women into China and are half North Korean and half Chinese. Most do not have legal identification.