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A Word of Warning - Adoption Options

1:02 AM, Jun. 1, 2006

Many couples desperately want to adopt a baby. There are people willing to take advantage of this demand and place stolen babies on the black market. There are others who are looking to get rid of a baby they just had and will sell it so they can buy drugs.

Parents to be may not want to believe it, but babies are still being kidnapped daily to sell for profit. Do not put on blinders and believe that by adopting an illegal baby you will be giving it a better life. Poor and under educated mothers are being tricked into signing away their rights to their children, children that they do love and want.

I once watched an interview on television with a woman who adopted a baby from the black market. A rich woman that lives right here in the United States. When confronted with the evidence that her baby was stolen from another woman, the “mother” didn’t care. She said she could afford to give her daughter much more, and that the biological mother was selfish for wanting her child to come back to her and live a life of poverty.

Here are a couple of news links to articles about current illegal adoptions:

Out of Russia - http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/08/09/adoptionfine.shtml

Out of Mexico - http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/1999/may/may27c_99.html

Out of India - http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2211/stories/20050603006101300.htm

Out of Guatemala - http://www.friends-partners.org/lists/stop-traffic/1999/0247.html

Out of the United States - http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/6752.html

When you decide that you want to adopt you should know the following:

Be sure that the adoption agency you work with is reputable. Find out all you can about that agency.
Giving money to the biological parents is illegal. If a woman approaches you and asks you to “buy” her baby, turn her in to the police.
Adoption agencies are supposed to be non-profit. If you have to pay for more than the cost of the legal proceedings, medical expenses, and transportation, it may be an illegal adoption.

Adopt wisely. You don’t want to find out later that the child you love is not legally yours.

Posted in adoption, 5 comments, Link
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10:51 AM, Jun. 1, 2006, posted by Anonymous

Do you realize that many of the articles you site are very much outdated and that many countries have put safeguards into place to prevent that from happening? I'm not saying it doesn't happen and the things you recommend are a good idea but please don't try to scare people into thinking that their child may have been stolen - it's quite rare these days.

Dear Anonymous,

11:37 AM, Jun. 1, 2006, posted by sagerats

I'm sorry I couldn't return a comment to you personally. You are correct in that it is rare. This is a weekly column that focus' on adoption and this weeks topic was about illegal adoptions, that do still happen. As I have not made a habit out of "preaching" about black market adoptions I would hardly call this a scare article.

I'm sure you did note that the adoptions out of Russia article made the news in 2005 and the one out of India, 2005. While the other articles are older, I included them as a source of education to my readers. Black market adoptions are rare, I could find no report of one happening in 2006, but it does happen, especially among the drug community. Although that would be classified more as baby selling amongst themselves and not true adoptions. I do know people who have been approached to buy a baby. Again, that was last year, so not terribly current.

The intent of my article was to educate, not to frighten. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding I have construed with my words.

Sincerely, Tia Linschied

No worries

11:55 AM, Jun. 2, 2006, posted by Anonymous

As I said, I agree that it does happen - just not as much as some people would lead you to believe.

Most countries are doing a great deal to combat this issue. Guatemala, for instance, has put numerous rules into place to prevent stolen children from being adopted. Part of the adoption process in Guatemala is to have the child and mother both tested (at the same time) for DNA. At that time, a photo is taken of the mother and child as well as the DNA. The adoption cannot proceed until the DNA comes back a match. There has been one occurrence, recently, where it wasn't a match and the Guatemalan authorities are now trying to find the child's true mother. Obviosuly, in today's day and age, it still happens - but the authorities are serious about stopping it and that's what matters.

Again, I agree with the suggestions you made in your post about finding a good agency - they were all good suggestions. I would also recommend signing up for some of the adoption forums and listserv's as they can prove to be a valuable resource as well.

~Signed... Julie, Mother to Dylan, adopted from Guatemala :)

www.talesfromthestirrups.blogspot.com

Julie is right

4:31 PM, Jun. 2, 2006, posted by sagerats

I would like for my readers to take note of Julies above comments about black market adoptions being rare, and safe guards being put in place to stop them as much as possible.

This column could have been much longer, on many points, but I need to keep my articles somewhat short and save those points for another day. I spend quite a bit of time writing, then quite a bit more time deleting to shorten the post in order to keep my readers interest. Bloggers don't like long reads.

While I could find no links to articles about black market adoptions in the year 2006, that does not mean it is not happening. Many countries could care less and turn a blind eye. Other black marketeers have yet to be caught. While safeguards are being put in place, history has proven that someone will find a way around those safe guards, even DNA testing. Greed is a powerful thing.

Again, while I found no 2006 articles about black market adoptions I did find articles about children being kidnapped for slave labor. If children can be sold as slaves, it is not a long shot to suggest they are also sold for adoptions.

Story for you...

12:23 PM, Jun. 3, 2006, posted by sagerats

...I wrote about this over on my blog. Women out of Texas allegedly tried to buy a baby from California. You can read my thoughts and then link on over to the source.

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sagerats/145052/

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