South Korea

At-A-Glance
 

Who can adopt from Korea?

  • Couples married three years or longer are accepted. Each parent can not have more than one divorce. No more than a 10-year age gap between spouses.
  • All adopting parents must be at least 25 years old and must have their dossier submitted to Korea by the time they are 44 years old (both parents must be 44 years old or younger.)
  • All adopting parents must be in good health physically, mentally and emotionally with a maximum permissible Body Mass Index not to exceed 30 percent. Medical situations reviewed case-by-case.
  • Adopting family cannot have more than four children already in the home.
  • Minimum household income of $30,000.

Children available for adoption

  • Healthy infants 6 to 12 months at referral.
  • All children are in foster care homes.
  • Most children available for adoption are placed by unmarried mothers who are concerned about the stigma against children who are born out-of-wedlock. The referrals of children presented typically have a fair amount of information about the birth mother, and many times about the birth father as well.
  • The agency in South Korea offers and strongly encourages use of their post-placement support services for birth mothers and adopted children. This includes exchanges of photos and letters, and possibly reunions. However, due to on-going stigma, many birth mothers do not choose to have a relationship with the adopted child.

Process

  • Apply to The Barker Foundation
  • Complete pre-adoption group, on-line training and home study
  • Complete paperwork for Korea (Consists mainly of documents already gathered for home study, as well as photos and "Dear Birthmother" letter)
  • Paperwork, with home study, sent to Korea
  • Referral currently received average of 6-8 months after paperwork submitted to Korea
  • 3-4 months after acceptance of referral, family travels to Korea, or may have the baby escorted to the U.S.
  • Welcome your child into your home and begin the 6 month post-placement supervision period
  • Finalize adoption in the U.S. following post-placement period
  • Child becomes U.S. citizen following finalization of adoption in local US county court

Other information about Barker's Korea program