A 2016 article in CBS News covered the story of Korean adoptee Cyndy Burns who was left at an adoption agency when she was ten months old . Burns had grown up in Connecticut . Burns used a DNA sample to find her birth mother , Sun Cha , who had been living in the United States , and Burns went to Tacoma , Washington to meet her birth mother . A 2017 article in The Philadelphia Inquirer covered the story of Korean adoptee Phillip Clay who was adopted in 1983 to a couple in Philadelphia when he was 8 years old . Not having US citizenship and having a long criminal record , Clay was deported in 2012 to South Korea . For the next five years , Clay struggled to speak Korean and form connections with other Korean adoptees . On May 21 , 2017 , Clay committed suicide by jumping from the 14th floor of a building in Ilsan . A 2015 article in The Washington Times said that mixed-race Korean adoptee Thomas Park Clement who was born during the middle of the Korean War remembered being abandoned by his birth mother when he was four and half years old after Clement 's birth mother told him to walk down a street and not turn around . Clement lived on the streets before being put in an orphanage . Two years after , Clement was adopted by a family in North Carolina . Clement later received a degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University , and Clement founded Mectra Labs , a medical device company , in 1988 . Clement was not planning on looking for his birth mother . A 2013 article in The Berkshire Eagle said that Clement 's 2012 biography was called '' Dust of the Streets : The Journey of a Biracial Orphan of the Korean War '' . A 2016 article in The Seattle Times said that Korean adoptee Thomas Park Clement founded Mectra Labs which is a medical-manufacturing company , and it said that Clement has pledged $ 1,000,000 worth of DNA testing kits for donation . Clement has given 2,550 DNA testing kits to Korean adoptees and Korean War veterans , and he has given 450 DNA testing kits to 325Kamra which is a volunteer organization to give to people in South Korea . Clement said , " '' I have throughout the years experienced so many of my fellow Korean adoptees ' frustrations with birth-relative searches '' " , and Clement said , " '' DNA is shortcutting the search process and bringing all parties in direct communication with each other . '' " A 2015 article in PRI said that Clement was paying for the DNA kits from 23andMe . A 2016 article in Q13 Fox said that Immigration Judge John O'Dell chose to deport Adam Crapser , a Korean adoptee who was not a US citizen , due to Crapser 's criminal record . A 2016 article in The New York Times covered the story of Kwon Pil-ju , the birth mother of Korean adoptee Adam Crapser . The article said that Kwon gave Crapser up for adoption when Crapser was three years old . Kwon found out about Crapser from a relative who told her about Crapser being on an MBC documentary in 2015 . Kwon got in touch with the producer of the 2015 MBC documentary , and the producer set up a video communication for Kwon and Crapser . Crapser plans to reunite with Kwon after being deported to South Korea . A 2016 article in The Korea Herald covered the story of Korean adoptee Kyung Eun Davidson . The article said that Davidson was a Korean adoptee who was given up for adoption when she was three years old by her birth father . Davidson grew up in Oregon after being adopted . Davidson was in Korea from 2005 to 2007 to find her birth mother . Davidson reunited with her birth father in 2007 , but after their first reunion he disappeared . Davidson went back to the United States from Korea in 2007 . Davidson 's birth father had lied to her birth mother that he had been raising her for more than twenty years when in reality he had put her up for adoption . Davidson 's birth mother went to Holt in 2008 after Davidson 's birth mother found out about her biological daughter being put up for adoption by Davidson 's birth father . Davidson became aware that her birth mother did not relinquish her for adoption in 2016 . Davidson found her birth mother through a DNA match , and Davidson and her birth mother were going to meet each other in person . A 2017 article in the Duluth News Tribune covered the story of Korean adoptee Amy Davis . Davis was adopted in the seventies , and Davis grew up in Cloquet , Minnesota in a community of mostly white people . Davis 's adoptive parents were told that Davis had been abandoned , so there was no way to contact Davis 's birth parents . In 2016 , Davis went to Korea to search for her birth parents , and Davis 's case manager told Davis that her biological aunt had been looking for her seven years ago . Davis 's case manager originally did not tell Davis the name of her biological aunt , because it was against Korea 's privacy laws for the case manager to tell Davis this information , but the case manager eventually broke the law and told Davis the information . Davis found her biological aunt , and Davis found her birth father who was proven to be her birth father through DNA testing . Davis 's birth parents had split up when Davis was one year old , and Davis 's birth father had been leaving Davis with his mother ( Davis 's biological grandmother ) while Davis 's birth father went to work . Davis had long thought that she was abandoned in a police station , but , in reality , it was her biological grandmother who had put her up for adoption without her birth parents ' consent or awareness , and this act had caused her birth family to become estranged . Davis 's 97-year-old biological grandmother asked for forgiveness for what she had done to Davis , and Davis forgave her . A 2000 article in PBS covered the story of Korean adoptee Karen Hae Soon Eckert . Eckert was discovered at a police station in Seoul on February 21 , 1971 , with no accompanying written information left with her . Because she had no written information left with her , she was given the name Park Hae-soon . Officials estimated Eckert 's birthday to be February 12 , 1971 , because they said that she looked about 10 days old . Eckert was in a hospital for four months after she was born before being put in Holt International 's foster care . When Eckert was 9 months old , she was adopted , and she grew up in Danville , California . Eckert 's brothers and parents were white people . Five years after she was eighteen years old , Eckert joined a group of adult adoptees . Eckert liked encountering other adoptees , she liked sharing experiences and she liked being able to empathize . A 2017 article in PRI covered the story of Korean adoptee Layne Fostervold . Fostervold 's birth mother , Kim Sook-nyeon , was unwed when she became pregnant with Fostervold in 1971 , and Kim Sook-nyeon 's family would have encountered a lot of stigma and prejudice if she had kept Fostervold . Fostervold was adopted when he was 2 years old , and Fostervold grew up in Willmar , Minnesota . Fostervold said that he had the feeling for almost all of his life that his birth mother did not want to give him up for adoption . Kim Sook-nyeon said that she had to promise not to go looking for Fostervold in the future . Kim Sook-nyeon said that she had prayed for Fostervold , worried about Fostervold and wanted Fostervold to have a good life . Fostervold went to Korea in 2012 , and he talked to Korea Social Service ( KSS ) which was the agency which had done his adoption . A social worker for KSS told Fostervold that a person who claimed to be his birth mother looked for him in 1991 and 1998 , but nobody from KSS had told his adoptive family this information . Fostervold reunited with his birth mother . Fostervold moved to South Korea in 2016 , and Fostervold was living with his birth mother in 2017 . Fostervold was trying to learn the Korean language in order to obtain a professional job , and Fostervold changed his last name from Fostervold back to Kim on social media . A 2000 article in PBS covered the story of Korean adoptee Steven Haruch . The story was that Haruch was born in Seoul in 1974 , and Haruch was given the name Oh Young-chan by the strangers who took care for him until Haruch went to the United States in 1976 . Haruch was adopted to a white family and most of the people around him were white too . In high school and college , Haruch wrote self-pitying poems about being adopted . In 2000 , Haruch was the Acting Instructor in the Department of English in University of Washington . Haruch wrote film criticism for the Seattle Weekly , and Haruch was a part-time teacher at a Korean-American after-school program . A 2014 article in MinnPost covered the story of Korean adoptee Shannon Heit . Heit was on K-pop Star in 2008 for the purpose of trying to find her birth mother who she believed had given her up for adoption more than twenty years ago . Heit 's appearance on TV and Heit 's singing ability led to her being reunited with her birth mother . Heit learned that she had been put up for adoption by her biological grandmother when her birth mother was away working which was contrary to the story her adoptive family had been told . Heit was supportive of the Special Adoption Law which went into effect in August 2012 . In 2014 , Heit was living in South Korea , was married and was working as an editor and translator . Also in 2014 , Heit was working with civic groups to help unwed mothers and she was counseling adopted children . Heit remained in contact with her adoptive parents in the United States , and Heit said , " '' my case shows how traumatic adoption can be , even when the adoptive parents are loving and have the best intentions . '' " A 2017 article in Korea JoongAng Daily covered the story of Korean adoptee Kim Dong-hwa . The article said that Kim and his birth sister were abandoned by their birth mother when they were both infants . Kim and his birth sister flew out of South Korea in 1979 . The two were adopted to a family in Portland , Oregon , and Kim said that it lasted for about a year . Kim and his sister were then sent to a foster family in Denver , Colorado for about five years , and that family was busted for physical abuse of children . Kim and his sister were then put in foster care . In 1986 , Kim and his sister were put into a foster family with foster parents of Mexican descent who were undocumented immigrants in East Los Angeles , California . Kim said that this new foster family beat him and his sister , and Kim said that they beat him with big sticks . Kim said that he had a feeling that his sister was being sexually abused , because Kim said that " '' She started doing weird things , so … you know '' " . Kim got two years in juvenile detention after hitting his foster father in the head with a hammer after Kim heard neighbors praising the foster father . Kim was later convicted of assault , gang affiliation and possession of a firearm which got Kim five years in jail , and Kim was charged with assault with a deadly weapon three years into this five-year jail term . Kim 's lawyer suggested to Kim that he could avoid jail time by accepting lifetime deportation , since the paper work was never completed for Kim to become a US citizen . Kim said , " '' I just did n’t want to sit in jail . '' " , and Kim went to South Korea . In South Korea , Kim taught English before starting a Mexican restaurant with another person with the help of loans . A 2016 documentary on NBC News covered the story of Korean adoptee Dan Matthews who is an alternative rapper . In 2013 , Matthews was in the documentary " '' aka Dan '' " where he reconnected with his biological family and twin brother . In 2016 , four other Korean adoptees and Matthews visited Korea in the documentary " '' aka SEOUL '' " which was produced by NBC Asian America and International Secret Agents ( ISAtv ) , and the five Korean adoptees threw light on adoptee identity in this documentary . A 2016 article in WUSA 9 covered the story of Korean adoptee Madoc Hyunsu O'Callaghan . The article said that O'Callaghan who was three years old was killed by his adoptive father , Brian O'Callaghan , after only having been adopted for three months when his adoptive father threw him against the wall . The lawyer for the adoptive father argued that his marines corps veteran client had PTSD which caused him to go into a rage and lose control . Korean adoptee Annalie Yi felt that the adoptive father 's prison sentence which made it so he could be released from prison after only four years was a " '' slap on the wrist '' " . The Korean adoptee community was upset that O'Callaghan 's grave had just a marker with his name over it rather than a headstone over it , and the Korean adoptee community offered to buy a headstone for O'Callaghan 's grave , but the Korean adoptee community has now accepted the adoptive mother 's statement that she was going to move the body . A 2016 article in DCW 50 said that Brian O'Callaghan got 12 years in prison with eligibility for parole in around 5 years . A 2016 article in The Washington Post said that Circuit Judge John Debelius was in agreement that the adoptive father 's PTSD was a factor in the death of O'Callaghan , and Debelius said that he did not believe that O'Callaghan 's death was a premeditated killing by his adoptive father . A 2015 article in the Daily Mail said that O'Callaghan 's obituary in the Frederick News-Post described O'Callaghan as a " '' smiling , content , and loving son and brother . He loved his dogs , his big brother Aidan , and anything his parents made for him to eat . '' " A 2015 article in 89.3 KPCC covered the story of Korean adoptee Nicky Sa-eun Schildkraut . Schildkraut 's precise age at adoption was not known , and she grew up near Boston in the United States . Schildkraut went to South Korea two times to try to find information about her birth family . Schildkraut said , " '' The fact that I 'll never be able to find my biological family and relatives . I feel like that kind of loss is interminable , it 's just ongoing loss . '' " Schildkraut said , " '' I have all these privileges growing up in my westernized family , all my education and degrees I would not be able to have if I had still been in Korea , so I feel fortunate in that sense . '' " A 2017 article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel covered the story of Korean adoptee Brooke Thiele . Thiele was born in Daegu , and she was adopted when she was 9 months old to a white family in Green Bay , Wisconsin . Thiele was awarded a Mary L. Nohl Fellowship grant of $ 10,000 to work on her project about interracial adoption . Thiele plans to make a hanbok that animates images at the bottom while spinning like a zoetrope to tell her adoption story for the Nohl Fellowship show . A 2017 article in The Guardian covered the story of Korean adoptee Veronica Thompson . In 1974 , Thompson was discovered all by herself in a bag outside of a South Korean police station . Thompson has twice tried to find out about her origins and both of these attempts were unsuccessful . Thompson was going to perform a solo show called Flights of Fancy at the Soho Theatre . Flights of Fancy was about imaginary talks with Thompson 's birth mother , and Flights of Fancy was about Thompson 's journey from the police station , continuing to adoption and a childhood in a town near Seattle with a white family and coming to the United Kingdom in the early 2000s . Flights of Fancy delved into identity politics , migration and belongingness . A 2010 article in the MinnPost said that Korean adoptee Jane Jeong Trenka was concerned that children adopted from Haiti , only a month after the 2010 Haiti earthquake , could be trafficked , misidentified or removed from adults who could care for them .
2010 Haiti earthquake
2010 Haiti earthquake
International adoption of South Korean children