{"id":260871,"date":"2022-01-17T08:39:36","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T14:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=260871"},"modified":"2022-01-16T19:56:12","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T01:56:12","slug":"south-korea-adoptee-reunites-biological-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/south-korea-adoptee-reunites-biological-family\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea adoptee reunites with biological family 45 years later"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A 45-year-old woman’s chance assignment to South Korea was more than just another duty station for a military family; it was her opportunity to go home.<\/p>\n

Tara Graves is one of the many thousands of children adopted by American families following the Korean War. She left home at six months old when her adoptive parents selected her from a catalog of children 45 years ago. She and her brother, also Korean, had a difficult time growing up in their new home in Minnesota. \u201cIn the small town that we lived in, everyone was sort of predominantly Caucasian,” Graves told Stars and Stripes<\/a>. \u201cBeing five years old and having older kids chase me down at the bus stop, throwing rocks at me for what I looked like was very difficult.”<\/p>\n

The adoption of Korean children by Americans flourished following the Korean War, only beginning to end when South Korea hosted the 1988 Olympics. The issue was a source of embarrassment for the country, and it was only then that the South Korean government began paying attention to the issue. Before that, the adoption industry had been extremely lucrative<\/a> for the South Korean government; it not only saved the government from having to fund the care of the children, but adoption also netted them an estimated $15-$20 million per year. Many of the women who surrendered their children didn’t want to do so, but were poor and working low-paying jobs, and were often convinced to place their children for adoption by local orphanages. Afterwards, birth mothers polled said they felt extreme guilt.<\/p>\n