Themotherof a four-year-old who was kidnapped in 1976 issuingher government, an adoption agency, and anorphanage.Laurie Benderwas wrongly adopted in theUSAafter beingkidnappedfrom her nativeSouth Korea. Her mother,Han Tae-soon, reunited with her decades later, thanks toDNA testing.
Han filed a lawsuit on Monday (October 7). This was the first known case of a Korean birth parent suing for damages against the South Korean government and an adoption agency over the wrongful adoption of their child, theLos Angeles Timesreported on Monday.
HighlightsMother sues South Korean government for wrongful adoption.Laurie Bender, kidnapped in 1976, adopted in USA.DNA testing reunited mother and daughter in 2019.First Korean birth parent lawsuit over wrongful adoption.
Han reportedly searched for Bender for more than 40 years before they reunited throughDNA testingin 2019.
Speaking to reporters in front of the Seoul Central District Court, Han argued that theSouth Koreangovernment was responsible for failing to prevent the adoption of Bender, theLA Timesreported.
RELATED:
The mother of a four-year-old who was kidnapped in 1976 is suing her government, an adoption agency, and an orphanage
Image credits:325Kamra – Reuniting families through DNA
As a result, Bender was tricked into leaving with the mysterious woman. However, Han didn’t want to abandon Bender and spent a significant amount of time inpolicestations, government offices, and adoption agencies looking for her missing daughter.
Image credits:DANISH KOREAN RIGHTS GROUP
Bender reportedly took aDNA testbecause her own daughter was curious about their heritage. In 2019, she got a call: “Your mother has been looking for you.”
She told theAP: “It’s like a hole in your heart has been healed, you finally feel like a complete person. It’s like you’ve been living a fake life and everything you know is not true.”
Han Tae-soon filed a lawsuit on Monday (October 7)
Han now accuses Holt, which is South Korea’s biggest adoption agency, of facilitating her daughter’s adoption without checking her background.
Bender was subsequently sent to the US in February 1976. Han recalled: “For 44 years, I wandered and searched for my child, but the joy of meeting her was only momentary and now I am in so much pain because we can’t communicate in the same language.”
The heartbroken mom continued: “It turns out they didn’t make an effort to find her clearly existing parents and instead disguised her as an orphan foradoptionabroad.
This is the first known case between a Korean birth parent, the government, and an adoption agency over wrongful adoption
Image credits:달리 [SBS DALI]
“I want the government and Holt to explain to us how this happened.”
Kim Soo-jung, Han’s lawyer, reportedly said the government is at fault for the botched child search that led to Bender’s wrongful adoption.
Kim explained: “While the state bears the large responsibility for not fulfilling its duty to help find missing children and reunite them with their families, we also believe that the [orphanage] and adoption agency cannot be spared from responsibility as well.
Laurie Bender was wrongly adopted in the USA after being kidnapped from her native South Korea
“We suspect that these child protection institutions failed to carry out their ethical obligation to help find the child’s parents, even when the child was saying [she] had a family and had parents.”
Jeon Min Kyeong, another lawyer representing Han, said she is seeking about 600 million won ($445,000) in damages, theLA Timesreported.
Han reunited with Bender decades later, thanks to DNA testing
The adoption industry had grown out of the wreckage of the Korean War in the 1950s when Americans took in the unwanted biracial children born of Korean women and Western soldiers.
“I’m so happy they’ve found each other,” a reader commented
Thanks! Check out the results:Donata Leskauskaite
Lei RV
Renan Duarte
News
