Illegal International Adoption At A Glance
Illegal adoption may take place in a variety of ways. Areas that have a high number of children available for adoption like China is especially likely to participate in illegal adoption rings. A recent incident in China exposed many infant trafficking victims located in several orphanages. It is sometimes thought that these babies were bought by the owner of the orphanage, although he knew the babies had been kidnapped from their original homes.
Since the babies had been kidnapped, the orphanage was able to purchase them for a relatively low price, around $1,000. The fee that is charged by the orphanage to complete the adoption process with the new parents is roughly $3,000. The orphanage in question denied that the babies had ever been kidnapped and insisted that they had been abandoned.
Sometimes foreign parents will sell their own child. However, many foreigners claim that they never legally gave up rights to their children. They also may claim that they were coerced into signing over their rights or given misinformation about what they were doing.
Child exploitation can happen in other ways through illegal adoption. Desperate residents in other countries who wish to have financial gain will often be willing to sell their children to people who are unable to conceive. This is especially popular in the United States. Prospective parents may be dismayed to find that American children, particularly newborns, are hard to adopt.
Foreign children are typically easier to adopt. Sometimes there are waiting lists for American children that the parents must face. Prospective parents may not consider this to be a type of child exploitation since they have intentions of taking care of the child. However, whether or not the child is treated well does not negate the fact that child is still a trafficking victim.
Illegal children that become trafficking victims are often turned over to the new parents with no documentation or any explanation of where the child came from. Many times, the new parents are so desperate to have the child that they do not care. There are other reasons for people illegally to adopt a child, and not all of them stem from a desire to have a child. The occurrence of child exploitation is not uncommon when children are adopted illegally.
Some individuals adopt children illegally to exploit them sexually, either for their own pleasure or for profit. Since there are extensive background and financial checks done on parents who are going through an adoption agency.
Adopting a child illegally has been called black market baby buying. It is important to remember that some parents are unaware that they are buying black market babies. This is why a couple or individual who are adopting should follow the laws set forth by the Hague Convention.
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