Hong Kong authorities are searching for a new home for a 7-year-old South Korean girl after the Dutch couple who adopted her just months after she was born changed their minds, officials said Tuesday. The Dutch diplomat and his wife adopted the girl seven years ago when they were living in Seoul, South Korea, but struggled to integrate her into their lives.

The diplomat handed the girl over to welfare authorities in Hong Kong last May, saying she was having trouble adapting to their culture, including their food, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to comment on the matter.

(Place jokes about Dutch food and cooking here, although I doubt it’s standard fare in Hong Kong.)

“It’s bizarre. I don’t think it has anything to do with cultural shock,” said Law Chi-kwong, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong’s Social Work department. “The child grew up with them. They adopted her when she was a baby; they are responsible for shaping the child’s mind and culture. How can you say the child cannot adapt to the culture in which she was raised? This is just ridiculous.”

The girl speaks Chinese and English but not Korean.

(She doesn’t speak Dutch either? The plot thickens.)

The South China Morning Post, in a report Sunday, quoted the unnamed Dutch diplomat as saying that the adoption had gone wrong.

(What? Like a bad wine or something?)

I’m sure there is more to this story, but I assume that the real reasons are even less flattering that the ‘diplomatic’ ones given.)

A Dutch friend of mine adopted a Chinese girl after three years of poking and prodding and he looks very happy to me. I wonder what he would think of this.

(Link: China Post)