8 Things to Know Before Adopting From Korea

In this post I am going to go through the things that stand out to me that have changed recently in the Korean program that aren't always reflected in agency's websites or older websites that have not been updated since the changes in the past two years.

So if you are thinking about adopting from Korea first and foremost call an agency to find out Korea's exact requirements. No adoption agency that I have seen lists them all on their websites as some are quite offensive. There are some race based restrictions which even I am uncomfortable going into, they have restrictions based on weight and even super common medical conditions like asthma and carpal tunnel. If you are adopting special needs some of these might be reduced. Also I am not sure if these are Korean government requirements or the agency that the American adoption agency works with in Korea. There are four Korean placing agencies. So call around and make sure you qualify before worrying about the rest of the information below.

These eight points I am highlighting aren't meant to scare you off of adopting from Korea. The truth is there are no "easy" international adoptions so you just choose a country that has a program available with risks you find acceptable. I think it is best to go in informed of those risks and that is what led me to make this post. It is not to discourage anyone from the Korea program. If I knew at the beginning what I know now I still would have chosen this program.  So with that said here is what I think a person exploring their options in adoption should know about the Korea program:

1. International adoption is fluid and can change quickly, when we entered the process we were told their would be one trip to Korea and only one parent would have to go. Now there are two trips to Korea and both parents must go to the first one and at least one parent on the second. You also now go before a Korean judge and are asked questions.

2. There is a 2 week waiting period (at least) between your first and second trip to Korea where the court contacts the birth mother and asks if she is sure she wants to give up her child for adoption. During this point she can change her mind. This was not the case when we embarked on our Korea adoption.

3. Most agencies require you to pick at least some issues you would be okay with in the child. Like fetal exposure to alcohol, cleft palate ect, this is for non-special needs "healthy" babies. And by babies I mean toddlers .

4. Unless you are of Korean heritage or have already adopted a boy from Korea most agencies will not let you request a girl. Most of the children available for international adoption in Korea are boys as Koreans are much more likely to adopt girls than boys domestically. 70-30 I think.

5. Different programs have substantially different timelines from referral to travel, some agencies are up to two years longer wait times than others, our agency quoted ten months from referral to travel. (Though when we signed up with the agency we were originally quoted 4-5 months)

6. Whatever timeline the agency gives you until referral is probably close to accurate but the timeline from referral to travel keeps expanding in a way that is hard for agencies to predict and therefore I would double or at least time and 1/2 what you are originally told when you apply for a visa.

7. This is because the Korean government wants to end international adoptions and is decreasing the amount children they allow to leave every year for international adoptions. This creates an ever growing backlog of children waiting for exit permits and means that the time from referral to travel keeps getting longer and the age of children finally brought home keeps getting older.

8. They are in the process of joining The Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption and so will at some point require a full on dossier.



On the positive Korea is a stable program that lots of agencies have a lot of experience with. If adopting from Korea is something you really wouldn't do I wouldn't wait because it is just going to become more difficult and more cumbersome as time goes by.