A couple in Evanston, Jinshil and Christopher Duquet, brought home a baby from their trip to South Korea last year. The baby was taken from South Korea shortly after birth last summer and moved with her new American family in Illinois. Now Sehwa Kim is 7 months old and the center of a possible deportation back to South Korea.
Korean officials have been fighting for the child to return to South Korea. They have claimed that the Duquet family improperly took the child from her homeland and circumvented their adoption procedure. Yet the child’s birth mother lives in a shelter for unwed mothers and has no interest in having the baby returned.
The sad aspect of this issue is that the Duquets thought they went through the proper channels to adopt a baby from South Korea. They maintain that they were misled by a lawyer overseas who said they were participating in a proper adoption. Yet, a customs official at O’Hare flagged the arrival of baby Sehwa because she lacked the proper adoption visa.
The Duquets are now simultaneously fighting the federal government for custody of their child and trying to petition a separate court to finalize the adoption of their baby. But when the federal court issued custody to federal officials starting on January 14th, it seems pretty certain that the 7 month old Sehwa Kim will be deported back to South Korea.
Adoption, especially from a foreign country, usually requires a lot of paperwork, time and money. It is impossible to know all the rules when adding to your family and giving a child a better life. Contact an experienced family law attorney in DuPage County to review the requirements for your adoption and to ensure the process goes smoothly.
