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Subscribe to RSSBEIJING – Since the early 1990s, more than 100,000 Chinese children have been adopted by families overseas – most of them in the U.S.
And now it looks like some of the adoptees weren’t in fact orphans or unwanted offspring, but in fact children illegally snatched from their parents and sold to Chinese orphanages who brokered the adoptions – for as much as $3,000 a child adopted by foreigners.
An investigative report released this week by the highly respected Chinese weekly publication, Caixin Century Magazine, found that from 2000 to 2005, local family planning officials in Hunan Province seized at least 16 children from households they claimed had violated the strict nationwide one-child policy. In almost every instance, when the parents could not pay the fine, their children were shipped off to an orphanage, which then sold them overseas. Two of the children, their biological families believe, were adopted by American families.
Caixin’s original report in Chinese spread rapidly around the Internet Tuesday, capturing widespread attention among netizens despite the fact that similar reports have surfaced in the years past. Even state-run media covered the story, describing a “stunned nation” upon hearing of the report.
The allegations bring to light once more just one of the myriad problems China’s one-child policy has created in trying to address population pressures and poverty alleviation. It also illustrates the potential for government corruption; career advancement in many instances depended on whether an official could demonstrate his or her ability to enforce the one-child policy.
We could write more, but we encourage everyone to read the Caixin article here in an English translation.
Related story: Time to re-evaluate China's one-child policy?
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It's not so much the one child policy that seems to be the problem here. The problem is that those in charge are not regulated or are regulated by those who are careless.
Of course they are regulated and the regulators are extremely careful. They ensure that they get their cut or else. The objective of that regulation is to channel cash into pockets of the regulators, and they are doing a 110% job. The one child policy has no bearing on this. As long as there are money to be made, this will continue to happen. Every link in the value chain are extremely careful to ensure that they receive the cut they suppose to get. Regulators is just one of these links. This value chain should include the snatcher, the keeper, the orphanage, the adoption agencies, the government officials that "regulate" the adoption agencies, those regulating the orphanages, the law enforcement (PSB's) who overlooks child snatchings, the senior regional government officials, the "harmony and stability" enterprise. The hukou people. And everyone in between. This is a great and profitable industry. This is GDP growth. This is Chinese characteristics.
The problem is not the one child policy. The problem is not valueing a female child enough to register her birth as the only child. Females are still greatly devalued as people in many countries of the world and this is tolerated by western society as a cultural difference. This attitude is also the reason for many "theraputic" abortions in some countries.
This is absolutely true...but dont lose sight of the fact that there are thousands upon thousands of healthy children that sit in orphanages in China. These children have minor correctable issues such as cleft lip, club foot, missing a few fingers, hernias. I have read many letters from older orphans---they just want a mom and dad ( and they often ask for grandparents). They want someone that is all theirs that will love them through thick and thin that will hold them while they are in the hospital getting these issues corrected. It breaks my heart watching a child go through cleft lip repair with no mommy or daddy to tell them they will be ok.
I agree there needs to be DNA testing and a more scrutiny but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. China is a huge country and many parts of the foster care/ adoption system are exceptionally well run and there are other outlying areas that are not well run. For some people this is still a wonderful option. There are so many babies that need a family on planet earth--- adoption is a wonderful option.
We adopted a 12 year old girl from China in December, before I get hateful remarks I have also adopted two children from USA social services. The thought that this little girl would go through life with no mom or dad no brothers and sisters broke my heart. Orphans have a hard time in China, they are named after the town they were found in, as they go through life everyone knows they are an orphan. In the USA it's not such a big deal, in China they are considered bad luck. Adopting an older child is a bit of a roller coaster but I'm happy to say she loves her family. Adopting any child is a wonderful experience!
Where can i get a deal on one of these kids?
Hey Bart, are you serious? My old boss in America came to Shanghai last summer and adopted a 5 year old girl. If you want, I'd look into it for you and give you some contact details. You can email me at wwjdforchina@gmail.com
Positive, he's kidding.
Wow... We really do import everything from China.
The author needs to be more careful with her language. She states "their children were shipped off to an orphanage, which then sold them overseas." As someone who adopted her children from China, I am greatly offended by this language. I adopted my children - I DID NOT BUY THEM.
You may not have bought them. Many do.
Yes YOU adopted them. The child brokers SOLD them. Your intentions were far different from the intentions of the people offering them up, not your fault but true. You adopted them with the intent of giving them a safe, secure, wonderful loving home to grow up in but THEY cashed a check.
That's beyond cruel and just wrong-headed. You don't know how she arranged her adoption or what channels she used. You do not have to use a "broker" for an adoption and you do not know anything about the child she adopted or how he or she can into the orphanage.
Well tell you what, I was adopted here in the US, my adoptive parents "paid" for me.
Brian,
My sister was adopted by my family here in the us and we "paid" for her, too. We paid the lawyer, the doctor who knew the baby's mother and the baby's birth mother.
It has worked out great for us. Hope yours did too.
Cash on the barrel (baby's) head.
I used to extremely reputable agencies - Families Thru International Adoption and HAS. I followed every letter of the law and dotted all i's and crossed all t's. One of my children has a heart problem and the other was healthy. The agencies used all official channels - YOU CAN'T adopt from China without going thru the China Center of Adoption Affairs - an agency of the Chinese Government. If you tried, you'd never make it back into this country with the child. I can't begin to tell you how much paperwork is involved. My children were adopted. To use your extremely ignorant logic, "grump in NM" parents in every hospital in this country are "paying" for their children by paying the doctor bills, health insurance, etc.
did you pay any fees?
Um..this problem has nothing to do with the One Child policy. It has to do with crooked officials, human traffickers and corrupt criminal "entrepreneurs." Do the authors have any idea how much illegal adoption cr** goes in the US.... went on during the same period???
Every garage-based crisis pregnancy counseling clinic was in on the game, for decades.. basically snatch and grab operations, that would "protect" pregnant (and preferably white) teens, get them to sign relinquishment papers requishing to adoptive parents who paid high five to low six digit "fees" - blessed by what were in many case corrupt judges, and then they would close up shop right after the adoption was finalized, change their name, and move onto the next town... all this completely sanctioned by bribed local bureaucrats. Standard operating procedure in small-town America from 1973 until at least the mid 2000s.. and it's probably still going on.
And we have nothing like the one child policy to blame it on...
Um..Like I, um, totally, um, like agree, with um, CaliforniaFirst, um..because, um I, like, don't know, like, um, what, I, um am, like, um...um...like what was, like my point?
Why are we surprise that they sell babies in a country where the government sponsors a slavery system ? We all know that cheap Chinese products are made by slave labors in China, don't we ?
This is one reason why foreign adoptions should be made illegal in the US. Adopting children from poor countries encourages corruption and child theft.
There are many, many foster children and older kids who could use a loving home in the US. Why is is that Americans go overseas to bring kids back, when we have so many in need here?
Um, yank. Have you ever tried to adopt domestically? The law in this country is in favor of the birth family. We have several friends who did foster and were told by CPS that they were in line to adopt their fosteree. Guess what, the birth mother (who at least did not abort - thank God) was able to get her act together (at least to CPS) and the kids were shipped off to live with someone they did not know. Now those kids are repeating the cycle of teenagers having babies.
My kids are adopted. My daughter was left at the Wuhan zoo at 5 days old. My son was left at a hospital in Saigon. They are both happy well-adjusted children (16 & 13). We have been told many times that they are blessed to live here. I reply that we are even more blessed to be their parents.
My daughter gets her drivers license today. Yikes.
Well, homesick Yank, how many kids in foster care have YOU ADOPTED you SOB?
The article first states that the children were sold overseas, but then in the next sentence says that the biological parents believe that two of the babies were adopted by Americans. So which is it, sold or adopted? These two things are very different.
It is a tragedy what is happening in that "egalitarian' country - but the thing that infuriates me is the fact that there are children wasting away in orphanages here in the U.S., waiting for families - Why is that? - if there were no market for cheap babies (how disgusting is that?) then the chineese officials would stop stealing their countrymen's children. Are there no laws against that in that 'egalitarian' country? Do those chineese officials have no consicience?
Kate 344962 - the United States has no orphanages - only a broken foster care system that is based on property law for rights to the children.
I am also the parent of an adopted girl from China. She was left within hours of her birth on the steps of a local orphanage. The process of adopting from China is very long and complicated. The Chinese officials are actually very careful about making good matches and making sure the kids are going to good homes. It also might be useful to know that the last time Chinese officials were caught selling babies a few years ago, they were executed. As far as the reasons for choosing this route to create my family, it's none of your business.
ChinaMom2, you are exactly right. I've worked as an educator and counselor at the elementary level for 25 years and am an adoptive parent of two children, both overseas (China and Thailand)adoptions. I have done a lot of research and had a lot of life experiences with the world of adoption, foster children, and the "system" in the U.S. There are no children languishing in orphanages here because our system doesn't remove children from neglectful and abusive parents.
Kate-344962624, you obviously have no experience or knowledge about what the adoption world is like domestically and internationally.