The court has made an unusual decision to grant adoption to a paternal grandmother for a Korean-Chinese child who is in danger of deportation due to his biological father's whereabouts being unknown and his biological mother's abandonment of custody.



According to the Korea Legal Aid Corporation today (30th), the first division of the Seoul Family Court (Judge Choi Ho-shik) canceled the lower court ruling that denied the adoption application filed by the grandmother of a 12-year-old Chinese Korean child, A, and allowed the adoption. .



Ms. A came to Korea from China in 2014 when she was 5 years old, led by her grandmother (68).



At the time, Ms. A was left alone with her Chinese father, who was doing business in Shanghai, China, and her mother running away.



Ms. A's grandmother was naturalized in 2007 and she acquired Korean citizenship, but she had difficulties getting A to stay in Korea for a long time.



This is because Yang A was also of Chinese nationality, following her biological parents who had her Chinese nationality.



After her inquiry, her grandmother found her birth mother, who was staying in Korea as an overseas Korean, and she allowed Miss A to stay in Korea as her visiting partner.



Miss A's grandmother struggled to make ends meet as a basic livelihood recipient, but devoted herself to educating and caring for her granddaughter.



Miss A, who did not receive proper care from her parents in China and even had to eat alone, regained her health after her arrival and went to school.



In 2020, when Miss A was in the 5th grade of elementary school, her birth mother remarried and prepared to leave for China.



A adoptive grandmother decided to adopt her granddaughter as her biological daughter and applied for adoption permission to the court.



The court of first instance dismissed the case, saying, "It has not been confirmed whether her father is dead or not, and it is clear that granting her adoption will cause significant disruption to the family's internal order and kinship, such as her grandmother becoming a mother."



He also added that the adoption system is not a system for acquiring nationality.



Grandma A did not give up on this and appealed with the help of the Korea Legal Aid Corporation.



The appellate court reversed the lower court's decision to deny her adoption and granted her adoption.



The judge said, "The birth father has been missing for nine years and her birth mother has given up custody and must return to China where there is no one to take care of her if she is not adopted." I have been raising them as a child,” he explained.



Then, "Miss A expresses that she wants to be her grandmother's child, and even if adopted, there is no possibility of disrupting the family's internal order or negatively affecting Ms. A's emotions, and rather, it is expected that the parent-child relationship will form naturally." he explained.



Attorney Eun-joo Ryu of the Corporation, who represented the lawsuit, said, "It was a decision that considered the welfare of the adopted child first rather than the aspect of family internal order or confusion in kinship relations."



(Photo = Yonhap News)