The Reality of Fake Adoption Brokers Using Orphanages

In real estate communities, there is an urban legend about people adopting children from orphanages

just to get extra points for apartment subscription applications, only to give the children up for adoption again afterward.

This story was even adapted into an episode of "Taxi Driver"...

But in reality, this actually happens.

In fact, it has a long history dating back to the 90s.

1 - An adoption broker first contacts orphanages across the country.

2 - If the director agrees, the broker and director forge documents to make the child appear adopted.

3 - After the apartment subscription is successful, the child is returned.

4 - (As this method became known and crackdowns intensified) some would actually adopt the child, only to return them after 1 or 2 years.

There are speculations that the Jung-in child abuse case, which shocked the entire nation, was actually a case where a child was adopted for apartment subscription points and then beaten to death.

["There are many cases of adopting and then returning children just to win apartment subscriptions"]

https://m.tbs.seoul.kr/news/newsView.do?seq_800=10343739&idx_800=2356333&typ_800=9&grd_800=null

A Seoul city investigation once revealed that 10% of housing sales targeted at pregnant newlyweds were actually fraudulent sales involving subscription brokers.

Of course, if caught, they are punished for fraud and violations of the Child Welfare Act.

In public administration, this kind of policy failure is called the "Cobra Effect."

It originates from when the British government in India offered a bounty for cobras, leading Indians to actually breed cobras at home to collect the reward.

This is why some scholars express concern over policies that provide unconditional benefits to married people or parents.

For example, in the extreme case of Romania, where contraception was banned and birth quotas were enforced, the number of orphans skyrocketed across the country.

This is because children born this way often fail to grow into adults who can function independently in society,

as too many parents—seeking only government benefits—give birth indiscriminately and then either neglect the children or abandon them entirely.

Source: https://www.fmkorea.com/best/9903933349