What is a KSS “Shadow File”? Is there more than one type of “Shadow File”?
Above: Our AI generated metaphor of a colloquially known KSS “Shadow File”.
For years, I heard KSS Adoptees talk about their "Shadow File," but I never knew precisely what they meant.
That's a big part of why Paperslip exists: to make it possible for PHOTOS of KSS records and other adoption documents to be visually shared and compared. By doing so, international KSS Adoptees in the US, Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland can build a shared visual and verbal language — and a common understanding of what these records look like and what they're called in both Korean and English.
It’s very difficult when Adoptees only verbally describe their documents. I need to see the documents to know exactly what they are. This is the only way to confirm the document type/s being discussed, and to avoid confusion.
That's why Paperslip includes so many visual examples of KSS documents. Seeing the documents side by side makes it much easier for KSS Adoptees to compare them, identify the records in their own files, and develop a shared understanding of what each document is called and how it fits into the adoption process.
The term “file” itself can be confusing. This is because people (including both Adoptees and non-Adoptees) alternately use the term “file” to describe a file folder and individual documents (files).
+
So what is a KSS “Shadow File”?
+
We now know that the MAIN KSS “Shadow File” is the formerly secret document which I coined in 2021 as the KSS “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary”.
This document is often 3-4 pages long, depending on the year in which a child was sent by KSS overseas for adoption.
I coined the term “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary” in 2021 to contrast this formerly secret document with the non-secret KSS document, which we now call the “English Adoptive Child Study Summary”.
The “English Adoptive Child Study Summary” — which sometimes had a different name, depending on which country you were adopted to and when — was sent by KSS to the Western Partner Adoption Agency with whom KSS had matched an individual child. Each Western Partner Adoption Agency then used this English document along with the child’s accompanying photo to match children with prospective adoptive parents.
But most adoptive parents and Adoptees remained unaware of the formerly secret “KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary” — which KSS kept at its campus office in Seoul — for decades.
This is why the KSS “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” is known as the KSS “Shadow File”.
+
Why is the “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” considered to be the (main) KSS “Shadow File”?
I have been in KSS’ file room in Seoul in 2021 and 2023, and I believe that KSS kept a “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” for almost every KSS Adoptee it processed for adoption between 1964-2012. Having worked with KSS Adoptees between 2021-2025 to request and obtain this formerly secret document from KSS, I know that KSS Adoptees from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s — every decade in which KSS sent children overseas for adoption — had a “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” at KSS. Almost every KSS Adoptee from these same decades also had an “English Adoptive Child Study Summary”, though the title of this document varied over time and in different countries. Please see the related links for examples of these documents:
KOREAN Adoptive Child Study Summary (Examples and Translations)
ENGLISH Adoptive Child Study Summary (Examples and Translations)
It’s likely that in most KSS Adoptees’ cases, the formerly secret “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” was created by KSS first. KSS often (though not always) recorded more detailed information about a child’s history (if known) including her or his birth parent name/s and birth date/s. Sometimes but not always, general information about a child’s siblings was recorded on the document. Sometimes the document contained more information about where a child was born (such as at a maternity clinic or hospital) or found.
We have heard that the Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary could have been written about a child at KSS prior to their actual transfer there from another location (such as a Feeder Orphanage). For example, Nam Kwang Orphanage in Busan’s Director told me directly in 2023 in person that Nam Kwang had previously had on-site KSS social workers, and that Holt also had an on-site office. Nam Kwang is known as a major feeder orphange for KSS and Holt primarily.
However, not all of the information recorded in the “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” was always accurate. This inaccuracy had a number of possible reasons: KSS wished to “orphanize” the child by deliberately disguising the child’s true origins; the person who relinquished the child for adoption (often a family member) left deliberated falsified information; clerical error; etc.
It should NOT however be assumed that all information contained in this document was falsified. I have definitely known KSS Adoptees whose information in their “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” was largely true. However, the only way to verify this information is to find a birth parent or birth relative who is willing to take a DNA test to prove their relationship, and for that birth relative to confirm or deny the details recorded in the “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary”.
After KSS created the “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” for a child, KSS then created the “English Adoptive Child Study Summary”, which was sent along with a photo of the child to KSS’ Partner Western Adoption Agency to whom KSS had matched the child. KSS itself has said that KSS did not match children to individual prospective adoptive families — rather, KSS matched children to one of its Partner Western Adoption Agencies, which in turn matched KSS children to prospective adoptive parents. This was largely done by proxy — without the prospective adoptive parents ever having to visit Korea or KSS in person.
KSS then placed the formerly secret “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” — what many KSS Adoptees refer to as the “Shadow File” — in the individual KSS Adoptee’s file folder at KSS in Seoul. Most Adoptees — especially those who were never able to visit KSS prior to the permanent closure of its Post Adoption Services — remained unaware of the existence of their “Shadow File” — the “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” — until July 2021, when we began to publicize the existence of this document and how to obtain it from KSS.
As KSS Adoptees, we did not figure out how to request and obtain this document until July 2021. I had first seen and photographed this document in my own file at KSS in 2018, but at the time, I did not understand that KSS referred to this document colloquially as the “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary”.
+
The “Shadow File” Is The “Truth”:
It is important to understand that often (though not always) in cases where KSS recorded birth parent information in a child’s “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary”, KSS orphanized a child by omitting this information in the SAME child’s “English Adoptive Child Study Summary”.
I have seen many cases in which a KSS Adoptee grew up believing they had been "abandoned" by "unknown parents" because the “English Adoptive Child Study Summary” routinely orphanized them that way, while KSS simultaneously retained information about that same Adoptee's birth parents for decades without disclosing it.
Thus, the “Shadow File” — the formerly secret “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” — often (though not always) contained the more accurate background information of a KSS Adoptee.
+
It’s important to note that the STYLE of this document CHANGED OVER TIME.
We have collected several known examples of the “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary”.
Please note that you can now obtain this document from NCRC. Please be sure to CAREFULLY READ our FAQ section about NCRC here:
ALL ADOPTEES START HERE!
FAQ + SITE NAVIGATION.
+
Please note that NCRC will partly redact any birth parent / birth relative information in your “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” — assuming any is present, which will just depend on your case.
However, technically you can request that NCRC perform a search for your birth parent/s, which NCRC will do IF your KSS adoption documents — typically the “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” — contain your birth parent name/s and birthdate/s. Typically both the name and birthdate of an individual is needed for NCRC to run a search for the person through any databases.
+
KSS Adoptees should check their “English Adoptive Child Study Summary” documents, as this document MAY contain birth parent information. This became more common in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, but it is possible in the 1960s and 1970s as well.
However, this site is called “Paperslip” because so many KSS Adoptees’ “English Adoptive Child Study Summaries” said that a child was found “abandoned” with a “paper-slip” or “memo” in her or his “clothings” (sic). The use of this boilerplate (copy / paste) often false information is what we know as Orphanization.
+
Some history about the “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary”:
KSS never regularly shared the formerly secret “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” with KSS Adoptees or their adoptive parents prior to July 2021, when myself and one other KSS Adoptee accidentally figured out how to request and obtain this document from KSS.
While some KSS Adoptees who visited KSS’ old campus or KSS’ former Post Adoption Services building in person (prior to the July 19th, 2025 transfer of ALL former Korean Adoption Agency files — including those of KSS — to NCRC’s Temporary Storage Facility in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do) may have been able to obtain a (partly redacted) copy of the “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” from KSS, KSS itself NEVER informed Adoptees about the existence of this file on a regular basis.
We do know of a handful of KSS Adoptees who did somehow have their “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” from the time of their adoption. However, these cases are exceptionally rare.
By and large, KSS rarely shared the formerly secret “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” with Adoptees or their adoptive parents.
+
Please note that there is an even DEEPER “Shadowier File” — a document which KSS almost NEVER shared with ANYONE.
This document is called:
“국내소속서류작성의뢰서” (Request Form for Preparation of Domestic Affiliation Documents).”
+
I am the only person to have ever published information about this formerly completely secret KSS document, which is taped to the inside front cover of each KSS Adoptee’s file.
This document also has the potential to contain information about the person who relinquished the child to KSS — typically a birth parent or birth family member.
Please note that you can now obtain this document from NCRC. Please be sure to CAREFULLY READ our FAQ section about NCRC here:
ALL ADOPTEES START HERE! FAQ + SITE NAVIGATION.
+
Please note that NCRC will partly redact any birth parent / birth relative information in your “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” — assuming any is present, which will just depend on your case.
However, technically you can request that NCRC perform a search for your birth parent/s, which NCRC will do IF your KSS adoption documents — typically the “Korean Adoptive Child Study Summary” — contain your birth parent name/s and birthdate/s. Typically both the name and birthdate of an individual is needed for NCRC to run a search for the person through any databases.
+
Please note that if your KSS documents mention this orphanage, you can also email or visit Nam Kwang Orphanage in Busan to request documents.
+
Your results will vary. Most people only get a little bit of information (if any). However, a small handful of KSS Adoptees have received a great deal of background information from Nam Kwang.
Please see:
Sources of KSS Orphans + Orphanage List.
+
Please note that KSS itself has acknowledged that it frequently used Nam Kwang as fake information in KSS Adoptees’ files, in order to orphanize them (disguise their true origins).
However, there were many KSS Adoptees who actually WERE originally at Nam Kwang Orphanage in Busan.
Nam Kwang is still a functioning child welfare facility and you can visit with an appointment. However, you will likely need a translator as most Nam Kwang workers do not speak English.
They will however respond to your emails promptly in English.