“Seed from the East” – A Trip to the Homeland (Part 3)

In 1961, a letter addressed to my parents, written on October 4, from Holt Adoption Program, stated that I was nine months old and that someone brought me to the orphanage from the Seoul City Hall where I had been abandoned on August 31.

Mandatory adoption filings with the Holt Adoption Program included:

• statement of adoption
• power of attorney
• affidavit of support for American Embassy
• copies of birth certificates of both parents
• copies of marriage certificate
• letters of recommendation of employer, pastor, and friends
• physicians report, and
• pictures of family and home.

Simultaneously, while in Korea, my parents had to go through an Immigration Orphan Investigation that was approved on November 2, 1961.

My parents endured their own months/years of red tape filings with Intercountry Adoption applications, State Department of Social Welfare, International Social Service and the United States Department of Justice.

The Holt agency was licensed in Oregon. They had their own adoption laws through the Oregon Child Welfare Department. California required that the home be approved by their state welfare agency before a child can be placed. The Holt Adoption Program felt, “thwarted in its attempt to place children there.”

Although approved for adoption through Holt, my parents still had to go through State of California Immigration Services, which meant they could not adopt by proxy. Preadoption requirements in California stated that, “The parent must see and observe the child during the adoption proceedings.” This, in turn, precluded any other statement in the law.

A letter dated November 10, 1961, passed along news from Harry Holt that, “The new adoption law in Korea says that every child that leaves Korea has to be adopted under the laws of the Republic of Korea. . . . It may mean that the only way the children can be adopted will be if the parents come over here and adopt them.”

My parents received a letter dated November 27, 1961, via Harry Holt, informing them, “. . . it is impossible, under the present set-up, to adopt your child through the laws for your state. The Korean Government has made us responsible for the child while it is in our charge and has given us the guardianship. This guardianship is assigned to us by the Mayor of Seoul. We are not allowed to transfer this guardianship to anyone except to an adoptive parent. Now, if it is possible in your state that we can transfer the guardianship directly to you, I think we could do the adoption. We cannot transfer the guardianship to a social welfare agency or to an adoption service or anything like that.”

Holt went on to state that he would not release any of his adoptive children to social services. The concern, once the child is transported through the International Social Service, there was no guaranteed the adoptive parents would receive him/her. He had a case where a child, “. . .was adopted through Probate Court but before probationary period of adoption was completed, the father died and the child was thrown into an orphanage and was there over a year.”

In a reply from a letter my parents wrote on March 6, 1962, the Holt Adoption Program replied that in California there seems to be no way to place children. Two different bills were up before the California legislature, “Bill 727, making it legal of a state agency licensed in its own state to place children in California and to file a necessary home study report with the courts. Bill 454 would make it possible for probation officers of the county to review and approve homes for the courts rather than the matter having to go to the welfare department.”

On June 4, 1963, Holt Adoption Program wrote, “We were thrilled to hear the bill passed the Judiciary Committee and that Senator Murdy says there should be no problem in its passing the Senate.”

Sadly, by August 28, 1963, a letter from the Holt Adoption Program in Oregon, stated, “As you know, we have been unable to place children in families in your state since the Federal Law governing immigration was changed making it compulsory to work under state law and in some instances through state welfare departments.”

Happily, the same letter went on to say that a parent in California contacted the Flying Tiger Airlines and explained the difficulties. “They listened with an open mind and compassionate heart. . . . If a group of 58 parents (that is, 116 parents or 58 couples) can be readied at the same time for travel to Korea, Flying Tiger will provide a charter plane, which will be under the sponsorship of Orange County Amko Club. They will provide this plane, which will be a Four Engine Constellation going over and return on Turbo Jet, which will carry 165 adults besides all the children. . . . There would be no charge for the children brought back. . . . Two stewardess would be provided for the trip to Korea and an additional two stewardesses would be added for the return trip. All food, including the babies’ food, would be supplied by the airlines, as well as diapers, etc. needed by the little ones. . . .”

My parents felt they had no other recourse but to fly to Korea and adopt me on Korean soil.

Based upon the stories and documentation I have, my parents were on a Flying Tiger Airline’s chartered flight as, “American Mothers for Korean Orphans.” (See photo of my parents with Bertha above at the airport.) Their flight was delayed by a day, due to the horrific news of President Kennedy’s assassination. The plane left Burbank, California, and refueled in Anchorage, Alaska. Then they were unexpectedly grounded in Japan due to a snowstorm.