Bogus Korea Adoption
This story was mentioned in our January 18, 2013 FacePalm here. The couple supposedly thought what they were doing was legal even though it was quite different from their first adoption. The child is still only a Korean citizen and has been sent back to Korea.
“A Chicago couple duped into believing their adoption of a Korean baby was legal are being forced to return the nine-month-old to her country of birth tomorrow despite the fact no-one wants her there.
Jinshil, 49, a South Korea native who was raised in the U.S., and her husband Christopher Duquet, 55, had desperately wanted a second baby.
They went to South Korea to find their little girl named Sehwa Kim after adopting their first child in the country.
Sehwa’s birth mother, who lives in a homeless shelter for unwed mothers, relinquished all rights to her child in the adoption in June and says she still doesn’t want anything to do with the baby. ”
“The couple claim they received bad legal advice on the adoption process in South Korea and had no reason to suspect the baby was not officially theirs.
The couple, who run a jewelry shop in the city of Evanston just north of Chicago, now have one final day with their child and 24 hours to prepare for the heart-breaking moment they have to hand her over to an unknown future in her birth country.
At the latest court hearing they realized their case was lost and any further legal actions would just delay – not prevent – her return.
They relented for the sake of the baby.
When the couple decided to try for another child earlier this year they thought they would return to South Korea where they successfully adopted their first child Emilie, 10.
However, the agency they used in her case said they were now too old to go through the process again. ”
“They found a lawyer who said he would organize a private adoption and presented the couple with Sehwa Kim who had been renounced by both her mother and grandparents.
They believed everything was legitimate for her return to the U.S. but on landing in O’Hare airport on June 28 found U.S. officials disagreed.
They were held for ten hours of questioning and have since fought in the courts to try and keep her with them, caring for her in their family home along the way.
A lawyer acting on behalf of South Korea said the country was just protecting their citizen.
Lee Kyung-hee, director of child welfare at the ministry told the newspaper: ‘The baby girl is a Korean citizen and must have the opportunity to be adopted in Korea first.’
Don Schiller, a lawyer acting for South Korea, said: ‘Korea wants to protect its citizen. There is no more vulnerable citizen than an infant child that has been illegally taken out of the country. The U.S. wouldn’t stand for it if it happened here, and Korea is not going to stand for it.’
There has been a drive to increase domestic adoptions in South Korea in recent years and one legal expert said Sehwa’s case comes as a result of South Korean embarrassment at its high numbers of adoptions by foreign couples. ”
[Daily Mail 3/5/13 by Katie Davies]
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