Is it true that Some International Adopters take Large Amounts of Cash Concealed in their Clothing?

Freckle Face

Hi Heather,

We were told to bring cash because no one in Ethiopia accepted credit cards. So my husband took more cash than he would carry around home but not a huge amount that needed to be sewn in clothes. The money was used for hotel expenses, food, and keepsakes for DD more along those lines.

I've never heard of this before. It would sound fishy to me and it sparks my curiosity.

Morgaine

In China you need to bring the orphanage fee in brand new twenty dollar bills. This used to be 3000 dollars and is now 5000. From what I understand the Chinese are weary of counterfeit bills and think that brand new bills won't be counterfeit. I can understand them not taking checks, and I think a lot of the bigger agencies now arrange for the fee to be paid some other way.

However, whenever you travel out of the country you should bring more cash than you would carry around normally, since a lot of places won't/don't accept credit cards. We are so used to carrying around and paying for things with credit/debit/check cards, that we forget what it was like even 6-8 years ago before everyone (practically) had some sort of plastic card to pay for things with. Last spring my husband went to Rwanda for work and only brought about 50 dollars in cash and learned his lesson, since he was not able to use his credit card anywhere. I had told him to bring extra cash, and for some reason he thought 50 dollars was "extra" since he doesn't normally carry around more than 10-20 dollars in cash. Thankfully he was only there for a couple days so he didn't starve.

Sophie

Um, when I went to Guatemala, that's where I kept my money... in my clothing because I didn't want to have all of it in my purse, which would be an easy target. I was NEVER told to bring extra money... or "sew it into my clothes" (but I think that is a good idea for any foreign travel - just in case of an emergency)... I brought enough to have flight money back in case I lost my tickets. I also wanted to shop while I was there. So, NO, it does not seem fishy to me. If you (or anyone) have ever been to (or plan on going to) a developing or third world country -- you'd probably want to do this yourself.

Roberta P

It is not fishy at all, at least in China. It is to pay for the registering of the adoption, processing of paperwork, visa, medical exam, passport, orphanage donation. You have to pay our government for their documents just like you have to pay China's government for their documents. People and governments around the world want to get paid for what they do.You get receipts for your taxes and official documents for each cash transaction. The banks in China are very unstable hence the requirement for cash. We never bribed any one in fact you want (NOT have) to give gifts to the officials or orphanage personnel it can not be cash. That is considered in bad taste. The do not accept cash as gifts.

Shelly P. Tofu, E.M.T.

YUP, conspiracy therories at work again

Plenty of people have given legitimate reasons for carrying large amounts of concealed cash overseas.. I'll just add my story

I haven't gone to another country to adopt (yet.. planning to adopt but don't know which route). But I did go to Colombia, South America, to teach ENglish for 3 months at a school in the jungle.. pretty much a mission post, if you will.. This was during the time when the guerillas were a MAJOR problem and being an American in the Jungle was risky. I absolutely bought a fanny pack and kept all my important documents, money, etc, in it. THe theory is that it's much less easy for a pick pocket to succeed in picking from your front, rather than a purse swinging at your side. To make it even more secure, I zipped my jacket OVER the fanny pack. So, a pickpocket would have to unzip my jacket without me noticing, AND my fanny pack.. But really, it wasn't even obvious I was wearing a fanny pack. Looked like I was preggo.. LOL..

I thought it was pretty good concealment.. Never thought of sewing money into my clothing, but I could see that. When I went to Bangkok with a choir we were told that due to theft, our purses should have a zipper and we should walk with our hand resting on the zipper of the purse. I still have that habit I developed for my first travel into a 3rd world country.

AWW... once again we greedy infertiles have shot holes in the "Everything with adoption and all APs are corrupt" theory...

I'm sure I speak for Kristy, Jen, L and others when I say we're sorry we didn't mean to burst anyone's bubble...

I can also back up what Randy says about his friend. When I asked my INdian friend about adopting from INdia she said from what she knew it was all scams.. agencies (and first families!!) just asking for more and more money, never intending to actually allow you to adopt..

OH.. but the APs can't be victims!! They're the bad guys, right??

Randy B

I'm sure it happens based on my own observations.

My wife and I were living in India for three years when my job took me there. We decided to adopt and made the initial contact with a lawyer. Six weeks later our daughter was in the home with us. It was ALL done legally and above board. I can attest to that based upon where I was working at the time and my own professional background.

In order to get it all done we ended up paying, in Indian Rupees, the equivalent of $800 US and that included the adoption AND her Indian passport. If we had done the same adoption from Canada it would have cost us between 20-30k.

I remember one instance when we were overseas where an Indo-Canadian woman came into the office to beg for a chance to phone her husband back in Canada. She had come over to pick up a child they had been sponsoring for some time only to find out that the orphanage wanted another $10,000 "gift" to speed the process. She didn't have it with her and was being held as an emotional hostage over this child they had their heart set on adopting.

While I'm sure the sewing of cash into clothes is not a big occurrence I'm cure it does happen. Either that or people travel with other forms of back-up cash...just in case.

Indian-vision

My friends in the U.S adopted from India and i never heard of this.

How interesting that you have resorted to name(adopter) calling shortly after protesting terms like "birth giver". We like to believe we are holier than thou right ?

ETA- BTW, what Jenifer and some others said makes complete sense about credit card and travellers cheque are not accepted everywhere in third world countries. I never needed to keep more than 20$ in my pocket when i lived in the U.S and in India i always keep at least Rs10,000 in my home (in lock and key) because they don't have credit card accepting facilites and ATM everywhere here. For it being sewn in possibly because you don't want to walk around looking like a money bag inviting poor people to mug you. Nor will it be good idea to leave so much cash in your hotel room.

ETA 2- How interesting "adopter" is HAL. Hmmmm While you and your pals get to decide birth giver is not. Its a question of persepective .

grapesgum

Yes, a coworker and his wife sewed cash into their clothing when they went to China to get their daughter. They weren't sure what it was for - they did because the adoption facilitator at the agency told them to. They found our when they got there that the cash was payoffs for the government officials who released the babies and for the people who ran the orphanage.

Sure it's fishy - what about adoption as practiced by the billion dollar industry workers isn't?

â™¥Luckyâ™¥

Some countries are known for making the adopting person or couple bribe their way through every step of the process. It's easier to just pay everyone off than to face snags in the process. Russia for one is notorious for this.

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