[CAUSE] Systemic Change: Donation Drive for Single Moms' Day

I am always impressed with the highly engaged and passionate individuals and groups in and outside of Korea that volunteer for and donate to orphanages, women’s' shelters and other direct-service providers.

I also appreciate projects like Single Moms' Day that work for systematic change, that work to disrupt structural forces that separate families, deny children's human rights, and discriminate against women. 

Just in the past few years progress is demonstrated by improvements in the law, yet economically-interested lobbyists are trying to circumvent the laws designed to keep families together. 

SMD advocates for human rights in a number of important ways, in particularly by addressing systemic discrimination by “informing people inside and outside Korea about the factors that pressure unwed mothers to relinquish their children for adoption. Push factors include fathers’ child support obligations being unenforced; lack of adequate social welfare from the Korean government; social discrimination against unwed mothers and their children. Pull factors include the fact that more than half of unwed mothers in facilities are living in unwed mothers’ shelters that are owned and operated by adoption agencies; a money-driven international adoption system that does not conform to the UN CRC or the Hague Convention, i.e., it does not respect children’s humans rights.”

SMD Planning Meeting

Most impressively, Single Moms' Day is an inclusive collaboration of parents and adoptees initiating this change and demanding a departure from stigmatization and legal discrimination. I have learned so much about international human rights law, Korean society, family life, policy and  from Single Moms' Day and I hope to share this knowledge with my friends who are also passionate about structural change.

We don't want to continue to witness a system that separates children from their parents, do we? We want to learn about the persistent legacies of adoption policy in Korea, don't we? We want to make sure that all children have full human rights, educational and social opportunities, right? Please join us in attending and supporting "Accountability for the Past, Rights for the Future: The 3rd Single Moms’ Day."

Event information available here.

Please consider making a donation today:

입양단체 TRACK의 월간운영예산은 2백만원입니다. 그예산으로 한국인 3명 (그중에서 두명은 양육미혼모)을 파트타임으로 고용합니다. 대표인 Jane Jeong Trenka를 비롯하여 TRACK에서 활동하는 입양인들은 돈안받고 활동하고 있습니다. TRACK는 다음달에 인권에 대한 만화 (예산 3백만원)도 출판하고 제3회 싱글맘의 날 행사 (예산 1천2백만원)를 주최할 예정입니다. 이러한 활동을 지원해주고 싶으신 분 TRACK웹사이트에 방문해주시길 바랍니다. TRACK는 TRACK의 원리를 따라서 정부나 종교 단체에게 지원을 받지 않습니다). 

TRACK's operating expenses are $2,000+ per month. With this money, we provide part-time employment for three Koreans, two of whom are unwed mothers raising their kids and who provide the daily administration for Dandelions (the families of origin of adoptees). I am a volunteer, as are all of the adoptees who participate in TRACK. If you would like to donate towards our operating expenses, our comic book on human rights to be released in early May ($3,000+) or Single Moms' Day ($11,000+), please see our Web site to find out how to donate. Out of principle, we do not accept money from the Korean government or religious groups. Please and thank you!