Abandoned Korean girl finds home in Hong Kong

From: Joong Ang Daily   http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2896289

October 20, 2008

Abandoned Korean girl finds home in Hong Kong
HONG KONG - A Korean girl called Jade who was adopted by a high-ranking Dutch diplomat in Korea in 2000 and then abandoned six years later in Hong Kong has found a new family.

The nine-year-old has been adopted by an expatriate family in Hong Kong and currently lives a normal life, an official at the Hong Kong Social Welfare Department said Saturday.

For reasons of privacy, further details about the adoptive parents cannot be disclosed, the official added.

Jade was adopted in January 2000 when she was four months old by Dutch diplomat Raymond Poeteray and his wife, who were stationed in Korea.

But the Poeterays gave up custody of the child in September 2006 when the diplomat was serving in Hong Kong.

The diplomats wife thought she was infertile when the couple adopted the Korean girl in 2000, Hong Kong officials reported, but she got pregnant after the family moved to Hong Kong in 2004. They now have two children of their own.

Jade has been in the custody of the Hong Kong Social Welfare Department for the past two years and attended a local elementary school. She can speak English and Cantonese, but no Korean.

When Jades case was made public two years ago, numerous families in Hong Kong volunteered to care for her. However, no progress was made, partly because of the strict qualification process for fostering children in Hong Kong as well as the complexity of the case.

Since the Poeterays hadnt applied for Dutch citizenship for Jade and she had no formal residence status in Hong Kong, the child was virtually stateless until the recent adoption.

Meanwhile, Mothers Choice, an adoption organization in Hong Kong, announced it will hold a special event to encourage adoption in Hong Kong.

By Choi Hyung-kyu JoongAng Ilbo [spark0320@joongang.co.kr]