Chinese orphanages earn around $3,000 per child in fees from parents adopting a child.

Source:  Ethan B. Kapstein, “Babies Onboard,” Foreign Affairs, May 6, 2010.

In 2010, there were 4 million orphaned or abandoned children in Russia.

Source:  Scott Simon, “From Russia, With Love,” NPR, April 17, 2010.

More than 60 percent of children in orphanages in Nepal have living parents, according to a study.

The high level of children with parents demonstrated abuses within the system where many children were trafficked for illegal adoptions.

Source: “Nepal ‘should suspend’ adoptions,” BBC News, February 4, 2010.

According to the Chinese Government, between 30,000 to 60,000 children go missing each year. Most of them are believed to have been abducted by child traffickers and sold to orphanages who sell them to Western Families for adoption.

Source:  Barbara Demick, “A family in China made babies their business,” Los Angeles Times, January 24, 2010.

According to a report by Save the Children, 4 out of 5 children living in an orphanage around the world has a living parent. The report states that some organizations trick or force the parents to give up their child, leading to risks of trafficking and abuse.

Source:  “Most ‘orphans’ have a living parent, says charity,” BBC News, November 24, 2009.

According to UNICEF, between 1,000 to 1,500 Guatemalan babies are trafficked each year for adoptions by couples in North America and Europe.

Source: UNICEF, “Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse: Child Trafficking,” Page updated: March 12, 2007. Accessed: August 26, 2009.

The average cost to adopt a baby from Vietnam is $25,000, according to the New York Times.

This high cost has created a black market in baby-buying which lead to the US State Department issuing a warning on adoptions from Vietnam.

Source:  Elizabeth Olson, “Families Adopting in Vietnam Say They Are Caught in Diplomatic Jam,” New York Times, February 11, 2008.

Foreign Policy Magazine has an article on the unregulated market of international adoptions, and the misconceptions amongst those who adopt foreign babies.

From Foreign Policy:

We all know the story of international adoption: Millions of infants and toddlers have been abandoned or orphaned—placed on the side of a road or on the doorstep of a church, or left parentless due to AIDS, destitution, or war. These little ones find themselves forgotten, living in crowded orphanages or ending up on the streets, facing an uncertain future of misery and neglect. But, if they are lucky, adoring new moms and dads from faraway lands whisk them away for a chance at a better life.

Unfortunately, this story is largely fiction.

The 2005 EU Organized Crime Report stated that an estimated 1 million children are involved in illegal adoptions. The market value of these adoptions are estimated to be worth EUR 1 billion ($1.3 Billion) a year.

Source: EUROPOL, “2005 EU Organized Crime Report”, October 25, 2005, pg.16, (accessed: March 25, 2007).

The difference between the illicit trade in infants and legitimate intercountry adoptions is at times difficult to monitor. As Ethan Kapstein writes in Foreign Affairs, “the difference may be clear conceptually, but it is not always clear in reality.”

“Buying infants is illegal covering the cost of raising then until they are adopted is not,” Kapstein writes. ” The distinction between the two can be so obscure, however, that unless parents actually confess to selling their children, adoption and immigration authorities may struggle to prove it.”

Source: Ethan Kapstein, ” The Baby Trade,” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2003, pg. 115-125.