“Will Set Up Baby Boxes to Care For Abandoned Foreign Babies”
2014-01-08 16:44
Rev. Kim Hae-seong (Korean Chinese Church), director of Global Sarang (love) Sharing, announced on January 7 that an “immigrant baby box” for newborns of Chinese and other foreign nationalities will be set up this month. Though slightly worried that this could lead to more abandonment of newborns, Rev. Kim says, “We can’t ignore the lives that are being thrown away.”
Rev. Kim decided on the “immigrant baby box,” to be installed on the first floor of the foreign workers’ clinic operated by Global Sarang Sharing on Nambu Circle Road, Seoul, as a way to save babies of foreign nationality who are abandoned by parents unable to raise them or to send them away for adoption. Rev. Kim plans to raise and educate these babies till they are adults. He also plans to initiate a law-revision movement to enable their legal protection in Korea.
Rev. Kim’s interest in the “immigrant baby box” started from his meeting with Lee Mi-kyeong (not her real name), a 15-year-old Chinese girl, in January 2013. Her parents, Korean residents of China, had both come to Korea to work, and she was living alone in China when she became pregnant as a result of rape. She came to Korea to meet her parents, but had to live an uneasy life alone in a jjimjilbang (modernized Korean bathhouse). When her labor pains started, she went out to the street in a state of confusion. Hearing her moans, neighborhood residents took her to a nearby obstetrical hospital, where she gave birth with difficulty.
Ms. Lee could not leave the hospital even after the baby was born, because she was not covered by medical insurance and could not pay the large bill of 3.3 million won. The Support Center for Unmarried Mothers heard her story, and requested help from Rev. Kim, so he went to the hospital and met her. Several days later when he returned to pay the bill, he found that she and the new baby had left. A neighborhood restaurant owner, learning about her situation, had paid the hospital bill and agreed to take charge of the baby, and Ms. Lee had departed to China. Now the baby has been granted Korean citizenship and is in a child care center.
It is difficult for an unmarried mother or child of foreign nationality to receive protection from the Korean government. A person related to the Ministry for Gender Equality and Family explained, “Because of the short supply of shelters for the increasing number of unmarried mothers in Korea, it’s hard to include foreigners as well. Only if the mother or child has Korean citizenship can they be admitted.” Nor can a foreign baby be put up for adoption through any Korean agency. That is because, according to the Special Law on Adoption now in effect, only babies whose birth has been registered are eligible for adoption. And according to a statement from one of Seoul’s district offices, it is impossible for a foreigner in Korea to register a child’s birth.
“Of course, it’s normal and right for a mother to raise her child. I hope many children will not come to our planned baby box,” Rev. Kim says. “But I think it is God’s will for us to save and nurture children of foreign nationality who are abandoned without protection?they also are precious lives created in God’s image.”
Reporter Choi Seung Wook (applesu@kmib.co.kr), Marion Kim (marionkkim@icloud.com)
Click here for the original article in Korean
