Almost 200,000 Korean children have been adopted internationally since the 1950s. When overseas adoptees reach adulthood, many choose to return to South Korea, to learn more about the country of their birth and search for family members.
KoRoot is an NGO established in 2003 to support Korean overseas adoptees with the challenges they face in navigating an unfamiliar country and seeking answers about their family background and identity. Their guesthouse provides a welcoming home for the ‘returnees’, as well as a range of assistance including family tracing, legal support, trauma counseling and cultural events.
Their research institute focuses on raising awareness of the issues surrounding overseas adoption by publishing and translating key academic literature about adoption and adoptee rights. Also they have organized conferences and seminars on birth mothers rights and adoptee’s identity and records.
KoRoot also promote alternatives to international adoption including family strengthening policies and improvement of child care system in Korea. They collaborate with other organizations to lobby for the country’s law on adoption and child protection to meet international standards.
Purpose of Establishment
KoRoot (The House of Korean Root) is a non-profit organization founded in 2003. It supports overseas adoptees born in Korea to visit and resettle in their mother country as well as contributes to the advancement of human rights of adopted people. KoRoot aspires to work together with adopted people to raise society's awareness of overseas adoption through active interaction between Korean society and adoptees as well as empower adoptees as they build their identities. Furthermore, we aim to contribute to the establishment of birth family centered child rearing in Korean society in solidarity with adoptees, birth families, and unwed mothers.
Our Activity
- Overseas Adoptees Shelter Project: Operating a special guesthouse for overseas adoptees.
- Motherland Living Support Project: Supporting the needs of overseas adoptees living in Korea or finding their birth families as well as celebrating traditional holidays.
- Human Rights Advocacy Project: Improvement of the system and solidarity activities that advocates the rights of overseas adoptees and birth parents.
- Research Project: Research to improve the perception and institution of overseas adoptions.
- Publishing Project: Publishing for diversification of discourses on overseas adoption.
