Do you think 'adoptions' like this happen more than people can imagine?

Laurel J

Well, more than most people can imagine, I'm sure. I don't have to use my imagination at all because I've heard of many such cases before.

People who would never buy a car or horse without being very, very careful will buy a puppy on-line without bothering to check to see if the breeder is a puppy miller (most breeders who will ship animals to people they haven't met are). Apparently otherwise sensible people will also, when bitten by the mysterious "adoption bug," buy kids without troubling themselves about where they came from.

Kelly V

supply and demand....tis sad when dealing with human lives !

Heather Leigh

Unfortunately I think it happens all the time. Unless DNA testing is a requirement how are AP's to be 100% sure their child was not stolen from their family?

ETA: Yes, how dare us pesky teen mother's have the nerve to use Government Assistance to help us raise our children. What was the welfare system designed for? Wasn't it supposed to be a way to keep families together? I received welfare assistance when I had the nerve to keep my son. I guess I should have done him a favor and gave him up so he could have a *better life*.

{Sorry to others, Rant over}

MamaKate

Dear Sunny,

I love "Mother Jones" - it's a great publication.

I don't "believe" these "adoptions" happen more often than most people imagine - I am SURE they do. One need only follow the news to know that this is a HUGE problem.

What truly sickens me is that NO ONE can manage to take any kind of responsibility for it. The APs blame the US agencies, the US agencies blame the government, the government blames the foreign agencies and those agencies blame their government or the "parents" or the victims. It is a giant game of "It wasn't me!".

I am disgusted by the attitudes and behavior of the APs in this story just as much as I am by the people who made it happen. "India does not exist for him" says it ALL. These "parents" can't even recognize "their" son's heritage, much less his HUMAN RIGHTS.

I am appalled that the father would say "I knew something like this might happen." and then refuse to follow up. The APs in this case are obviously "possessing" this child rather than respecting him as a person. His feelings are not what is important to them - their own feelings and concerns are. I feel sorry for any adopted person (pr bio-kid, for that matter) who has to put up with "parents" who view them as property rather than people and are unable to or fail to put their children's feelings, interests and RIGHTS above their own.

Not that I need to reiterate that MONEY and lack of real regulation is what has caused this mess, but until governments actually make and enforce laws about child trafficking for the purposes of adoption, this will continue. And people will continue to pass the buck and hide their heads in the sand while CHILDREN and FAMILIES suffer needlessly.

(The really sad thing is that governments know they can make more $$$ off of this than supporting and helping their citizens so they are less likely to address these issues. This is a real problem in India and in several African and Asian nations and I am afraid it will get worse before it gets better...)

JMHO - but I know I'm not alone in my feelings.

Independ"ant"

Yes...they do happen more than US/Canadian citizens want to admit.

(Adads quote..."I knew that it was a possibility," he says.")
I think when someone is desperate.....they really don't care if kidnapping happens.

They want what they want and they know that they can tie up the legalized kidnapping (adoption) for years( enough time to get to play parent).

Mei-Ling

There is definitely a supply-and-demand aspect that has become prevalent in many situations.

Freckle Face

Dear Sunny,

Heartbreaking. I believe this one sentence says it all, "When adoption agencies focus first on profits and not child rights, they open the door to gross abuses."

I can't stress enough how important it is to meet your adoptive child's First Family. My husband was driven 5 hours to their village, met DD's Father (father/daughter are spitting images of each other), met the whole extended family, and with an interpreter voiced hopes and dreams for his daughter. I believe this is the safest way to be sure your international adoption is legitimate.

Still heartbreaking for everyone involved. Much of this burden should be on pap's of international adoptions to ask questions and investigate so that you are not contributing to the kidnapping of children. Research your agency thoroughly before you ever sign up with them. With that said, I still worry that as long as profits are being made off adoption if anyone can trust any agency 100%.

tish_part deux

si, senora.

DevonChaos

I'm sure they do. It is sad that our adoption system has come to this. I think most of the people who staunchly find it to still be acceptable only do so because they themselves wish to adopt a shiny new infant, and are quite able to turn a blind eye to such atrocities in order to get it.
We need to open our eyes and boycott these places. They shouldn't make another red cent from the sale of flesh, no matter how they get babies to sell.

Opedial

Any money that changes hand lends itself to possible corruption.

And yes, potential adoptive parents are in fact at fault for creating the demand, but so too is western society who tells us that anything we want should be at our reach, and anything is possible.

That said, I don't believe the individual parents are at fault, but I do think they should have IMMEDIATELY engaged in conversation with the First parents. I would not be able to live with myself knowing my children may had been brought to me through corruption.

SJM

The most sickening aspect of this story is the AP's reaction to hard evidence that the child has been kidnapped. At this point, they are just as guilty as the first kidnappers and the orphanage, IMO. If they cared about that child at all, they would have wanted to cooperate with the investigation.

Sophie

There has always been what you call a "demand" for children. It began long before the "Baby Scoop Era" (BSE). And there is nothing new about it. Back in the BSE it would be a photograph of a young white American woman from a small town somewhere instead of an Indian couple from overseas.

It happens alot now; it happened alot then. I hope we will see the end soon, but it will take time... a LOT of time.

I'm Sober

all adoptions happen like this even at home kids are stolen everyday and the adopters know all about it thet just don't give a rats ***

Romany

Cases like these need to get more attention. Fraud and kidnapping for adoption happened in Guatemala (with phony DNA results), Samoa, India and I'm sure other places that haven't hit the airwaves yet.

Although many cultures are not comfortable with adoption (even among their own ethnic group), I don't think it's a desire for children so much as a desire that can be "solved" with money.

Erin L

Yes, they do, and that is intolerable, but I also think that some people tend to look at what goes on in say Guatemala and generalize that to every international adoption program out there. It's not that simple. This case is horrible. I've heard of other cases from India like this, though. Now India has really tightened restrictions. I think that Americans now can only adopt a "special needs" child (by the way, I think special needs can simply be being dark skinned and so hard to place domestically) from India unless they are ethnically Indian.

Rilan

As someone who was adopted as an infant from a teen mother; I'm all for adopting from home (the US) because there are many, many children here that need adopting whether that be from foster homes or as infants. Unfortunately, with foreign adoptions you probably can't be 100% sure that your adopted child hasn't been stolen unless you're in contact with the parents which is rare in all adoption cases.

Its sad, but I would imagine that cases like this are rampant in third world countries or even the slums of more developed ones. I don't believe that it has to do with "Western desire", these people who are kidnapping children are getting profits from doing so. What do they care about Westerns wanting children?

Even if Americans weren't adopting from foreign countries, these children would still be kidnapped and taken to work--its all about profit.

Mommy to 11 month old Jacob

no...because there are plenty of kids over here awaiting adoption but people think it's so much better to adopt over seas for some reason when so many kids here need and want loving homes. kidnapings would happen with or without our "desire" for children

westerns "desire" for children comes from guilt by having it so good over here.

dmg

There's plenty of teen girls that get pregnant right here in the U.S. If they would stop convincing themselves that they can live on love and government assistance, this would be a non-issue.

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