List_of_international_adoption_scandals

List of international adoption scandals

List of international adoption scandals

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The following is an incomplete list of notable reports of international adoption scandals, including instances of child harvesting, child laundering, child selling, or child trafficking between countries:

This article contains dynamic lists that may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

20th century

More information Year(s), Description ...

21st Century

2000s Three Chinese children were removed from families who had violated family-planning regulations, and then sold by officials for international adoption inappropriately.
2000s Canadian adoptive families raise concerns about the reliability of documentation and their welfare when adopting children from Ethiopian orphanages, following several instances where families of supposed orphans are found alive, or the health and age of the children are not consistent with their documentation.[12][13][14]
2004 New Zealand current affairs show 1News investigated cases in Samoa where locals placed their children for adoption to families in the United States without realising or understanding that the process was permanent and not just for their schooling.[15][16][17]
2005-2008 16 individuals are charged in Vietnam for allegedly soliciting children from poor families and selling them to foreign adoptive families. A total of 266 babies were reportedly sent for international adoption over the course of 3 years.[18]
2007 Members of the French charity L'Arche de Zoé are charged by the government of Chad after attempting to fly over 100 children out of the country, for adoption by French families. The members claimed the children were orphans from Darfur, Sudan, but it was later revealed that some children were from Chad, with no evidence that they had been orphaned.[19][20]
2007 Guatemalan officials take custody of dozens of children in a foster home following accusations that they were stolen are obtained through coercion, with many children having already been adopted by families in the United States.[21][22][23]
2007 A Haitian centre is forced to return 47 children awaiting international adoption in their care back to their original homes, after misleading families with payment for their children and then keeping them in "inhumane conditions" for months or years.[24]
2010 A US mother attempts to repatriate her adopted 7-year old back to his home country of Russia, by sending him alone on a one-way flight to Moscow with a note claiming she was unable to parent him.[25][26] This event amongst several others precipitates Russian officials to call for a suspension of US adoptions.[27]
2010 New Life Children's Refuge case: ten Baptist missionaries are arrested and charged with kidnapping 22 children in Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, allegedly attempting to move them to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. It later became clear that at least some of the children were not orphaned at all, and the missionaries did not have authorisation to act as they did.[28][29]
2019 United States Maricopa County Assessor Paul Peterson is sentenced for smuggling pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to at least 3 different US states as part of an illegal adoption scheme.[30][31]
2020 Ugandan officials are sanctioned and 3 women are charged in the US over their alleged roles in an adoption scheme that defrauded adoptive families and bribed officials in order to procure children for adoption from Uganda and Poland.[32][33]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "'There were a lot of baby farms': Sri Lanka to act over adoption racket claims". the Guardian. 2017-09-20. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  2. [2]
    "Sri Lanka adoption: The babies who were given away". BBC News. 2021-03-14. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  3. [3]
    "Adoptiebedrog 2 - Zembla - BNNVARA". Zembla (in Dutch). Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  4. [4]
    Hunt, Kathleen (1991-03-24). "The Romanian Baby Bazaar". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  5. [5]
    Jorge L. Carro, Regulation of Intercountry Adoption: Can the Abuses Come to an End?, 18 HASTINGS INT’L & COMP. L. REV. 121, 144 (1994)
  6. [6]
    Lawson, Carol (1991-10-03). "Doctor Acts to Heal Romania's Wound Of Baby Trafficking". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  7. [7]
    Custer, Charlie (2013-07-25). "Kidnapped and Sold: Inside the Dark World of Child Trafficking in China". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  8. [8]
    Research-china.org (2006-10-09). "Research-China.Org: Hunan -- One Year After -- Part One". Research-China.Org. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  9. [9]
    Ewe, Koh (2022-04-27). "These Adoptees Were Brought to the US as Babies. Now Some Fear They Were Stolen". Vice. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  10. [10]
    "U.S. Families Learn Truth About Adopted Cambodian Children". ABC News. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  11. [11]
    "Documents Point to Bribes in Adoption Scandal - The Cambodia Daily". english.cambodiadaily.com. 2004-08-06. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  12. [12]
    "Canadian parents raise concerns". CBC News. March 19, 2009. Archived from the original on April 23, 2009.
  13. [13]
    "U.S. adoption agencies exploit Ethiopian children – documentary". Archived from the original on 2009-09-27. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  14. [14]
    "Dutch agency stops adoption from Ethiopia pending investigation". Archived from the original on 2009-09-26. Retrieved 2013-08-21.
  15. [15]
    "Death prompts Samoan adoption change | WORLD | NEWS | tvnz.co.nz". 2006-04-30. Archived from the original on 2006-04-30. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  16. [16]
    "Samoan adoptions raise eyebrows | WORLD | NEWS | tvnz.co.nz". 2006-05-29. Archived from the original on 2006-05-29. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  17. [17]
    Jorge L. Carro, Regulation of Intercountry Adoption: Can the Abuses Come to an End?, 18 HASTINGS INT’L & COMP. L. REV. 121, 144 (1994) (documenting “baby trafficking” problems in Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Colombia, Honduras, Sri Lanka, and Romania).
  18. [18]
    "16 On Trial For Selling Babies For Adoption". The Independent. London. September 23, 2009.
  19. [19]
    "Profile: Zoe's Ark". 2007-10-29. Retrieved 2023-12-10.
  20. [20]
    "Africa charity workers charged with kidnapping". NBC News. 2007-10-30. Retrieved 2023-12-10.
  21. [21]
    "Cleaning Up International Adoptions". Time. August 29, 2007. Archived from the original on September 3, 2007.
  22. [22]
    "Guatemala Adoption Fraud May Hit U.S. - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 2008-03-11. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  23. [23]
    Staff (2007-08-13). "'Stolen' Guatemalan children freed in raid". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  24. [24]
    "IOM - Press Briefing Notes - Trafficked Children Returned Home". 2007-09-12. Archived from the original on 2007-09-12. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  25. [25]
    Levy, Clifford J. (April 15, 2010). "Russia Seeks Ways to Keep Its Children". The New York Times. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
  26. [26]
    Batty, David (2010-04-10). "US mother sparks outrage after sending adopted child back to Russia alone". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-12-10.
  27. [27]
    Russian officials call for suspension of adoptions to U.S. parents after death of Dillsburg-area boy, By LARA BRENCKLE, The Patriot-News, March 05, 2010, 12:00AM
  28. [28]
    "U.S. missionaries charged with kidnapping in Haiti - CNN.com". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2023-12-10.
  29. [29]
    "Profile: New Life Children's Refuge". 2010-02-05. Retrieved 2023-12-10.
  30. [30]
    "Utah AG's Office: Maricopa County Assessor Paul D. Petersen arrested, accused of human smuggling". KSAZ-TV. October 9, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  31. [31]
    Allyn, Bobby (October 9, 2019). "Arizona Official Arrested In Alleged 'Baby Mill' Adoption Fraud Scheme". NPR. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  32. [32]
    "Three Individuals Charged with Arranging Adoptions from Uganda and Poland Through Bribery and Fraud". 17 August 2020. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  33. [33]
    McCool, Alice (2020-08-18). "Uganda to US adoption scam: judges and lawyers sanctioned". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-12-10.
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