Nepal’s adoption system is rift with problems that allows the trafficking of children and illegal adoption practices, according to a new report. From eKantipur: Inter-country adoption system in the country has encouraged child abuse including abduction and trafficking of children, according to a report released by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and Terre des [...]

Law enforcement authorities in Vietnam arrested two women for attempting to bring a 10-day old baby into China to be sold. The women told police that they were paid $150 to get the baby. The baby trade in Vietnam appears to be growing in recent months. From AFP: The arrests came after police here detained six Vietnamese who tried [...]

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 [...]

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

Source: ” Baby trade,” The Economist, February 7, 2004, pg. 50.

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

In Switzerland, out of the nearly 600 children adopted from abroad, 30 to 90 percent are handled outside of official channels. Source: “Unicef sounds alarm over child trafficking,” Swissinfo, October 18, 2007,(accessed: October 19, 2007).

Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail reports that adoptions of children from Africa are on the rise by Canadians due to the scarcity of Chinese children. From the Globe and Mail: Canadian adoptions from Africa are on the rise: Last year, there were more than 100 adoptions, a more than threefold increase since 2002. Most are from [...]

An Argentina couple was sentenced to prison for illegally adopting a girl 30 years ago. From the BBC: An Argentine couple have been jailed for illegally adopting a baby girl born 30 years ago to parents who were kidnapped by the military government. The case was brought by the adopted woman, Maria Eugenia Sampallo, whose real parents [...]