I was adopted in Taiwan many years ago by Americans. I am now back in Taiwan studying Chinese and getting to know the birth family members whom I’d found nearly 2 years ago. Are there any other adoptees who are here in Taiwan? If so, I’d be interested in hearing from you.
Good news!! The Taiwanese government’s Ministry of the Interior has set up an adoption search/reunion service! I just met one of the social workers recently to learn about their services. The office has 3 social workers and is based near Dapinglin MRT station in Taipei.
How to request a search:
You can fill in an application form to request a search and send it to them. The form is available on their web site. Or you can just send them a letter, even if it is not in Chinese. They will then conduct the search for your birth parents and then act as go-betweens between you and your birth parents. For adoptees whom they’ve helped in their search, they can also assist with you meeting your birth family (eg. accompanying you during the first meeting). Unfortunately, they can not offer this meeting service for people who have found their birth family by themselves.
They also offer counselling referrals.
Don’t worry if you can’t speak Chinese. They speak some English! Here’s their English web site.
adoptinfo.org.tw/EN/AboutUs.aspx
Regards,
ripples8
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Hi Ripples,
Although I was not adopted, two of my brothers were adopted here in Taiwan in the mid 1960’s. They were about 10 years old when we returned to live in Canada and have never returned to Taiwan. In the 1980"s, my parents returned to Taiwan to see what information they could find for my brothers if they were ever interested in discovering more about their history. Unfortunately, no information was available as the orphanage they were adopted from was a private foundation which had closed down and due to a fire, there were no records available. Al we know is that the Directors surname was Chen, as that is the name which was used for their household registration and that the orphanage was located in Taichung. I don’t recall the name of the facility.
It is great to hear that doors are finally being opened and that people can now find out a bit about their origins. If my brothers are interested in finding out about their heritage I will pass this website on to them. Thank you!
Hi Totallytika,
How cool that you’re in Taiwan even 'tho your brothers aren’t. I forgot to mention that the search/reunion service is part of the Taiwanese government’s aims to centralize adoption data and hopefully simplify the rather complicated search process. If your parents have the name of the orphanage, perhaps the Ministry of the Interior might have ways to find the info. And according to the following article, it looks like DNA might be a way to help with the search.
Staff from my orphanage said that there were about 500 children adopted out from just their single organization. So given that there were many, many orphanages around during the post-war era, including the 1960’s, it’s likely that there are thousands of adoptees wondering about how to start their search. It took me over 20 years to find my birth family via DIY methods, so hopefully the above services will make it easier for others.
taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003216060
Regards,
ripples8
I am an adoptee from Taiwan and I was wondering how did you find out who they were?