Hong Kong:The case of a Korean girl given up by a Dutch diplomat and his wife in Hong Kong seven years after adopting her has sparked outrage among social workers and expatriate Koreans who are struggling to find a new home for her.
A South Korean consular official in Hong Kong said the couple, who adopted the child when she was four months old, had handed her over last May into the care of Hong Kong authorities.
"She is Korean and her situation after seven years of adoption is that she is hurting," the official said. "Our concern is for the welfare of the child, we're looking for a good home for her, she cannot speak Korean, she can only speak English and Cantonese, so we think it's better for her to find a home in Hong Kong."
The South China Morning Post reported that the couple had adopted the girl while they were based in South Korea, believing they could not have children. The wife later gave birth to two children, the report said. "The diplomat gave no explanation for his decision except to say the adoption had gone wrong," the paper reported.
"It's just a very terrible trauma that everyone's experiencing," the South Korean official was quoted as saying. "I don't have anything to say to the public. It is something we have to live with."
Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Korean community voiced outrage at the child's treatment and were working with the consulate and Hong Kong's social welfare department to try to find her a new home.
"It is an unfair situation, many Koreans want her to find a new family," said a spokeswoman for the Korean Residents Association in Hong Kong who gave her name as Mrs Yu.
The Korean consular official said two families had expressed interest in adopting the girl but nothing had been finalised.
"In this case, she has been adopted before, so everybody is concerned more that this time it [ the new adoption] should be very, very complete," he added.
Hong Kong's Social Welfare Department said foster parents were now caring for the girl. - (Reuters)