Adoption service Holt Children's Agency has been ordered to pay W100 million to an American man who was adopted in 1979 for falsifying his adoption documents and failing in its duty to protect adoptees (US$1=W1,339).
The Seoul Central District Court on Tuesday sided with Adam Crapser (48), who sued Holt and the Korean government for falsely registering him as an orphan before sending him to the U.S. for adoption 40 years ago.
But the court did not find the Korean government liable, saying there was no evidence suggesting it had played a direct role in Crapser's adoption.
Crapser filed the lawsuit in 2019, arguing that Holt and the Korean government also failed to check after sending him to the U.S. whether he had acquired American citizenship, which resulted in him living there as an illegal alien for 37 years.
Holt sent Crapser and his older sister to the U.S. in 1979 to be adopted by a family in Michigan. But after six years of abuse they were abandoned by the family.
He was separated from his sister and adopted by another family in Oregon, only to be abused again. His new parents were arrested for child abuse in 1991, forcing Crapser to live on the streets at the age of 16. A few years later, he broke into his former adopted parents' house to retrieve belongings he brought from Korea and was jailed for breaking and entering.
After his release from prison, Crapser worked in a restaurant, married a Vietnamese-American woman and became a father. But his adoptive parents had failed to register him for U.S. citizenship, and when he applied for a residency permit in 2015, his criminal record became a problem and he was deported to Korea the following year. Here he was reunited with his birth mother.
Unable to speak Korean, Crapser said he could not find a job and faced financial hardship. He said in a media interview, "When I went to the hospital or store, people asked me why I couldn't speak Korean even though I look Korean. My life since being forcibly separated from my family has been a nightmare."
He eventually moved to Mexico last year, where his wife and children live.
His legal victory could prompt other adoptees to file similar lawsuits. At present, around 18,000 Korean adoptees living in the U.S. are believed to lack American citizenship. Holt is expected to bear the brunt of the impact.
Crapser's lawyer voiced "serious regret" for the court's failure to recognize the Korean government's complicity in allowing children to be sent for illegal adoption.
