TRC Workshop: Eight Key Korean Documents to Create a Timeline

The USKRG has been working diligently to create a series of free workshops on how to create your adoption timeline, vital for case acceptance to the Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Below, you will find a list of basics for timeline creation and eight key documents that you should be watching out for.

We have also created a series of step-by-step videos to help with the information. The series playlist can be found below:

Basics for Timeline Creation

STEP 1: Gather your adoption documents

Having all available adoption documents on hand is the foundation of filing with the TRC. All of the ways we are recommending that you gather documents are to be examined for discrepancies or new information are as follows:

• Ask for your adoption files from your adoptive parents

• Contact your American Adoption Agency for the files (usually by email)

• If you are a US citizen, perform a FOIA request (be aware that some adoptees have been receiving heavily redacted forms)

• File for Adoption Information Disclosure with the NCRC (be aware that the NCRC is currently experiencing logistical problems and delays)

STEP 2: Attend one of our timeline creation workshops

In our TRC workshop, we will help you understand the nuances of your documents and teach you how to identify red flags or holes, audit your file, and create your timeline. Join USKRG's Facebook Group (private) if you wish to receive updates about any upcoming workshops.

STEP 3: Audit your file

Take stock of every version of your paperwork and all your documents, noting what's missing so it can be requested later. You will also want to get any documents translated.

STEP 4: Identify any red flags in your file

See our handy list of red flags that will help you create your timeline.

STEP 5: Create your Timeline

Your timeline, along with copies of your adoption paperwork, will be submitted to the TRC3 once the submission window is open. Please see this helpful video about how to create your timeline:

Eight Key Adoption Documents to Look Out For

Below are the eight key documents which the TRC most frequently uses to identify red flags and discrepancies in your adoption story. Please check your files to see if any or all are present.

The utility of these docs is two fold:

1. You may use them to identify discrepancies in your story (such as if your Orphanization documents were created before the adoption agency took guardianship of you, that can be considered a potential red flag); and

2. It will expedite the ability of the TRC to clearly understand your case and timeline.

You may not have all the Korean documents pictured below (and that is okay!). Should your case get accepted, the TRC will also be verifying Korean documentation with the NCRC on their end. If you do have any of the below documents, be sure they are included in your final TRC document scan.

If you are having trouble identifying your Korean documents, you may reach out to USKRG via our private Facebook Group or email us at uskoreanrightsgroup@gmail.com

Release for Emigration

Author: Birth parents or orphanage

Content: The writer had agreed oversea adoption by the adoption agency

Possibly looks like one of the 3 below options

Release for Adoption

Author: Adoption agency

Content: The writer had agreed adoption to a specific family.

Possibly looks like one of the 2 below options

Certificate of Orphanhood

Author: Korean government

Content: The writer had confirmed that the child an orphan

Possibly looks like one of the 3 below options

Certificate of Legal Guardianship

Author: Korean government

Content: The writer had designated the adoption agency as the guardian of the orphan

Possibly looks like the below option

Statement Releasing Guardianship

Author: Adoption agency

Content: The writer had released guardianship to an overseas adoption agency

Possibly looks like the below option

Family Registration (Hojuk)

Author: Korean government

Content: Newly created family registration as an orphan

Possibly looks like the below option

Adoptive Child Report

Author: Adoption agency

Content: Birth family records, etc.

Possibly looks like the below option

Birth Certificate

Author: Maternity clinic

Content: Details about the birth (date, time, location, etc)

Possibly looks like the below option

Additional documents

• Adoptive child study summary

• Confidential (background) information

• Initial social history

• Child's report

• Pre-flight report

• Face sheet

• Clinic charts

How to Audit your File

1. Assemble every version of your paperwork (agency copy abroad, agency copy in Korea, Korean-language originals, hojuk/family-relations register entries, police intake). Compare line-by-line for contradictions, and specifically check dates order (intake → search → status → passport/exit → placement).

2. Look for the key documents and if any are missing, make a note of them.

3. Request the orphan/regular hojuk and confirm whether your status was created as an "orphan" despite other known info.

4. If possible, get any files in Korean translated.

5. Check for documented search actions before the child was designated "abandoned" (police memos, local office confirmations, address tracing). Lack of any search is material given TRC findings.

6. Register DNA with the South Korean Missing Persons Police Database (through the NCRC) and global DNA databases (e.g. MyHeritage, FTDNA, Ancestry, 23andMe, GEDMatch); mismatches or unexpected matches can expose identity swaps noted by AP/FRONTLINE and the TRC.

Identify Red Flags

Possible Red flags: Identity & "Abandonment"

• Abandonment with precise time/place but no witness, or a witness that cannot be identified later.

• Multiple names or spellings for you or for a birth parent across documents, or a name that appears only on the English-language forms and not the Korean forms.

• Sex, birth weight, or hospital details that change between versions of the file, or medical photos that don't match your age/sex noted in the text. These kinds of mismatches are consistent with record manipulation described by the Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

• Boilerplate police reports (same wording across different children), "found at market/bathhouse" stories with identical phrasing, or no officer's name/badge. These patterns are consistent with "orphanisation" tactics documented by researchers and the TRC.

• No newspaper notice / neighborhood canvass / welfare inquiry on file despite an abandonment claim. While the exact requirements varied by era and locality, credible cases typically show some search attempts (police inquiries, local office checks) before declaring a child "untraceable." Absence of any trace is a warning sign.

• Consent forms without verifiable ID (e.g., only a thumbprint, no resident number, no address), or signed by a "relative" whose details can't be confirmed in the register. These were among issues cited in TRC findings.

• Conflicting stories—one version says "abandoned," another says "single mother relinquished," another lists "deceased parents." AP/FRONTLINE reporting and TRC reviews describe these switches as a hallmark of fabricated files.

Possible Red Flags: Timeline and Records

• Korean-language case study vs. English summary don't match. Community audits show the Korean-facing "Adoptive Child Study Summary" can contain more detailed (sometimes divergent) facts than the English file sent abroad. Always compare both.

• Key documents missing. Certain documents are legally required in order for an overseas adoption to take place. Missing documents can indicate not all steps were taken to complete the adoption legally.

• Agency quotas/expediency signals (e.g., batch travel, "urgent placement" language) without child-specific justification— listed in TRC coverage as structural pressures that fueled shortcuts.

• Exact birthdate given for a "found"/"abandoned" infant with no mother identified (true foundlings are often assigned approximate dates). Pattern flagged in recent investigations of falsified identities.

• Sequence that doesn't make sense, e.g., hojuk opened before the abandonment/police intake date, or a passport/exit permit issued before an official relinquishment. These out-of-order events have shown up in fraud cases reviewed by the TRC and journalists.

• Orphan hojuk (family register) created very early (e.g., within days or a few weeks of "discovery"), or used instead of a regular family register when staff knew family details. The orphan hojuk was a special one-person register used in adoption that often severed links to origin data and has been criticized as easily falsified.

• Case moved to "adoptable" unusually fast (days to a few weeks) with no interim family search steps documented (more on searches below).