https://www.scmp.com/rss/327013/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Chloe Loung Chloe Loung Mui Thomas is, by any measure, a remarkable woman. Now 33, she is believed to be the world’s fourth-oldest survivor of Harlequin ichthyosis. This extremely rare genetic disorder causes the body to be covered with thick plates of skin – a condition so severe that when Mui was born in Hong Kong in 1992, it was considered universally fatal. She has survived medical emergencies that would have killed lesser fighters. Despite her ongoing health struggles, she has become a rugby coach, a certified... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3344406/parents-hong-kongs-girl-behind-face-share-their-story-first-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3344406/parents-hong-kongs-girl-behind-face-share-their-story-first-time?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Feb 2026 03:00:10 +0000 Lucy Quaggin Lucy Quaggin Lunar New Year wasn’t always on LuLu Grant’s radar. Adopted at two from Fuzhou, China and raised in the US state of Washington, Grant decided to cut her birth country out of her life at a young age. Decades later, she would celebrate Spring Festival alongside her birth family with a complex array of feelings about her two worlds. “People think that finding your birth family is so joyous, and part of it is, but it’s also very sad and very difficult,” she said, adding that “it’s not how I wish it... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3344038/born-china-raised-us-adoptees-explore-meaning-identity-lunar-new-year?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3344038/born-china-raised-us-adoptees-explore-meaning-identity-lunar-new-year?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Feb 2026 14:03:35 +0000 Aisyah Llewellyn Aisyah Llewellyn Concerns about baby trafficking networks in Indonesia have resurfaced amid renewed scrutiny of cross-border adoptions involving Singapore, with experts warning that illegal syndicates continue to exploit economic vulnerability and gaps in enforcement. The issue has drawn particular attention in Singapore following allegations that infants were trafficked from Indonesia into the city state for adoption, prompting authorities on both sides of the border to review existing safeguards and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3341579/why-rampant-baby-trafficking-growing-concern-indonesia-singapore?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3341579/why-rampant-baby-trafficking-growing-concern-indonesia-singapore?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Jan 2026 03:00:10 +0000 Khushboo Razdan Khushboo Razdan Hundreds of American families who’ve waited over five years to embrace their adoptive children from China are clinging to hope that a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will finally bring their families together. Their optimism grew after the White House, for the first time, told the Post on Monday that the “America first” president is aware of their plight. This came weeks after US State Department officials suggested they look elsewhere after Beijing... https://www.scmp.com/news/us/article/3330693/beyond-soybeans-another-group-americans-watching-xi-trump-meeting-hope?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/us/article/3330693/beyond-soybeans-another-group-americans-watching-xi-trump-meeting-hope?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Oct 2025 22:07:52 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse South Korea’s president apologised on Thursday for the first time over state-sanctioned malpractices in sending tens of thousands of children overseas for adoption, saying “unjust human rights violations” were committed. An official inquiry held the government accountable earlier this year for easing adoptions through fraudulent practices, including falsifying documents and switching identities. The country – now Asia’s fourth-largest economy and a global cultural powerhouse – was for decades... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3327601/south-korean-president-offers-first-formal-apology-unjust-baby-export-malpractices?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3327601/south-korean-president-offers-first-formal-apology-unjust-baby-export-malpractices?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Oct 2025 06:20:52 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse K-pop megaband BTS are back from military service, and their international fandom – known for its progressive activism – is celebrating by rallying behind a cause: adoptees from South Korea. Now Asia’s fourth-largest economy and a global cultural powerhouse, the idols’ native South Korea remains one of the biggest exporters of adopted babies in the world, having sent more than 140,000 children overseas between 1955 and 1999. The country only recently acknowledged, after years of activism by... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3314997/bts-army-celebrate-groups-return-military-service-helping-korean-adoptees?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3314997/bts-army-celebrate-groups-return-military-service-helping-korean-adoptees?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Jun 2025 07:15:07 +0000 Fran Lu Fran Lu Twin sisters in China who were adopted by separate families at just 10 days old have been miraculously bound together by fate, becoming best friends at 17 before realising they are sisters. Zhang Guoxin and Hai Chao were given away by their parents, who could not afford to raise them. One of the conditions of the adoption was that the two families must be from the same city in northern China’s Hebei province. They had been living separately without knowing of each other’s existence until they... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3313976/china-twins-separated-10-days-reunite-17-become-besties-discovering-truth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3313976/china-twins-separated-10-days-reunite-17-become-besties-discovering-truth?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Jun 2025 01:00:09 +0000 Sarah Keenlyside Sarah Keenlyside As we all know (but occasionally need reminding), celebrities are people too, as keen to start a family as the next person when the time is right. For many, adoption was a choice made after struggles with fertility; for others, it was something they wanted to do because they had the resources to make a difference to a child’s life. These big-hearted stars clearly loved adopting their first child so much that they did it again and again – and again. Meet the celebrities who have been public... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3309555/7-celebrities-who-have-adopted-numerous-children-angelina-jolie-and-madonna-sharon-stone-and-hugh?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3309555/7-celebrities-who-have-adopted-numerous-children-angelina-jolie-and-madonna-sharon-stone-and-hugh?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 May 2025 11:00:10 +0000 In a heart-wrenching reflection of Japan’s escalating social issues, a Tokyo hospital has become the second in the country to install a “baby hatch”, allowing mothers to anonymously leave infants they can no longer care for. Launched at San-ikukai Hospital in Tokyo’s Kinshicho district on Monday, the new hatch comes amid rising economic pressures and a persistent lack of support systems for new mothers in Japan. The “Baby Basket”, as it is called, provides a secure space designed for infants. An... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3304823/japans-second-baby-hatch-abandoned-infants-opens-economic-pressures-mount?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3304823/japans-second-baby-hatch-abandoned-infants-opens-economic-pressures-mount?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Apr 2025 03:00:07 +0000 Heidi Snyder was overcome with emotion as she recalled the moment she learned that China had abruptly ended its three-decade-long international adoption programme. “It felt like the death of a living child, honestly,” said the 39-year-old Illinois resident, her voice trembling with the weight of the memory from September last year. At that point, the Snyder family had been waiting for five years to bring home a little girl with special care needs – whom they had been legally matched with and... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3295248/aching-china-halted-foreign-adoptions-us-families-pin-hopes-donald-trump?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3295248/aching-china-halted-foreign-adoptions-us-families-pin-hopes-donald-trump?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Jan 2025 15:00:08 +0000 Kylie Knott Kylie Knott In Hong Kong, 89 children are waiting for adoption into what most of us take for granted – a loving family. Sky Siu, the new chief executive of Mother’s Choice, a Hong Kong charity that helps pregnant teenagers and children without families, is determined to reduce that number. A veteran of the non-governmental sector, she is fuelled by a vision of seeing every child in a loving family. Children awaiting adoption can be placed in foster care, or face living in a children’s home. “Home-based... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3288309/adopters-children-special-needs-hong-kong-help-there-says-charity-chief?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3288309/adopters-children-special-needs-hong-kong-help-there-says-charity-chief?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Nov 2024 09:15:10 +0000 Fran Lu Fran Lu Eight months after the poignant reunion of a PhD graduate with his long-lost Chinese birth family – following his adoption to the Netherlands three decades ago – he brought his Dutch father to China to visit his birth mother, envisioning a future filled with love and care from both families. In early October, Gouming Martens, originally named Gao Yang, revisited his birth mother Wen Xurong’s home in Miyi county in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, accompanied by his adoptive father, Jozef... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3287997/dutch-adopted-man-revisits-china-family-tells-adoptive-father-youll-always-be-my-dad?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3287997/dutch-adopted-man-revisits-china-family-tells-adoptive-father-youll-always-be-my-dad?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Nov 2024 01:00:14 +0000 In a quiet cafe nestled in Seoul’s vibrant Itaewon district, 56-year-old Ahn Andersen carefully unfolds a set of preserved documents – the only tangible links to a past she’s been pursuing for decades. A language teacher from Denmark, Andersen has made seven pilgrimages to South Korea since 2004, each trip a quest to piece together the fragmented story of her early life. She was sent to two orphanages and a foster home within 26 months of her birth before being adopted by Danish parents. Yet,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3285729/south-koreas-battered-child-adoption-industry-left-many-limbo-decades?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3285729/south-koreas-battered-child-adoption-industry-left-many-limbo-decades?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Nov 2024 02:30:08 +0000 A Texas woman was arrested after officials say she tried to sell her unborn baby on Facebook. On September 22, two days before her baby was born, she posted to a Facebook group intended for birth mothers to find people interested in adoption, according to the Houston Police Department. A day before, on September 21, the woman had reached out to a family member and asked her to help find a family to adopt her baby, according to a criminal complaint. The family member took to Facebook, and made a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3285186/woman-tried-sell-unborn-baby-facebook-minimum-us150-texas-police-say?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3285186/woman-tried-sell-unborn-baby-facebook-minimum-us150-texas-police-say?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Nov 2024 23:53:05 +0000 US lawmakers are pushing President Joe Biden to intercede on behalf of American families whose child-adoption process in China was under way when Beijing closed off the programme to foreigners about two months ago. In an open letter, the 103 lawmakers comprising Democrats and Republicans, appealed for the families who were “left in a state of uncertainty about the completion of their adoption” from China. They also voiced concern for the Chinese children already matched with the American... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3284898/china-adoption-fallout-us-lawmakers-urge-biden-help-families-after-beijing-ends-scheme?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3284898/china-adoption-fallout-us-lawmakers-urge-biden-help-families-after-beijing-ends-scheme?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Nov 2024 20:01:18 +0000 Yating Yang Yating Yang A woman in northern China discovered she was not her parents’ biological daughter after a DNA test was prompted by her colleagues’ joke that she “did not look local”. As a result, there has been widespread support from netizens encouraging her to search for her birth parents. On October 24, Henan Broadcasting System reported that the 24-year-old woman, surnamed Dong, from Xinxiang in Henan province, shared during an interview how her colleagues often commented on her distinctive... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3284479/chinese-woman-takes-dna-test-after-joke-about-her-looks-finds-out-true-identity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3284479/chinese-woman-takes-dna-test-after-joke-about-her-looks-finds-out-true-identity?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Nov 2024 10:00:15 +0000 Rebecca Kimmel sat in a small room, stunned and speechless, staring at the baby photo she had just unearthed from her adoption file. It was a black-and-white shot of an infant, possibly taken at an orphanage in Gwangju, the South Korean city where Kimmel had heard all her life that she had been abandoned. But something about the photo – the eyes, the ears, an uneasy feeling deep in her gut – confirmed what she had long suspected: this baby was not her. Overcome, she started howling like a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3283376/adopted-woman-race-find-real-parents-reunites-father-twin-daughters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3283376/adopted-woman-race-find-real-parents-reunites-father-twin-daughters?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Oct 2024 11:15:08 +0000 Faye Bradley Faye Bradley As Diddy’s legal troubles continue to mount, netizens have been digging through old videos of the music mogul and trying to figure out how and why it took so long to uncover his alleged crimes over the decades. One resurfaced clip had fans shocked as it showed the rapper introducing his “adopted” daughter, Ava Baroni. “My name’s Ava. I’m a Scorpio,” the teen says in the vid, before stating her name as “Ava Combs”, and then “Ava Baroni” after his probing. “I adopted you because I felt that you... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3282959/who-ava-baroni-combs-and-did-diddy-actually-adopt-her-her-parents-were-friends-kim-porter-and-she?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3282959/who-ava-baroni-combs-and-did-diddy-actually-adopt-her-her-parents-were-friends-kim-porter-and-she?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Oct 2024 22:00:12 +0000 Several years ago, an ethnic Korean man in his early twenties sat next to me in my basic Korean language classes in Seoul. He would not have stood out in a sea of Korean faces in the bustling Shinchon district where the school is located. Over the next few weeks, as we grappled with basic Korean grammar, he told me he was adopted as an infant from South Korea and raised by parents of Dutch origin in a small town in America. The unsmiling and serious young man said he had often been confused... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3278215/south-koreas-global-baby-adoption-programme-leaves-gaping-hole-adoptees-heart?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3278215/south-koreas-global-baby-adoption-programme-leaves-gaping-hole-adoptees-heart?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Sep 2024 02:30:08 +0000 China has officially cancelled the international adoption programme that allowed tens of thousands of Chinese orphans and abandoned children to find a new home overseas. Mao Ning, a foreign ministry spokeswoman, said on Thursday that in future Beijing would only allow foreign nationals who were relatives to adopt Chinese children. “Apart from the adoption of a child or stepchild from one’s collateral relatives by blood of the same generation and up to the third degree of kinship by foreigners... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3277488/china-officially-ends-adoption-scheme-foreign-families?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3277488/china-officially-ends-adoption-scheme-foreign-families?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Sep 2024 08:31:12 +0000 Zoey Zhang Zoey Zhang A wealthy celebrity manager in Taiwan has made headlines after announcing his decision to adopt a 19-year-old key opinion leader (KOL) and leave the “son” NT$300 million (US$9.4 million) in exchange for care. Sun Derong, 63, is famous for helping to propel Taiwanese singer and actor Show Lo and boy band 5566 to stardom. Reports indicate that after being diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2013, Sun had an artificial one made from part of an intestine, leading to ongoing complications and frequent... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3277134/taiwan-celebrity-manager-cancer-adopts-kol-gifts-son-us94-million-exchange-care?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3277134/taiwan-celebrity-manager-cancer-adopts-kol-gifts-son-us94-million-exchange-care?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Sep 2024 10:00:12 +0000 Meg Ryan has been enjoying some time with her rarely seen daughter, Daisy True Ryan. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Just Jared (@justjared) As seen in pics shared on social media, the romcom queen went shopping with her adopted daughter on August 28 while in New York City. The Sleepless in Seattle star, 62, wore a white T-shirt with black trousers and sunglasses, while her 20-year-old daughter opted for a patterned blouse with jeans. They were... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3276844/who-meg-ryans-adopted-chinese-daughter-daisy-true-ryan-20-year-old-college-student-does-romcom?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3276844/who-meg-ryans-adopted-chinese-daughter-daisy-true-ryan-20-year-old-college-student-does-romcom?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Sep 2024 10:00:14 +0000 Alice Yan Alice Yan A couple in China were recently reunited with their son 37 years after he was given away by his paternal grandmother who said they were too poor to raise another child. In 1986, a woman gave birth to a baby boy in Weinan, Shaanxi province in northwestern China. He was their third son, the Jiupai News reported. When he was just a day old, his grandmother sent him to a man, surnamed Zhao, to be raised with his family. The parents had not given their consent and had no idea about the older woman’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3273829/china-couple-reunite-son-given-away-grandmother-37-years-ago-due-poverty?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3273829/china-couple-reunite-son-given-away-grandmother-37-years-ago-due-poverty?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Aug 2024 08:00:10 +0000 By Lee Hyo-jin Mary Bowers, a Korean adoptee to the United States, recently competed in the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest in New York, representing Korea. This was her ninth time taking part in the competition, held annually on July 4, and the second time representing Korea, following the restoration of her Korean citizenship in 2023. Bowers, whose Korean name is Jung Nayoung, describes herself as a “messy eater” since childhood with an insatiable appetite – one that has... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3271537/dna-test-finds-brother-adopted-korean-competitive-eater-never-knew-birth-parents-next?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3271537/dna-test-finds-brother-adopted-korean-competitive-eater-never-knew-birth-parents-next?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Jul 2024 00:15:08 +0000 Fran Lu Fran Lu A PhD graduate of Chinese descent who was adopted at the age of four by a couple from the Netherlands has found his birth parents after a 12-year search. Gouming Martens’ unstinting 12-year quest to discover his origins has touched many people online. Almost three decades ago, Martens got lost while travelling with his parents from their home in eastern China’s Jiangsu province to his mother’s hometown in southwestern Sichuan province, at the age of three in 1994. Kind-hearted people sent him to... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3263885/china-boy-lost-28-years-ago-railway-station-adopted-dutch-couple-epic-search-birth-family?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3263885/china-boy-lost-28-years-ago-railway-station-adopted-dutch-couple-epic-search-birth-family?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Jul 2024 01:00:18 +0000 The Philippines has identified a surge in social media accounts advertising children for sale in the form of illegal adoptions, a troubling new trend that child rights advocates warn could be enabling horrific forms of exploitation. “While the ‘buyers’ are often childless couples who may want to start a family and [are] frustrated with the adoption policies, children are also subject to being sexually exploited by syndicates who groom children for paedophiles,” Amihan Abueva, regional executive... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3264281/philippines-sounds-alarm-over-worrisome-rise-sale-children-ads-online-amid-exploitation-fears?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3264281/philippines-sounds-alarm-over-worrisome-rise-sale-children-ads-online-amid-exploitation-fears?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 May 2024 10:30:31 +0000 https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/3281576/asias-lgbt-couples-face-hurdles-starting-families?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/3281576/asias-lgbt-couples-face-hurdles-starting-families?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 May 2024 09:00:00 +0000 A beautiful young woman of Pakistani descent, who was adopted by a couple in China when she was a baby, is attracting attention for the contrast between her “exotic” looks and Chinese accent. The woman, 20, has amassed 750,000 followers on Douyin, and videos of her have gone viral. She was found abandoned in a cardboard box on the street in Pakistan by her adoptive parents when they were working in the country. The couple brought her back to their hometown in a rural area of central China’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3261732/exotic-woman-pakistani-descent-adopted-chinese-couple-baby-captivates-mainland-public-vows-repay?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3261732/exotic-woman-pakistani-descent-adopted-chinese-couple-baby-captivates-mainland-public-vows-repay?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 May 2024 01:07:17 +0000 For as long as he can remember, 16-year-old Yannis Belia has had a “second mother” invisible in the eyes of Greek family law. That is about to change this week, when lawmakers approve a historic bill legalising same-sex marriage and adoption. “Until now, my second mother has been like a ghost in the eyes of the law. She didn’t appear anywhere, on any official document,” the teen said. “This law is going to change my life,” he said. Yannis’ biological mother, Stella, underwent medically assisted... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3251759/no-longer-invisible-greek-same-sex-couples-await-landmark-law-same-rights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3251759/no-longer-invisible-greek-same-sex-couples-await-landmark-law-same-rights?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Feb 2024 09:06:51 +0000 Seeds of suspicion were planted in Hong Kong woman Lam Sui-fun’s mind at a young age that she had been adopted after she eavesdropped on her parents and heard gossip from a primary school classmate. But the 68-year-old said on Thursday her fears were not confirmed until she was 10 and found a letter in her father’s document case written by her biological father, where he consented to give the newborn up for adoption because of poverty. “I felt that I was very miserable. I really miss my birth... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3235376/hong-kong-woman-adopted-baby-hunts-biological-family-after-almost-60-years-stifling-impulse-trace?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3235376/hong-kong-woman-adopted-baby-hunts-biological-family-after-almost-60-years-stifling-impulse-trace?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Sep 2023 13:52:13 +0000 It was late spring and Uma Feed had just dropped her son off at a kindergarten in Oslo when her phone rang unexpectedly, bringing news she’d been searching for her whole life: the true identities of her birth parents. Adopted as a baby from South Korea in 1983, Feed grew up in Norway being told she’d been abandoned – a story she refused to believe but could only disprove in May this year, when at age 40 she was finally reconnected with her biological mother thanks to DNA testing. A long letter... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3234719/south-koreas-dark-past-wests-baby-farm-laid-bare-adopted-children-sale-who-grew-far-home?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3234719/south-koreas-dark-past-wests-baby-farm-laid-bare-adopted-children-sale-who-grew-far-home?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Sep 2023 03:30:26 +0000 Forty-two years ago, hospital workers took Maria Angelica Gonzalez’ son from her arms right after birth and later told her he had died. This month, she met him face-to-face at her home in Valdivia, Chile. “I love you very much,” Jimmy Lippert Thyden told his mother in Spanish as they embraced amid tears. “It knocked the wind out of me. … I was suffocated by the gravity of this moment”, Thyden said in a video call after the reunion. “How do you hug someone in a way that makes up for 42 years of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3232593/son-stolen-birth-hugs-mother-first-time-42-years-it-knocked-wind-out-me?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3232593/son-stolen-birth-hugs-mother-first-time-42-years-it-knocked-wind-out-me?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Aug 2023 12:10:03 +0000 Footage of lifestyle and family influencer Nikki Phillippi saying she and her husband were halting their adoption plans is resurfacing on social media and leading to a renewed backlash against the couple. Nikki Phillippi is a YouTuber with 1.2 million subscribers who typically posts vlogs documenting her life with her husband Dan and son Logan, who is now three years old. In a 2018 YouTube video, Nikki and Dan said they were hoping to adopt a child from Thailand but were told that the agency’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3223067/us-youtubers-viral-thailand-adoption-controversy-resurfaces-tiktok-shocking-viewers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3223067/us-youtubers-viral-thailand-adoption-controversy-resurfaces-tiktok-shocking-viewers?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Jun 2023 04:02:53 +0000 Nearly 400 South Koreans adopted as children by families in the West have requested South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigate their adoptions, as Seoul faces growing pressure to reckon with a child export frenzy driven by dictatorships that ruled the country until the 1980s. The commission on Thursday said it decided to investigate 34 cases among the 51 adoptees who first submitted their applications in August, which could develop into the country’s most far-reaching inquiry... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3202775/south-korean-adoptees-us-australia-and-europe-demand-probes-their-cases?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3202775/south-korean-adoptees-us-australia-and-europe-demand-probes-their-cases?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Dec 2022 20:00:19 +0000 Megan Docherty has a busy extracurricular schedule: gymnastics, taekwondo, swimming lessons, art classes. Just this month she has four drum recitals. “At the November 27 concert I’ll be playing the timpani. It’s a big and very unusual drum with a really low sound,” says the nine-year-old. “Lots of people will be watching and the last song of the day will be my orchestra – I’ll play an Italian symphony and Symphony Number Eight on the timpani.” Her brother’s schedule is equally packed, and today... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3198836/i-could-not-say-mum-or-dad-adoption-stories-hong-kong-those-who-have-been-touched-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3198836/i-could-not-say-mum-or-dad-adoption-stories-hong-kong-those-who-have-been-touched-it?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Nov 2022 23:15:08 +0000 Hollywood relationships are notorious for often being short-lived, but Aussie actors Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness have battled back the stereotypes with their successful 26 years and counting of marriage. While Jackman has made an international name as a versatile and award-winning actor, Furness is actually not that far behind him and has her own accolades, be it in showbiz or in life. For the unacquainted, here’s what you need to know about her. How did Lisa Marie Presley lose all the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3192341/meet-hugh-jackmans-wife-26-years-deborra-lee-furness-13?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3192341/meet-hugh-jackmans-wife-26-years-deborra-lee-furness-13?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Sep 2022 11:00:26 +0000 Two health officials in southern China have been suspended for refusing to investigate the case of a baby who was taken away more than 30 years ago because his parents had breached the one-child policy by having seven children. On Friday, the public health bureau in Quanzhou county, Guangxi, triggered a public outcry when they told parents Tang Yueying and Deng Zhensheng that their petition for an investigation would not be granted and dismissed their concerns that the boy had been... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3184232/chinese-health-officials-suspended-after-refusing-investigate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3184232/chinese-health-officials-suspended-after-refusing-investigate?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Jul 2022 04:00:25 +0000 Did you know Naomi Campbell, Kristen Wiig and Cameron Diaz all became mums after they turned 40? They’re not alone. Thanks to changing societal norms and new technologies, more women are choosing to become mothers later in life – whether through IVF, adoption, surrogacy or natural conception, these celebs all became mums after 40. 1. Naomi Campbell was 50 when she announced the birth of her daughter, in May 2021 Campbell, one of the most iconic supermodels of all time, revealed on Instagram... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3160737/12-celebrities-who-became-mothers-over-40-olivia-munns?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3160737/12-celebrities-who-became-mothers-over-40-olivia-munns?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Dec 2021 17:00:19 +0000 November is National Adoption Month, and according to the last US Census, one in 25 American families with children has an adopted child. 10 celebrities who became BFFs with their exes’ new partners Though celebrities, like the Brangelina brood, are known to adopt children from all over the world, here are 16 celebrities we bet you didn’t know were adopted. Ray Liotta Ray Liotta and his sister were both adopted. The Goodfellas star told Larry King in September 2014 that, when he tracked down... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3156112/16-celebrities-you-didnt-know-were-adopted-hollywood-icon?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3156112/16-celebrities-you-didnt-know-were-adopted-hollywood-icon?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Nov 2021 22:00:26 +0000 When an LGBTQ+ couple wishes to start a family, they might look into surrogacy or in vitro fertilisation – but many couples opt for adoption. Among the A-lister set, plenty of celebrities have given children new homes, too. In honour of National Adoption Month in the US, we have a look at six famous LGBTQ+ couples who have turned to adoption to expand their families. 10 celebrities who became BFFs with their exes’ new partners Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown adopted his... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3155555/8-lgbt-celebrities-who-adopted-children-youtuber-couple?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3155555/8-lgbt-celebrities-who-adopted-children-youtuber-couple?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Nov 2021 22:00:21 +0000 We all know about Brangelina’s famous brood – three out of their six children are adopted – but what about other American A-listers who made the same choice? Since November is National Adoption Month in the US, we take a look at 27 celebrities who adopted kids from all over the world. 10 celebrities who became BFFs with their exes’ new partners Sia In May 2020, the Chandelier singer revealed that back in 2019, she adopted two teenage boys who were about to age out of the foster care system. Sia... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3155295/27-celebrities-who-adopted-kids-hugh-jackman-sandra?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3155295/27-celebrities-who-adopted-kids-hugh-jackman-sandra?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Nov 2021 20:00:26 +0000 When Joel John Roberts left hotel quarantine in Hong Kong on July 13, he had an important meeting. Roberts, 60, was reuniting with his biological mother, who had given him up when he was two weeks old. “It’s been an emotional ride,” says Roberts. “There’s been a lot of tears – and a lot of food,” he laughs. Each day in quarantine, Roberts’ mother, now 80 and who wants to remain anonymous, dropped off food. Adopted girl, reunited with birth parents on Hangzhou bridge, returns to China “On day one... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3141812/lot-tears-and-food-son-reunites-his-birth-mother?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3141812/lot-tears-and-food-son-reunites-his-birth-mother?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Jul 2021 23:15:12 +0000 https://www.scmp.com/news/article/3137826/crowdfunding-geishas-all-male-boardrooms-and-forced-adoption?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/article/3137826/crowdfunding-geishas-all-male-boardrooms-and-forced-adoption?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Jun 2021 08:00:00 +0000 Bringing her camera to a home for unwed mothers on South Korea’s Jeju island, Sun Hee Engelstoft anticipated an empowering story about young women keeping their babies. Instead, she ended up with a raw and unsettling documentary about how a deeply conservative sexual culture, loose birth registration laws and a largely privatised adoption system continue to pressure and shame single mothers into relinquishing their children for adoption. The shock and grief of mother-child separations and... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3136878/south-korea-young-mothers-are-pressured-giving-babies-adoption?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3136878/south-korea-young-mothers-are-pressured-giving-babies-adoption?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 11 Jun 2021 04:02:37 +0000 The sleepy beachside village of Shek O, on the south side of Hong Kong Island, is worlds away from the conflict taking place in Ethiopia. But for one family, the crisis in the east African country is close to their heart. In 2011, Karen Arndt and Chris Prosper adopted a baby boy from Tigray in northern Ethiopia, a region embroiled in conflict since the government, under prime minister Abiy Ahmed, launched a military offensive against the ruling faction there, the Tigray People’s Liberation... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3133757/ethiopian-civil-war-hong-kong-pair-trek-raise-funds?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3133757/ethiopian-civil-war-hong-kong-pair-trek-raise-funds?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 May 2021 04:15:12 +0000 A woman in China from central Henan province who found a woman who looked strikingly similar to herself on social media has discovered that they are identical twins.   Cheng Keke, 29, from Gongyi city, announced on ByteDance’s Douyin social media video platform yesterday that the results of DNA testing confirmed her biological relation to Zhang Li, who lives 50 kilometres away. They discovered last month that they were separated at birth when their single mother had put them up for adoption. “I... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3131769/two-identical-women-china-who-met-social-media?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3131769/two-identical-women-china-who-met-social-media?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Apr 2021 08:12:12 +0000 A tide of emotion swept over Claire Martin as she stood alone in the concrete stairwell of a bland residential block off a busy Kowloon intersection. Then, just as she did almost 60 years earlier, when she had been left there by her mother as a newborn, she burst into tears. “Being on that staircase was an extraordinary moment,” she says. “I thought of my adoptive father. He always wanted to help me find my birth family but he couldn’t, and it would have been wonderful if he had been there with... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3127995/abandoned-babies-and-adopted-western-parents?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3127995/abandoned-babies-and-adopted-western-parents?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Apr 2021 02:15:16 +0000 Sweden on Monday said it would launch an investigation into how it conducted international adoptions until the 1990s amid growing concern that many children may have been taken from their biological parents illegally. Swedes have adopted about 60,000 children from around the world since the 1950s, according to the daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter, many of them from Asia and South America. Worries have been increasing, however, that some of the children may have been stolen from their parents or... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3122676/sweden-probe-international-adoptions-amid-worries-over-children?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3122676/sweden-probe-international-adoptions-amid-worries-over-children?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Feb 2021 12:38:50 +0000 For many people in South Korea, 2021 started with an apology. The words “I’m sorry, Jeong-in”, reverberated around Twitter, as across the country people vowed to remember the death of a 16-month-old baby girl who allegedly suffered at the hands of abusive adoptive parents, and never to let it happen again. Among those joining the cause were television actors, such as Shin Ae-ra, and K-pop stars such as Jimin, of boy band BTS, and the singer and actress Uhm Jung-hwa. It was not only the rich and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3121565/sorry-jeong-how-k-pop-stars-and-twitter-campaign-are-forcing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3121565/sorry-jeong-how-k-pop-stars-and-twitter-campaign-are-forcing?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Feb 2021 22:00:15 +0000 A gay couple adopt a child and start a family together. In China, where many barely acknowledge the existence of the LGBT community, this touching real-life story was made into a movie by 19-year-old Ran Yinxiao. Forbidden Love in Heaven, released in July on several Chinese streaming platforms, follows the story of a man who finds a child on the streets and raises the boy with his male partner. Producing the film was a huge undertaking for the aspiring director from Chongqing, in China’s... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3115702/gay-adoption-drama-directed-teenager-tells-chinese-true?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3115702/gay-adoption-drama-directed-teenager-tells-chinese-true?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Dec 2020 20:15:16 +0000