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Global Adoptions: Annual Placement and Destination Data
A complete annual timeline of South Korean intercountry adoptions (1953–present): explore placement data by country, historical phases, and primary datasets.
Sep 173 min read
Korean Adoptee "Shadow Files"
Korean adoptee shadow files refer to duplicate, unredacted, or confidential domestic records maintained internally by South Korean adoption agencies that were systematically withheld from foreign adoptive parents, overseas partner agencies, and adult adoptees. During the peak transnational adoption era (1970s–1990s), South Korea’s "Big Four" agencies—Holt Children’s Services, Social Welfare Society (SWS/KWS), Korea Social Service (KSS), and Eastern Social Welfare Society (ESW
Sep 164 min read
Biological Parents Relinquishment Letters and Surrender Forms
Explore the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's findings on how private Korean agencies obtained fraudulent child relinquishments during the peak intercountry adoption decades.
Sep 163 min read
Mapping the Pipeline: Where Korean Adoptees Were Placed in America, the Heartland Hubs, and How the System Recruited Parents
Mapping the Korean adoption pipeline in America: church recruitment, major placement hubs in Minnesota and the Heartland, and the role of local agencies.
Sep 117 min read
The "Baby Plane": Transpacific Flights, Escorts, and the Mechanics of the Korean Adoptee Pipeline
Explore the history of the "baby plane"—the logistics, volunteer escorts, and industrial pipeline that transported 200,000 Korean adoptees across the globe.
Sep 116 min read
The Oligopoly Structure: How the "Big Four" Operated
A deep dive into South Korea’s Big Four adoption agencies—Holt, SWS, KSS, and ESWS. Learn how they operated, their current status, and cited research.
Jul 219 min read
Harry Holt & America's Impact on Korea's Adoption System
1. Harry Holt and the Catalyst of US "Private Bills" (1953–1955) Following the Korean War, thousands of mixed-race children (born to Korean mothers and US/UN soldiers) faced intense ostracism, poverty, and abandonment in South Korea. In 1954, Harry and Bertha Holt, evangelical Christians from Creswell, Oregon, watched a World Vision documentary detailing this crisis and decided they needed to act. However, they ran into a major obstacle: U.S. immigration law. The Legal Road
Jul 196 min read
History of Adoption in Korea
To understand the South Korean adoption system is to view the evolution of a country trying to heal from the trauma of war, navigating intense Cold War politics, and eventually transforming itself from a completely privatized "exporter" of children into a state-regulated system that prioritizes child welfare. The history can be broken down into five distinct eras, mapping out how the country got from pre-Harry Holt to today. 1. Pre-Harry Holt (Joseon Dynasty to 1953): Clan Pr
Jul 194 min read
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