Korea is so beautiful, and rich in history as you can see from the above photo that Andrea took at the palace in Seoul in 1999. We are eager to return there soon. As we previously mentioned, we've decided to work with Korea in an effort to provide a child with a loving home. Some important points to understand about Korean Adoption are listed below.
- The process from start to finish can take about 2 years.
- Holt International is the governing adoption agency in Korea; so we are kind of working with two entities.
- Many children with adoption plans come to Holt from young, single mothers.
- Korean medical care is excellent, so once Holt is working with the birth mother, prenatal/postnatal care is taken care of quite well.
- About 90% of children with adoption plans are male.
- Once children are born, they are usually placed with loving foster families in either the area of their birth or in Seoul (eventually always end up in Seoul).
- Korean children are not placed for international adoption until 5 months of age b/c Korea wants to leave opportunity for the child to be adopted in-country.
- Korea is hoping to "phase out" international adoption by 2012...if you wish to know why, feel free to ask us via email.
- Most babies come home around 10 months of age.
- The most common medical conditions seen recently are fetal exposure to alcohol, cigarette smoke, or possibly illicit drugs (duration of exposure varies widely).
- Most children have strong attachment abilities thanks to doting and well-intentioned foster families.
- Parents may either travel to Korea to bring their child home, or they may have an escort bring them over. We will be travelling.
That's just a few things to wrap your brains around for now. We have lots more...oh so much more.
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