Illegally adopted baby to return home from US

A seven-month old Korean-born baby illegally adopted by an American couple and currently at the center of a legal dispute is likely to return home.

The Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois, which initially granted the couple the right to take care of the child in November, nullified its decision Thursday, according to the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The court decided that it was not in the best interests of the baby to be under the guardianship of the couple because they acquired custody of her through improper procedures.

The couple violated the Korean Adoption Law by not going through the process with a government-approved adoption agency. The couple also violated U.S. immigration laws by not submitting an IR3, the immigration visa for international adoptions, for the baby.

The baby was adopted by the Illinois couple in June last year, just 19 days after she was born to a 20-year-old single mother in Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province.

It was only last month that the U.S. government found out that the baby was brought into the country illegally. This was found when the couple applied for a visa extension for the baby at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The U.S. government ordered the baby to be separated from the American couple.

The couple then filed a suit in the Illinois Northern District Court against the government for taking away the baby, claiming that the Cook County court had already approved their rights to adopt the child. The federal court will rule on whether the government should take care of the baby until she is returned to Korea.

Ever since the case was emerged, the Korean government has gone all out to return the baby to the country.

The Korean health ministry filed a suit in November at the Cook County court claiming the adoption was invalid and the baby should be returned. The ministry claimed the baby was taken out of the country without going through proper adoption procedures and was therefore the subject of illegal action.

Under Korean Adoption Laws, couples wishing to adopt a baby must receive approval of their status from a certified adoption agency. Any adoption not involving a certified agency is considered illegal.

The baby’s return to Korea is dependent on a federal court ruling. A hearing will be held at the federal Illinois Northern District Court, Friday.

“The federal court will decide whether the baby should be taken care of by the government or the couple until she returns home. Whatever the decision, it is likely the baby will return to Korea as the state court annulled the couple’s rights to the child,”said an official from the welfare ministry.

The illegal adoption in this case took place before the revision of the Korean adoption law. The revised law, however, implemented since Aug. 5 last year, states that the adoptive parents must not only go through the procedures with a certified adoption agency but also receive approval from a family court. <The Korea Times/Yun Suh-young >