Birth Family Search
Things to think about:
What are you hoping to discover?
What prompts you to proceed the search at this time of your life?
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General family information
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Family traits and personalities
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Medical history information
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Circumstances of the adoption
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Establish connection with birth family
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Let birth family know you're okay
Step 1: Make contact
There are a few different contacts you can start off with in Australia or Korea. Most of these organisations will assign you a case worker to keep track of your information, act as a mediator and provide advice to you throughout the birth search process.
Australian State Departments
Every Australian state has a department of human services which manages intercountry adoptions. Contact the state where you arrived when you first came to Australia.
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NATIONAL: Attorney General’s Department
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NEW SOUTH WALES: Department of Health and Community Services
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QUEENSLAND: Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services
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WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Department of Child Protection and Family Support
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AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY: Department of Community Services
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TASMANIA: Department of Health and Human Services
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NORTHERN TERRITORY: Department of Children and Families
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SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Department of Education and Child Development
Eastern Social Welfare Society (ESWS)
Most Korean adoptees sent to Australia were processed through the Eastern Social Welfare Society. Find out more about ESWS's post-adoption services.
National Center for the Rights of the Child (NCRC, formerly KAS)
NCRC is a Korean public institution that are responsible for the development and management for child policies in Korea. As part of any birth family search, contact is required with them to access or confirm birth-related information. Visit their website at National Center for the Rights of the Child.
Global Overseas Adoptees Link (G.O.A.L)
G.O.A.L is an adoptee-led not-for-profit organisations based in Seoul and provides birth search support for adoptees both living in and visiting Korea. Visit G.O.A.L for more information.
STEP 2: PREPARE YOUR DOCUMENTS
When you are adopted, you are supplied with documents from your adoption agency such as the Initial Social History report above. These documents should contain vital information for your search such as:
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your case number
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your Korean ID number
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your Korean name
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your parents' names
For some adoptees, they have more information than others. This is normal.
You will be asked to fill out a form including your identification details such as your drivers license, birth certificate in Australia and citizenship.
If you are missing some information, your adoption agency and State social welfare departments may be able to supply you with copies.
What happens next?
Your adoption agency will attempt to send a telegram to your birth parents. The telegram is designed to be strictly confidential and asks birth parents to call the agency's phone number.
If you are willing to travel to Korea, you may want to consider reaching out to local police, hospitals and orphanages who may have more information about you or your family.
Possible outcomes:
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Birth family is found and able to have contact with you
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Birth family is found, but not able to have contact
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Adoption agency (ESWS) send telegram to the presumably birth parent’s address, but
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no one responds to the telegram or the telegram can’t be delivered
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the receiver denies having a child
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Adoption agency informs you that that your birth mother or father has passed away
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Adoption agency finds that birth parents' ID number were cancelled for various reasons, and advise that no further step can be undertaken from their end.
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You may find that find that your birth parents were married couple with older siblings, which is very different info from their adoption records. This is quite common for Korean adoptees born between 1980 to the mid 1990s.
Perspectives from birth families
In a culture where adoption is not discussed openly and seen as shameful, birth families also face their own challenges.
Birth families sometimes talk about:
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Feeling ashamed
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Thinking they are not good enough, and they don't don't deserve to be found by their child.
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Fear of others finding out that they had a child given up for adoption.
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Being judged by their family member, including their own children they raised.
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May not know their child was adopted to Australia.
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May not know where/how to begin the search process.
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May be afraid of their children ‘hating’ them for not being able to keep them.
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They may have contacted the adoption agency, but it may not have come through to adoptive parents/adoptees for various reasons
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They worry about causing problems in the adoptive family by wanting to contact them.
Looking after yourself
From searching to meeting, or not meeting birth family, it is normal to feel overwhelmed. KAiAN exists to help you feel like you are not alone and that there is help.
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Visit an adoptee counsellor. Get started at our Counselling and Mental Health support page.
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Join our Korean Adoptees in Australia group (closed FB group, adoptees only) - many of us have tried the birth family search process and we all have different experiences.
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Learn more about Korean culture.
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Read stories about other Korean adoptees and their search for family.