Asian Adoptees
(Eastern
Standard Time 310)
A trend since the 1940s.
Adoption of children separated
from their parents and families
by war or poverty.
In 1994, 8,200 children from
other countries adopted, 38
percent of them from East Asia.
Intercountry adoptions: earliest
from Japan (1945) and Korea
(1953). Then from China
(1949); Vietnam (1975-),
including "Operation Babylift,"
which evacuated 3,303 orphans.
Korea's strong tradition of
patrilineage makes children
with unknown fathers
unadoptable. In the 1980s, an
average of 4,440 Korean
children were adopted each
year.
Why? Some say that the "whiz
kid" stereotype encourages
Asian-American adoption.
Americans adopted 27 Chinese
children in 1990; 2,049 in 1995.
Resources and agencies:
Adoptive Families of America
The National Council for
Adoption
Holt Adoption Agency