Tour Korea Birthland Journey

• We welcome participants from across the United States, regardless of placing agency.
• This is not a typical group tour. Everyone comes to Tour Korea with the commonality of adoption. Privacy is respected, and lifelong friendships are formed.
• This tour is adoptee-led and supported.
• We prepare registered participants for travel through webinar and in-person orientation sessions.
• We have visited and work with all four major private adoption agencies in Korea — Eastern Social Welfare Society (previously Eastern Child Welfare Society), Holt Children’s Services, Korea Social Service and Korea Welfare Services (previously Social Welfare Society) as well as the National Center for the Rights of the Child (NCRC).
• We provide accurate, supportive and experienced translation.
• We provide travelers with a variety of activity options, plenty of free time, and support group meetings throughout the tour.
• We provide participants with support services before, during, and after the tour experience.
• We are committed to providing a meaningful and significant personal journey for all travelers.

• Arranging meetings with individuals important to an adoptee’s birth and adoption stories, including foster mothers and birth family. Visits are initiated by either the adoptee or adoptive parent(s) or through your U.S. placing agency and coordinated through us.
• Post Adoption Services (see below)
• Personalizing and planning side trips for adoptees to visit places of personal significance, such as birth clinic, city of birth, orphanage, etc.

Children’s Home Staff May include: The Tour Korea coordinator (Korean adoptee), other support staff and experienced volunteers. Other Children’s Home staff and volunteers range from adoptive parents to Korean adoptees themselves as well. We provide two pre-trip orientations that address etiquette, gift-giving, post adoption services, itineraries, destination information and more.

Tour package includes: Hotel accommodations; daily breakfast and most lunches and dinners; all group transportation, including the bullet train and subway, and sightseeing by private motor coach and all admission and activity fees and tickets; professional, English-speaking in-country guides and translators; baggage handling; applicable Korean adoption agency (if available) and visits; and support/expertise provided by Children’s Home staff and volunteers.

Tour package does NOT include: Post Adoption Services, flights to/from Korea, emergency transportation (and translation) to clinic/hospital or early return to hotel, some meals, personal purchases, and gifts. These additional costs are outlined in orientation meetings and tour materials.

Children’s Home can help you create a meaningful birthland tour experience specific to your own birth and adoption story. We provide the following post adoption services, as applicable and as information is available in the Korean file. Post adoption services are not required to participate in our Tour Korea program:

Due to changes in July 2025,

the Korean government now oversees adoption and post-adoption services directly, a responsibility previously held by Korean agencies such as Holt, ESWS, KWS and KSS. Adoptees can work directly with the National Center for the Rights of the Child (NCRC) through Korea Adoption Services (KAS) [UPDATED HYPERLINK TO https://www.kadoption.or.kr/home/eng/main.do] for post adoption services.

NCRC is able to provide a Korean file review as well as a birth parent search given that there is enough information to search for one or both birth parents. You can Sign Up for an NCRC portal account here to request adoption services. The full Adoption Information Disclosure Petition Manual can be found here where you can learn more about the step-by-step instructions to request services as well as learn more about applicable policies and procedures.

 We recommend submitting your request to NCRC as soon as possible due to a backlog of requests resulting in a 6+ month wait to complete a birth parent search.

It is not required for you to request services through us and you can pursue services directly with NCRC on your own. However, if you are looking for additional support through the Post Adoption Service process regarding Tour Korea, we are able to support you through our International Search Support & Consultation service at a rate of $150. This includes a review of your U.S. adoption record and ongoing support as you learn more through the NCRC. Children’s Home & LSS is also able to provide Korean adoptees with only a U.S. “Document Requests/File Reviews”, which includes a review of your U.S. adoption record at $50.

You can learn more about our post-adoption services here: https://chlss.org/post-adoption/.

Please note the following age guidelines: services through Children’s Home can be provided to adoptees and/or their adoptive families regardless of age. If an adoptee is under the age of 18, post adoption services must go through the adoptive parent(s) or guardian(s). For services through NCRC, the age of consent is 19.

Our Adoption Support Fund can assist with some or all of Post Adoption Service fee(s). The application is part of the Post Adoption Service application.

Tour Korea-Specific Post Adoption Services:

Side Trip: Children’s Home assists with visiting additional locations of personal importance not included in the tour itinerary such as a birth clinic or city of birth. Side trips will require forgoing a scheduled itinerary event(s). Children’s Home will inform travelers of side trip fees prior to departure to allow time to decide whether or not to proceed.

Established Contact and Meeting: For those already connected with birth family and/or foster family, meetings in-country can be scheduled part of an International Search Support & Consultation service in addition to translation and/or side trip fee structure.

Read below for some of our most frequently asked questions. If you have additional questions, please contact Kelli Hanson at [email protected].

My/my child’s adoption was not done through Children’s Home Society or Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota. Can we still travel on your tour and use the post adoption services you offer? 

Yes! Regardless of your placing agency, you may participate in Tour Korea. If you are interested, we can help coordinate post-adoption services with your US placing agency.

Besides the stated cost of the tour, what are additional costs that I can expect to incur?

In addition to the Children’s Home tour fee and the cost of your airline ticket, other expenses include:

• Korean Post Adoption Services: Fees apply to some services you may request. Please refer to the Korean Post Adoption Services section listed above.
• Gifts: Gift-giving is an integral part of Korean tradition. As part of the orientation sessions, you will be given suggestions for appropriate and affordable gifts for birth and/or foster parents, Korean agency workers, and in-country staff.
• Donations: Optional monetary donations for any of the institutions you visit—the Korean adoption agency and birth mothers’ home. There is no minimum, but donations often start from $50.
• Meals: 8-10 meals are not included in the itinerary. Korean meals average $10-15 each and do not require a tip.
• Spending Money: $300–$400 per person is suggested; budget appropriately for larger purchases like a Hanbok (traditional Korean clothing), etc.
• Trip Insurance: Trip insurance is not required but highly recommended to protect yourself and your trip. The cost is approximately $150 per person.
• Emergency Transportation: to clinic/hospital or an early return to the hotel.

Expenses will be addressed in detail at Tour Korea Orientation Sessions and in the Tour literature sent to all participants after registration.

What’s the average age of the adoptees who go on this tour?  What about elementary-aged children? Is this an appropriate tour for them? 

Adoptees traveling on Tour Korea typically range in age from 13 to 40. Usually, there are about the same number of Korean adopted adults on a tour as there are teenagers. Younger children have traveled as well, but most adopted youth are 13-25 years old and we highly recommend traveling adoptees and supports be 13 or older. Occasionally an activity and the subsequent topics of discussion, such as the single mothers’ home visit, may not be appropriate for children under 10. It is highly recommended that any Tour Korea participant is 10 years and older.

Korean agencies enforce a minimum age requirement for post adoption services.

Past participants say that they appreciated and enjoyed traveling with adoptees of different ages—each person at a different stage in his/her adoption journey and each with a different perspective to share. Tour Korea is structured to include activities that appeal to a range of ages.

Adoptive parents and other supports are between 13-75. One other consideration to note: air-conditioned buses transport participants throughout the tour, but please expect to do lots of walking for all!

I have a friend in Korea that I would like to get together with while I’m there. Can I do this on the tour?

Yes! However, we highly encourage you to participate in all of the tour activities. After all, you will have paid for them! There is scheduled free time throughout the trip as well. We welcome you to use one of these times to meet up with your friend. If you prefer to opt out of an activity on the itinerary to make time for a personal meeting, please let us know in advance.

I am an adoptee thinking of traveling alone on the tour — is this okay? 

We do not require you to travel with anyone. Children’s Home welcomes and supports everyone no matter how you come to our Tour Korea. Past adoptee participants have shared that they get more out of the trip and feel a greater sense of fulfillment from the experience if they are able to travel with a person who is important to them who can provide support and encouragement. We have found there is a need not only for comfort and support but for a family member or close friend to share in new discoveries and to recognize and be part of the new information that is accessed in Korea.

Traveling with a family member or close friend is also extremely helpful upon returning to the United States when the “processing” of the trip happens. Once home, adoptees often benefit from being able to talk to someone else who shared the experience. It can be difficult to explain and convey the tour experiences to someone who did not share in the travel.

Please note: If you do travel alone, there is an additional cost of $950 for single occupancy.

Do I need a special travel visa and/or immunizations to travel to Korea? 

The Korea Electronic Travel Authorization (K-ETA) is required for foreigners who intend to enter South Korea for tourism, visiting relatives, participating in events or meetings, and business purposes other than profitable activities. You will need to apply at least one month in advance of travel. Children’s Home Tour Korea staff will inform all participants of any changes as applicable. We encourage you to review your immunization record with your doctor or travel clinic to determine if any immunizations are recommended prior to departure.

I was born in a city that is not on your itinerary, but I really want to go to that place. Can this be arranged? 

Yes. Side trips to visit a place that is important to you personally—such as your birthplace or a clinic location—can be arranged through your Post Adoption Services worker. The distance will determine any added costs for the side trip. Your PAS caseworker will inform you of the proposed date, cost, and arrangements for your side trip in advance of your departure from the U.S. so you can decide before you leave whether or not to proceed. Please note that choosing to take a side trip will require you to opt-out of a group activity(ies) on the tour itinerary.

Are siblings who were not adopted from Korea also welcome on the tour? 

Yes! In addition to Korean adoptees, Tour Korea welcomes families traveling with birth children as well as adopted children from countries other than Korea. Sometimes the Korean adoptee is a parent traveling with their children, or an adult traveling with a spouse, grandparent, other relatives, or a close friend. Again, we recommend that all travelers are at least 13 years of age.