Adoption matches jump more than sevenfold after government clears backlog
Matches between children and adoptive families rose more than sevenfold in six months after the government eased bottlenecks in the public adoption system.
Health Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong poses with attendees at a ceremony for the 21st Adoption Day at Seoul Dragon City in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on May 9. Jeong chairs the ministry's adoption policy committee, which met on Oct. 2.MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND WELFARE
Matches between children and adoptive families rose about 7.6-fold in six months after the government cleared a bottleneck in the state-run adoption system that replaced private agencies last year.
In July last year, the government moved adoption out of the hands of private agencies and into a public system run by the central government, local governments and public institutions.
After the switch, applications from prospective adoptive parents piled up at a single window, the National Center for the Rights of the Child, and the process stalled. The government began rolling out fixes on March 19.
Applications moved online. Basic training sessions for prospective parents increased from two to four a month, with new venues added outside the greater Seoul area, including Daejeon and Daegu. The number of staff conducting home studies of prospective parents doubled from 13 to 26.
Families that had completed home studies roughly tripled from 109 in March to 322 at the end of September. Those that had finished basic training doubled from 323 to 652 over the same period.
The faster process led to more matches. Children matched with families rose from 16 at the end of March to 122 at the end of September, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at its adoption policy committee's third meeting Friday. The matched children are now at the stage of seeking court approval for their adoptions.
Adoption groups hold a rally in front of the National Center for the Rights of the Child in Jongno District, central Seoul, in February. Prospective adoptive parents faced long delays after the state took over adoption procedures in July 2025.KIM NAM-YOUNG
The government also plans to move more than 240,000 adoption records taken over from private agencies to the National Archives of Korea. The records, now held in temporary storage, will be inspected for harmful bacteria and insects this month and disinfected where needed. They will be transferred in batches in November and December as treatment is completed.
"We will reflect what we hear from the field and speed up improvements across the whole process so children can find warm homes without delay," Health Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong said.
BY CHAE HYE-SEON [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
