Shubring family to share experience with adopting South Korean boys
GREEN BAY — Bishop David Ricken doesn’t often host a movie night. But he’s making an exception for the Green Bay premiere of “The Drop Box,” a movie depicting the crisis in adoption that has overcome South Korea in recent years.
Cory and Lisa Shubring, members of Resurrection Parish in Allouez, adopted two sons, Joshua, 2, and Joseph, 3, from South Korea. They also have a biological daughter, Annabelle, 8. The Shubrings will be guests at the March 3 showing of “The Drop Box” at the Marcus Bay Park Cinema in Ashwaubenon. (Sam Lucero| The Compass)
The Drop Box is the true story of Lee Jong-rak, a South Korean pastor who has vowed to protect the babies whose relatives, usually their mothers, place their newborns inside a steel door set in a wall, much like a bank depository drawer in the U.S.
As the movie promo puts it, the theme is about Pastor Lee “and his heroic efforts to embrace and protect the most vulnerable members of society. It is a heart-wrenching exploration of the physical, emotional and financial toll associated with providing refuge to orphans that would otherwise be abandoned on the streets.”
But the pastor sees the documentary as more than that, as a story of hope and a reminder that every human life is sacred and worthy of love, faith and hope that the children’s adoptive families will provide.
Around the world, there are more than 150 million orphans waiting for families to call their own.
Cory and Lisa Shubring of Ledgeview are well aware of the situation and they have joined a parade of families to help the South Korean orphans. The couple has a biological daughter, Annabelle, who is 8. They have traveled to South Korea several times to bring home adopted sons, Joshua, 2, and Joseph, 3.
The trips were costly, requiring flights of 12-hour duration and stays in-country of seven to 10 days. The trip to bring baby Joshua home, accompanied by the Shubrings and their baby’s new big sister, Annabelle, cost the family $31,000.
Cory and Lisa, both 36, were born two days apart. They will celebrate their 11th wedding anniversary this year. The couple met late in their senior year at St. Norbert College in De Pere before graduating in 2000.
Cory is sales manager at Schneider National where his company contributed $4,000 toward their adoption expenses. Lisa is a marriage and family therapist at Prevea Behavioral Care, Green Bay, and her employer was also very supportive. She now specializes in adoptions and attachment issues that some adoptees may have.
Their family is now complete, Cory said. He was an only child and Lisa has one brother. They are enjoying a full house in the new home they moved into just over a year ago. The family belongs to Resurrection Parish in Allouez.
The couple thought about adoption early on, and because they have friends from South Korea and others who have adopted from there, they chose Korea when the time came to adopt.
Lisa noted they did not meet Pastor Lee when they were in Korea but they will speak at the March 3 movie premiere about the joys and challenges of international adoption.
Neither of their little boys were “Drop Box babies,” the couple explained. They were relinquished by unmarried mothers and both raised in foster care by loving foster parents who had their own adult children living at home. Such babies get good medical care and can avoid attachment issues that may occur if they aren’t raised in a family environment prior to adoption.
According to the Shubrings, Korea’s adoption crisis has to do with honor. Having a child out of wedlock brings shame on the family. Single parents and divorced people are not accepted in their culture. “They have a hard time getting work and finding housing,” Lisa explained. And while there are so many babies available for adoption, the Korean people don’t want them because their bloodlines are not known, another important factor in that society which can trace bloodlines back through several generations.
The Wall Street Journal reported in 2012 that 90 percent of the babies abandoned in Korea were born to unmarried mothers. In the first seven months of 2013, following the change in the law, 152 infants were reported abandoned in South Korea, up from 62 in the same period of 2012, according to a New York Times report. Korean government numbers indicate that 340,000 fetuses were aborted in 2005, most of them illegally.
Korea has long been a prime spot for international families seeking to adopt, including hundreds each year since the 1950s following the end of the Korean War.
But there is little demand for these tiny orphans from families within Korea. And those who aren’t chosen for adoption outside the country are beginning to overcrowd orphanages and foster homes. Toddlers who aren’t adopted by age 3 likely won’t ever be adopted, Lisa said.
The Drop Box is very controversial in Korea, the Shubrings said, because it raises attention to their adoption crisis. That came about in 2012, when laws regarding relinquishment of babies born out of wedlock changed so that parental information is no longer confidential in Korea.
The Shubring home is full of the sounds of running toddlers, snack requests and family interactions including the gentle tones of a patient big sister, who delights her little brothers with occasional exhibitions of her gymnastic talents.
“I always say that adoption is something that God lays on your heart,” Lisa said.
Two pieces of art stand out in the Shubrings’ great room, flanking the handsome fireplace. At left is a family portrait bright with smiles of the three children and their loving parents. On the right side is a quote that says it all for this family. It’s from Psalm 37:4: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Bishop Ricken to attend showing of ‘Drop Box’
ALLOUEZ — Join Bishop David Ricken “at the movies” for the theatrical release of “The Drop Box,” on Tuesday, March 3, at the Marcus Bay Park Cinema, 755 Willard Drive, Ashwaubenon. Cost is $13.50 per ticket. The Drop Box tells the story of South Korean pastor Lee Jong-rak and his heroic efforts to embrace and protect the most vulnerable members of society.
The movie is described as “a heart-wrenching exploration of the physical, emotional and financial toll associated with providing refuge to orphans who would otherwise be abandoned on the streets.” But it is also a story of hope, a reminder that every human life is sacred and worthy of love.
The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with a welcome and prayer by Bishop Ricken. Cory and Lisa Schubring will then offer a short presentation on their adoption experience. Catholic Charities will also take a short time to outline the programs they provide for families in the diocese. A portion of the film’s proceeds goes to support the Global Orphan Care Fund.
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