Update on Baby Box and Simple Ways to Support

1/10/2014

I met with Pastor JongRak Lee today who oversees the Baby Box ministry caring for abandoned babies in South Korea. It's been awesome to see how social media has played a key role in getting the word out globally on the needs of these children and the incredible ministry Pastor Lee has been doing for the past 4 years. And within these four short years, God has used this man to help rescue and protect the lives of 375 babies. Without a doubt, just the trailer for the documentary The Drop Box, directed by Brian Ivie, has been instrumental in gathering global support for these precious babies.

I asked Pastor Lee for an update on their situation today and here are some current prayer requests he has and some simple ways we can support this ministry.

Prayer Requests

Community Support: The city of Seoul is pushing Pastor Lee to move his ministry outside of Seoul. But the new city they are moving to called Ilsan has been protesting against this ministry from entering their area for various reasons. Please pray for God to change the hearts of the Ilsan neighbors to receive this family and ministry with a heart of love.

Provision of Funds: God provided a larger area of land in Ilsan which will allow them to care for more children and especially have facilities that can care for the children with special needs. The final plans for the new building project will have 3 floors, but phase one of the project will be to establish the first floor facilities, which will cost about $1.8 million. They are still short about $1 million.

Law Changes in Korea: Please pray for new laws that will protect the privacy of the birth moms and the lives of these babies so that less children will be abandoned (and aborted) and more can be placed in permanent homes instead.

Culture Changes in Korea: Please pray for the Church in Korea to celebrate and embrace the orphan and adoption and to see this as a visible expression of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray for the Church to rise up and take the lead in caring for the orphans as James 1:27 commands us to.

Financial Support

Financial Support from the US

A US tax-deductible 501(c) account has been created for Pastor Lee's ministry through Kindred Image. Click here to go directly to their donation page.

Financial Support within Korea

If you are giving within Korea, you can wire your donations to any of these accounts:

국민 Koomin Bank 715301-01-258639
농협 Nonghyub Bank 170118-51-009901

Account Holder Name : 주사랑공동체교회

Donations

Because of the regular flow of babies that come through this ministry, basic baby needs are always welcome, such as:

Diapers
Baby food
Baby clothes
Toiletries

Items can be sent to their address:

주사랑공동체 교회
주사랑공동체의 집
서울시 관악구 난곡동 646-151

To visit their website (in Korean) click here.

Volunteer Opportunities

Currently, they are not taking anymore volunteers as there has been a huge flow of support in recent months. But if you do have a heart for the orphan and would like to offer your time and services, here are some other organizations you can look into supporting within Korea:

Women's Hope Center (A crisis pregnancy center with offices in Seoul and Pohang)
Handle with Care (A forthcoming adoption and foster care service for expats in Korea)
Single Love (Serving the single moms of Korea)
Jerusalem Ministry (An orphanage ministry strong in discipleship and mentoring)
Holt Children's Services Korea (The first inter-country adoption agency in the world)
Eastern Welfare Society (Adoption agency)

Please continue to pray that every orphan will one day have a family to call their own in this nation ... soon. For our God "sets the lonely in families." (Psalm 68:6) Thank you.

"Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause."
Isaiah 1:17 ESV

22 Comments

Krystal Kim

1/11/2014 09:00:40 am

Linda orr link

11/12/2015 11:05:09 pm

We blame the mothers for there ignorance and laziness but in the end it no longer falls on them when Gods angels need our help.its about the bebes not how or who got them here but how to save them now

Hyun Kim

1/11/2014 11:48:35 pm

Unfortunately, two totally separate issues have been mixed-up and confused with each other: adoption and abandonment. These children who have been “dropped off” at Jurasang are NOT orphans – they have simply been abandoned by typically teenaged, unwed mothers who are NOT needy or deprived, but all too often are too selfish and too ignorant in addition to being in a state of extreme teenaged and postpartum hormonal flux to be able to think straight.

Also, these teens are usually incapable of even asking for help let alone doing anything on their own, as the typical Korean teenager right out of high school doesn’t even know how to apply for a driver’s license let alone procure welfare services either publicly or privately. Jurasang Church, however, has gotten some international press as being the only place in Korea where someone can abandon their baby with no questions asked. Why is it that they were the only ones? Because it’s illegal, and also because there are literally dozens of legally operating orphanages and adoption agencies, throughout South Korea, that will never get any global attention namely because they do it LEGALLY. As for Jurasang, on one hand I sympathize with his pastor, but on the other hand, he is out of his element as what he is doing is neither sustainable nor legal.

For starters, the Jurasang Church does not have a license to operate an orphanage let alone an adoption agency, thus dooming every child that is abandoned there. (None of these children will be legally adoptable under Korean or international law.) Because this church is engaging in a “black-market” operation by ignoring the law, there is no way they’ll be able to receive any governmental welfare support or even the legal basis to continue doing what he’s doing, which is why we must not support this kind of thing privately. Absolutely NOT.

That said, he probably isn’t trying to violate the law intentionally. It is apparent, however, that he is incredibly ignorant and naïve, and perhaps uneducated. What is needed is for people like this pastor to realize that the “baby box” is not the answer, and that instead, by perhaps encouraging and talking to these young mothers to give up their children in a legal and proper manner as prescribed by law is the best thing to do.

This could be done by simply taking these typically bewildered young women to one of Holt’s adoption offices throughout Korea, where an intake worker will help said mother go through all the formal administrative and legal procedures to give up a child for adoption.

Incredibly, many young single mothers burdened by an unplanned pregnancy literally don’t know any better, and are simply too lazy, too ashamed to even comprehend the consequences of their actions. Doing the right thing, however, by helping these young women negotiate the formal administrative and legal process to give up their child by connecting them with an approved agency, and helping them fill out the proper paperwork that will allow their child to be adopted with the help of a licensed adoption agency is the difference between allowing their child to have a promising future as a legally adopted person, or consigning a child to a future as a stateless non-person with no hope of ever being adopted legally, anywhere.

Jose

8/1/2016 11:53:29 pm

I see that your comment is old so maybe you've changed the position you took in 2014 but I have to ask, did you watch the video? I understand your concern for legalities and I don't want to ignore the time and effort put in by officials setting up adoption agencies and a system to support life, but based on the numbers of abandoned babies in Korea per the movie drop box it appears the legal route ain't working! It appears to be due to the treatment of unwed teenage mothers in the society that won't place any responsibility on the father. By the way, the idea that some of these mothers are lazy is very possible but when grace is given some human beings will abuse it. Does that mean you abandon ship? No.

Sunmee

6/6/2017 07:24:36 pm

To Hyun,

I understand your perspective and what you are stating. However, with all this legality issues and possibly creating a slippery road affect in mind, what have YOU done to make this situation better? Instead of dwelling on the negative aspect of this issues, I think it is important to focus on what can be done. What can the society as a whole DO to change to minimize the current problem? What will YOU be DOING to do change? If you have no plans, then I think it is time that we all put our heads together to form a "better" plan or perhaps look into changing the legalities to make this operation work.

Deb

1/12/2014 11:55:22 am

I agree that doing the right thing would be to address the issue at the beginning, educating and encouraging women to formally give their babies up for adoption. But the fact of the matter is that the babies are being abandoned regardless of the existence of the baby box. At least with a drop box for the babies, helpless infants aren't being left to die on the streets. The solution must include two parts-- help the mothers give up their babies legally, but also receive and care for those that aren't. My prayer is that the law in Korea would include a safe haven law for mothers to safely leave an unwanted child at a hospital or government agency, and perhaps, private ministries such as these that are indeed a safe place for the child.

Where are the 375 children who have been rescued up until now? Are they in one orphanage?

Hyun Kim

1/12/2014 01:30:43 pm

Deb -- babies "being left to die on the streets"? Interesting hyperbole, but, patently false and you know it, especially if you've lived in Seoul or anywhere else in Korea. (Maybe you're confusing reality here in Korea with the streets of Bangladesh or an episode of M*A*S*H*.)

Also, I don't think you understand the depths of laziness and ignorance that is infecting many of these young unwed Korean mothers who are not only the products of a rote-memory based educational system devoid of any kind of basic problem solving, critical thinking or real-life skill development, but also have little or no compunction about abandoning babies born out of wedlock at locations like Jurasang or the baby box for the sake of pure convenience as they literally don't know any better.

Unfortunately what many of them don't know is that if you absolutely must abandon your child, believe it or not, there is a right way and a procedure to do it anonymously so as not to condemn your child to a life as an unregistered non-person in the care of someone who is not qualified or not legally authorized to act as a guardian or facilitate their adoption either domestically or internationally. (Jurasang is neither an authorized adoption center nor even a licensed orphanage.)

If you must abandon your child, you can do so by leaving it at any one of the authorized orphanages or adoption centers in Korea like the one Pastor Byun mentioned above (Holt International, Eastern Welfare Society, Women's Hope Center, etc., that is to say, any one of them EXCEPT Jurasang.)

Because the legal ones are authorized by law to operate as an orphanage and facilitate both domestic and international adoptions, even abandoned children and infants left in their care can eventually become registered, receive an F-4 visa, and legal guardianship, as well as be eligible for adoption domestically and internationally, if and when that occurs.

The children left at Jurasang -- b/c they have neither been registered, i.e., received the equivalent of a SSN by a legal guardian, which would be any authorized adoption center or legal orphanage who cares for them -- are essentially non-persons without legal guardianship who are caught in between a rock and a hard place. Jurasang Church means well, but they are still in the eyes of the Korean government an unauthorized caregiver, unauthorized adoption center, and illegal guardian for abandoned children, i.e., they are basically operating as 'black marketeers', and they must be stopped.

What Jurasang needs to do IF they want to continue in this business is to go through the formal steps to become a legal and authorized orphanage as well as go through the formal steps to become a legally licensed adoption center so they can facilitate adoptions.

As of yet, they have not, nor does it seem likely that they ever will knowing that the pastor of Jurasang has already ran afoul of the law. Again, I reiterate, do not help Jurasang church it's pastor. If you want to do something for the number of adoptees and abandoned children that are out their, associate yourself with a legally authorized orphanage, or a reputable and established legal adoption center like Holt International, or the other ones that Pastor Byun mentioned above.

Helping an outlaw and rogue organization like Jurasang will NOT improve the problem of abandoned children in the long run -- it will simply aggravate it and condemn the children to a no-win legal nightmare.

Hyun Kim

1/12/2014 01:31:26 pm

Hyun Kim

1/12/2014 01:32:07 pm

Linda orr link

11/12/2015 11:14:00 pm

You the people behind your judgements and opinions are the sinners.you are lazy!the time it tAkes to judge could be spent in the time to save an innocent child of God.Only God can judge these parents and if he sees fit he will.iam willing to give my life for change no matter what.under Gods almighty eyes not yours.i love you dear pastor.Amen

Linda orr link

11/12/2015 11:01:12 pm

Tell me what I need to do.ism in the USA but will do anything and everything to save of our worlds children.god has no
Limits for me and threw prayer I will always find a way.Amen pastor I love you

Hyun Kim

1/12/2014 01:31:50 pm

Theresa Reyes

1/26/2014 05:43:14 am

I have personal involvement in Pastor Jong's mission. It is an honorable and humbling experience for him. As a result of many of people like you and me, they are seeing the dream for a facility to accommodate their needs come to pass! We are called and mandated to help those in need. Let your heart guide you and make an eternal investment by donating to this wonderful cause.

Sarah Banes

2/10/2014 03:10:07 pm

I can not believe the remarks made by Hyun Kim regarding a mother abandoning her baby as being lazy! You keep saying Holt to the point I am wondering if you are working for them? My sister-in-law is Korean (born and raised), stated that Korean's believe too much in bloodline to adopt so adoptions in country are rare. Being pregnant and unwed is taboo. Pregnant by an American is worse, African American below that. Your new adoption laws that went into affect in hopes of stopping the flow of abandoned babies requires the mother to stay with the infant for seven days. If a female has been hiding it from her family for nine months how is she to explain an absence of 7 days? So do not want a paper trail for fear of being found out. A woman who is to the point of leaving a child in an alley (your paper not mine) a "baby box" is a better option. A teenage mother is not lazy, they are scared and do not need people like you giving them help. Maybe you should teach birth control to your teens since what they are being taught is not working. He is doing his Godly duty to a child and for you to set in judgement and repost your rant three times will not sway those who are going to reach out to help him.

Hyun Kim

2/10/2014 04:19:49 pm

Sarah Barnes, thanks but thanks, Korea will do just fine without your shortsighted and ignorant advice. The last thing Korea needs to become is some kind of urban wasteland like those found in America's inner cities, or another European drug-addicted welfare state, or a country full of wandering and aimless Aussies. Korea, warts and all, to its credit is NOT America or any other Western country for that matter.

Yes, single mothers -- beset by a flood of hormones both pre- and post-partum -- are unpredictable, subject to intense mood swings, prone to irrational and short-sighted behavior, lazy and/or completely bewildered, take your pick, which means they need appropriate and sound legal advice to help them navigate through the myriad of options available to them.

Having said that, things are changing rapidly in Korea, so whatever cultural memes or hackneyed mantras your Korean "sister-in-law" has spouted in the past are now either outdated or changing as we speak. To wit, domestic adoptions, once rare in this country a decade ago, are now rapidly becoming increasingly normal, not to mention accepted, especially among middle-aged and childless couples.

Also, the single motherhood is becoming less stigmatized and more accepted as a simple result of a change in an important piece of law. Prior to 2005, single motherhood was a legal impossibility as such women were unable to register such children for an SSN number under their own family registry.

That law, however, was changed in 2005, and since then, single or divorced women are legally able to register children under their own name and family registry (previously it could only be done under the father's), hence another legal and cultural hurdle has been overcome for women's and family rights.

Also, the prejudice against biracial children, a lingering holdover of the Korean War, is becoming is less of an issue as the U.S. military reduces not only its size of its presence on the Korean peninsula but also its cultural footprint. Also, the Korea has made a lot of strides in terms of multiculturalism and acceptance of biracial children, especially with the rise in prominence of some very famous half-Korean celebrities.

And yes, single and pregnant mothers are scared and uncertain about their future, which means they absolutely need sound legal advice to guide them in a way that will ensure not only the future of their child, but will also protect their own rights and conscience as well.

Abandoning a baby in the hands of a black marketeer or unlicensed caregiver or illegal guardian is NOT the way to solve a problem either for the mother or the baby -- it will only create a lifetime of heartache for both in the future. Not to belabor the point, but I feel I must repeat what I said previously as you obviously didn't read a word of it. To wit:

"If you want to do something for the number of adoptees and abandoned children that are out their, associate yourself with a legally authorized orphanage, or a reputable and established legal adoption center like Holt International, or the other ones that Pastor Byun mentioned above.

"Helping an outlaw and rogue organization like Jurasang will NOT improve the problem of abandoned children in the long run -- it will simply aggravate it and condemn the children to a no-win legal nightmare."

Hyun Kim

2/10/2014 04:20:08 pm

H. Kim

2/10/2014 04:20:41 pm

Tanya Kim.

12/27/2015 01:31:09 am

Hyun - Not only are you misspelling Jusarang, but you have not even taken into consideration its meaning. In Korean, sarang means love. The whole purpose of the baby box is love. It wasn't created so that "lazy" young teens could abandon their babies. It was created so that desperate young women could leave their babies in a safe place that
guarantees their infants be met with unconditional love and compassion.

Orphaned Baby Bonobos cannot live in captivity without love. They literally die without it. Although we humans are able to live without love, our souls and all else whither without it. When we are loved, the colors in the world become bright and anything becomes possible. Pastor Lee is providing a much needed service. His love and compassion are the driving force behind the baby box.

Hyun Kim

12/27/2015 10:00:20 pm

Tanya - No. Your "baby bonobo" is inappropropriate as human infants are neither monkeys nor animals. The only fitting analogy is what is legally and morally right, and abandoning a child to an unlicensed and unauthorized caregiver in South Korea is neither and can never be justified under any circumstance.

Furthermore, the difference between a lazy young teen and a "desperate young woman" is a matter of semantics. Regardless of the words you choose to use, it doesn't alter the fact that these individuals are still unequivocally in need of help; it just has to be the right kind of help, i.e., the legally sanctioned kind, specifically, assistance that doesn't run afoul of the law or shortchange the rights of the child in the future.

Also, the church's name was spelled "Jurasang" according to international media, so we may be talking about two totally different organizations. I have no reason to believe otherwise.

One more thing: You talk a lot about "love" and "compassion", which is fine, but let's not overlook other more practical aspects and mundane issues at the same time, such as doing the right thing by the child, following the law, and protecting the rights of the most vulnerable members of our society. Good intentions aside, the fact is a lack of knowledge or simple ignorance of the law even by the most loving and compassionate person is never justifiable, as it can ruin and/or destroy another person's life irrevocably.

Debbie

4/2/2016 07:12:06 pm

@Hyun, regarding your comment above:

One more thing: You talk a lot about "love" and "compassion", which is fine, but let's not overlook other more practical aspects and mundane issues at the same time, such as doing the right thing by the child, following the law, and protecting the rights of the most vulnerable members of our society. Good intentions aside, the fact is a lack of knowledge or simple ignorance of the law even by the most loving and compassionate person is never justifiable, as it can ruin and/or destroy another person's life irrevocably.

Yes, all true, but IF all/any of these things happen, and they will, your argument doesn't take that into consideration-it stops short. It's just real life, as bad as that is, it's just life. Fortunately there will be people who will be there when that happens, to help pick up the pieces in the broken, imperfect lives.

3/31/2016 06:13:00 am

Thank God that these kind people were able to rescue these babies that I personally feel after having watched the documentary would have possibly died on the street. In the end it is very heartbreaking to read some of the comments where here are good and kind people trying to do good in the world and as always people try to find something negative from it. I pray God continue to bless these people and the children they are caring for.

Apolonia Sanchez

7/27/2017 08:11:58 pm

Is there a address in english?

Update on Baby Box and Simple Ways to Support

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