A new AP/FRONTLINE documentary examines cases of false identities and fabricated backstories during a historic adoption boom of South Korean children. In this excerpt, a former adoption agency worker describes pressure to adopt out large volumes of children — and ‘zero effort’ being put into verifying that children being adopted out had actually been abandoned.
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Speaking anonymously, the former adoption worker describes believing in the mission of adoption and wanting to help kids in need: “I saw so many children in these situations where parents cannot raise their kids,” she says. “If they had no choice but to grow up in facilities, isn’t it better for them to have parents?”
But the former adoption worker says in the documentary that she developed “a lot of doubts” about the methods used by the agencies.
“Behind the scenes, we questioned: Is this really all for the children?” the former adoption worker says in this excerpt from “South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning.”
“South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning” will be available to watch in full at pbs.org/frontline, at apnews.com and in the PBS App starting Tuesday, September 20, 2024, at 7/6c. It will premiere on PBS stations (check local listings) and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel at 10/9c and will also be available on the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel.
Explore additional reporting on “South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning” on our website:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/south-koreas-adoption-reckoning/
“South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning” is a FRONTLINE production with Maxine Productions and Sony Pictures Television – Nonfiction (SPTNF) in association with The Associated Press. The writer, producer and director is Maxine Productions’ Lora Moftah. The reporters are Kim Tong-hyung and Claire Galofaro. The senior producer is Nina Chaudry. The executive producer of Maxine Productions is Mary Robertson. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.
#DocumentaryExcerpt #Adoptions #SouthKorea
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FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.
Just needs to be served.
This documentary is not disponible in Europa, why? I m korean adopte and i would like to see this documentary. How is it possible to see that? Thank you for your answer.
This documentary is protected by a password. Where is it possible to have the password to see this documentary? Thanks.
How can we watch the full segment?
HORRIBLE👍🏻🇺🇲
I don't think it was only in S.korea
I was adopted from Korea, to fairly wealthy (but not good) parents, was born to an unwed, young mother, and know nothing about my birth family. I think adopting a child from a foreign country is destroying their past and connection to their history. I am so disappointed with my situation and this makes me wonder if the agency that adopted me out lied about anything that is not barring me from knowing about my history. If you are going to adopt a child from a foreign country, do your research about the country's history and culture and do not try to erase that from your adopted kid's life.
I am pretty sure Korean women are blaming this to Korean men. LOL
I used to work in youth corrections. What people don’t realize is the state, whether the United States or South Korea, is the largest human trafficker. People wear blinders when it comes to their governments actions. It is easier for rich people to adopt kids than for good people to. Children go to the wealthy, and when they would come back to my facility, the horror stories rolled in. Girls adopted to be groomed and graped. Boys adopted to be turned into slaves. Only successful state-sanctioned adoptions I saw were when they went to GOOD people (teachers, truck drivers, nurses, social workers). RICH people always always always felt entitled to a perfect child that required little to no work (kids from horribly traumatizing backgrounds in most cases), and would throw that wealth in the kids face to paint them as ungrateful at the first opportunity. The most successful adoptions I’ve seen though, take place interpersonally without the state’s involvement. So many good families desperately seeking a child while the red-tape of adoption prevents them, but mothers can actually choose a family for their child they’re putting up for adoption without surrendering them to the state, and any prospective mother should know this is an option. For the love of everything good, DO NOT surrender your child to the state, or they will be forever churned within our socioeconomic system and brought endless harm… instead find a gentle and loving couple on your own and orchestrate the adoption privately.
No consequences for men in forced birth situations. All the scorn and consequences are heaped on the mothers and children.
Where can we watch it ?
It would be great if Frontline had an episode one of these day's. Especially with all the geopolitical situations occuring right now.