The Power of One Word: How ‘Orphan’ Built a Multi-Billion Dollar Adoption Industry
In the wake of recent revelations about Korean adoptions, a chilling truth has emerged—one that many adoptees and their advocates have long suspected. The global adoption industry, particularly its roots in South Korea, was built on a lie. A single word—”orphan”—was enough to separate children from their families, forge a lucrative adoption pipeline, and establish an unshakable humanitarian facade that still shields adoption agencies from accountability today.
My Story: A Victim of the ‘Orphan’ Label
I am one of those victims. Labeled an orphan when I was not, I have spent 20 years searching for the truth about my origins. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is investigating my case, and I await their findings. My story is not unique—thousands of Korean adoptees are uncovering falsified records, altered identities, and fabricated abandonment stories. This deception allowed international adoption agencies to profit under the guise of humanitarian aid while permanently severing children from their real families.
The Business of ‘Orphan’
“What one word can do—’orphan’—and it creates a global market in children.”
This statement encapsulates the power of language in shaping industries, policies, and public perception. Holt International, the pioneering agency in Korean adoptions, played a crucial role in branding children as “orphans,” even when they had living parents. By doing so, they facilitated international adoptions on a massive scale, creating an exportation of children disguised as humanitarian aid.
The term “orphan” tugs at heartstrings, making it nearly impossible to question the morality of intercountry adoption. Who wouldn’t want to help a child in need? However, the truth behind these adoptions is far more sinister. Many Korean adoptees are now uncovering falsified records, altered identities, and fabricated stories of abandonment—all orchestrated to grease the wheels of a billion-dollar adoption enterprise.
The Hidden Truth: Profiting from Family Separation
For decades, Korean adoptees have fought to gain access to their original records, only to be met with bureaucratic roadblocks, missing files, and intentional secrecy. The organizations responsible for these adoptions—including Holt and other agencies—claim humanitarian intent, yet their actions tell a different story.
These so-called “orphans” were often children of unwed mothers, single parents, or families facing economic hardship—families who, with proper support, could have raised their children. But instead of assisting, adoption agencies funneled these children into the international market, permanently severing them from their roots and identities.
Adoption agencies and affiliated nonprofits flourished under the guise of humanitarianism. By leveraging the word “orphan,” they legitimized a practice that amounted to child trafficking. It was, and continues to be, an industry built on deception—one where those who question the narrative are silenced, ostracized, or labeled as anti-adoption radicals.
The Consequences of Speaking Out
To challenge this system is to challenge an entire industry that has been woven into the fabric of philanthropy and foreign policy. Nonprofits, governments, and religious organizations have all benefited from adoption as a solution to social problems—whether it be poverty, unwed motherhood, or global inequality. To speak against it is to risk being cast out, dismissed, or even demonized.
Many adoptees who have sought truth and justice have faced backlash from both the adoption industry and society at large. The expectation is gratitude—be thankful you were saved, be grateful for the life you were given. But what about the families left behind? What about the mothers who were coerced, the fathers who never even knew their children were sent abroad, or the adoptees who have spent their lives feeling like commodities instead of human beings?
The Urgent Need for Justice
The unraveling of Korean adoptions is just the beginning. As more adoptees uncover the truth, the demand for accountability grows louder. South Korea must resist signing the Hague Adoption Convention and instead ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) to put an end to international adoption. A full investigation into the four main adoption agencies must be launched, and international adoption must be recognized for what it truly is—child trafficking.
Ending the exploitation of children under the pretense of humanitarianism requires dismantling the false narrative of the orphan crisis. True aid means family preservation—not child exportation.
It’s time to expose the real impact of a single word and hold accountable those who built an empire on the backs of stolen children.
Join the Town Hall Meeting Have you or someone you know been affected by international adoption? Share your story, demand change, and help us bring the truth to light.
#AdoptionTruth #KoreanAdoptees #EndAdoptionFraud #AbolishInternationalAdoption
In response to these articles:
AP Article: South Korea’s truth commission says government responsible for fraud and abuse in foreign adoptions, Kim Tong-Hyung “SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s truth commission has concluded that the government bears responsibility for facilitating a foreign adoption program rife with fraud and abuse, driven by efforts to reduce welfare costs and enabled by private agencies that often manipulated children’s backgrounds and origins.”
NY Times: World’s Largest ‘Baby Exporter’ Admits to Adoption Fraud.
Korean Times: South Korean government blamed for human rights abuses in overseas adoption.
