An Evanston couple fighting to adopt a South Korean baby whom they've raised since shortly after her birth was dealt a setback Monday when a federal judge returned authority over the child to U.S. officials, a step toward the child's possible deportation.
U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur made it clear that he trusted that officials would make decisions in the baby's best interest, scolding federal immigration lawyers for "a level of insensitivity and sometimes even callousness" in the past.
Shadur said it is up to the Office of Refugee Resettlement to decide whether 7-month-old Sehwa Kim should remain with Jinshil and Christopher Duquet, of Evanston, while immigration officials decide whether she should be deported, and if so, when....
South Korea has been fighting for the child's return, accusing the Duquets of circumventing their adoption procedures.
The Duquets, who say they were misled by a South Korean lawyer and thought they were participating in a legal private adoption, declined comment.
Customs officials at O'Hare International Airport flagged the child's entry into the United States in June when Jinshil Duquet brought her from South Korea. The officials said Sehwa lacked the proper visa for a prospective adoption.
"The child has a right to her Korean heritage," said Donald Schiller, a Chicago attorney who represents South Korea. "(Sehwa) will overcome it. She'll have a wonderful, loving family."...
It's a very sad, a very tragic day for the Duquets, for justice and for concepts of fairness," said Jonathan Minkus, a lawyer representing the family.
The child's birth mother lives in a shelter for unwed mothers and does not want the baby back.
The Duquets maintain that the baby is being used as a political pawn in South Korea, which has tightened laws regarding international adoptions while encouraging its own citizens to adopt. Despite policy changes, there remains a cultural stigma against adoption, leaving many children in orphanages, experts say. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/evanston/chi-evanston-south-korean-adoption-20130114,0,7254703.story
This should be a no brainer. The kid needs to stay in the U.S. and Evanston. The child was allowed to leave South Korea, the mom doesn't the child and there is no guarantee that a Korean family will adopt the little girl and provide the child with a loving home.
The U.S. adopting family had to go through a lot just to get the chance to bring the baby girl home, even if the paperwork was faulty. The family apparently didn't do anything wrong, at least not on purpose.
This sounds like a case of egos/David and Goliath- the south Korean government and the U.S. government vs the family.
The U.S. State Department/Hillary Clinton should do the right thing and allow the baby girl to stay in the U.S. but then the Clinton administration allowed Elian Gonzalez to be deported back to Cuba, even though he deserved to stay in the U.S.. For more information: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/12/07/elian-gonzalez-turns-18-in-cuba/
And picture shows what the Clintons did to the boy. Somehow, I think the Obama administration will want to top this picture. (the little boy is Elian)
Funny how they're so eager to deport this kid but leave the little Mexicalis alone!
ReplyDeleteHeritage my patootie!
I totally agree with you on the uptake--how can they take the baby away from a loving, caring family? It will be a sad, sad day if they make her a political symbol like Elian.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you that this will be awful for this child, but if you do a little more reading, you find that this family adopted from S. Korea before, they knew they had aged out of the legal adoption program so they chose to do it illegally. Furthermore they paid the birth mom several thousand dollars in compensation and also paid off the director of the unwed mother's home where the birth mom was staying. They violated many laws, not to mention ethical/moral standards.
ReplyDeleteThey were stopped by Immigration on the way back into the United States when they had only had the child for a brief time and she was only a month old...they knew this child was eventually going to have to go back and yet they kept her for another 6 months as she grew more attached to them all the time. Now this poor baby will have to make another transition back to her home in Korea and become acclimated again, and it will be harder to find a Korean family to adopt her because she is much older than she would have been.
I think it was very irresponsible and selfish for this family to knowingly put this child in the position she is now in. If either government lets the baby stay, it will only encourage more trafficking. No easy answers for Sehwa, but this couple should be honest about the responsibility they bear in the situation.
I don't know where you get to be so arrogant to believe that the U.S. is the be-all and end-all, and that your laws trump over everyone else's. Typical arrogant and ignorant American! You really think that your third-world nation is the best place for a child to grow up, don't you?
ReplyDeleteWhat would you say if parents of other nations just "abduct" or illegally obtain American children? Elian Gonzales clearly was brought to this country by his mother illegally, without his father's consent. When his mother did not survive, his father had the legal right to claim his child. How preposterous of the U.S. to decide against a parent's wish to keep the child here, only because it was deemed that the U.S. was the best country for the child to live in. Last time I looked it was the parent's right to decide where they and their children should live!!
Same with the Evanston couple---they flouted adoption laws and requirements, thought they could get away with a bribe and with shortcuts. I don't see any reason why this child should not return to Korea from which it was illegally removed.
You Americans really think that you can just trample over international laws, that you are so exceptional (based on what, please?), and that this is the greatest country to live in.
The U.S. in fact is one of the WORST places among Western nations to live in. It is corrupt, has bad healthcare (or none for millions), a third-world infrastructure, has no paid family and pregnancy leave (so much for "family values"), is violent (10s of thousands of gun murders per year), has the death penalty, and has the largest prison population in the world).
Forget it, the U.S. is HELL!