A South Korean court has ruled in favor of the government and an adoption agency in a lawsuit brought by a 49-year-old Korean man, Adam Crapser. Crapser's traumatic adoption journey led to an abusive childhood in the United States and his eventual deportation to South Korea in 2016 due to legal issues.
The Seoul High Court overturned a previous ruling that ordered Holt Children’s Services, the adoption agency involved, to pay damages to Crapser. The court found that the agency should have informed Crapser's adoptive parents about the need to secure his citizenship after his adoption was finalized in the United States, but did not hold the government liable for his situation.
Crapser, who was not present at the ruling, alleges that he suffered abuse and neglect from his adoptive families in the U.S. who failed to secure his citizenship. This lack of citizenship led to legal troubles and his eventual deportation from the United States.
The defense argued that a 1970s adoption law, enacted under a military dictatorship, relieved adoption agencies of the responsibility to ensure children's citizenship status when sending them abroad. Critics claim this law facilitated careless and fraudulent practices that fueled a significant international adoption program in South Korea during that period.
More than 4,000 Korean children were sent abroad in 1979, the year Crapser was adopted by a family in Michigan at the age of 3. He became the first Korean adoptee to sue the South Korean government and an adoption agency for damages in 2019.
The lawsuits, along with an ongoing investigation into complaints from adoptees regarding falsified origins, have prompted calls for the South Korean government to address past fraudulent practices in international adoptions.
Crapser's lawsuit accused Holt of misrepresenting his background, exposing him to abusive adoptive parents, and failing to ensure his U.S. citizenship. It also criticized government officials for inadequate oversight of foreign adoptions and failure to protect Crapser's rights as a South Korean child.