Adoptions: A Market? Adoption-vs-Human-Trafficking

Adoption-vs-Human-Trafficking

There is preference given to inter-country adoptions over domestic adoptions

Do you know that adoption has now become an illegal market for selling babies? In fact, it’s not just babies; young children have also become victims of this mess. It has become a successful business, with adoption agencies reaping huge benefits out of it. But there are solutions to this; take for example, the pilot project which has been introduced in the Kamala Hospital of Pune, wherein both the mother and the child’s movement will be tracked through electronic surveillance.

But is this solution enough? In order to be able to analyse that we first need to be aware of what adoption is, and how it is carried out in India and abroad.

What is Adoption?

Adoption is an act by which an individual becomes the permanent guardian of a child and takes over all the responsibilities of the child from the birth parents for the rest of the child’s life. Agencies that are recognized to conduct the procedure of adoption work hard to ensure that children who have been surrendered willingly by biological parents, orphaned children and abandoned children find a safe home and family that will take care of them.

Unfortunately, many adoption agencies across the world are conducting adoptions with the soul intention of making profits. It’s no longer about the safety of the child, but the monetary benefits that his or her adoption will ensure.

Sourcing of children

There are many ways by which babies are sourced for adoption. Legal agencies that are recognised by the government for adoption often resort to illegal means to encompass more and more children in the agency. Kidnappers often abduct babies and sell them to agencies; they are usually abducted from hospitals, nursing homes, even slums if the child is found unattended.

Some people even trick the mothers into believing that their baby was a still born. An example of this was seen in Ludhiana where a man sold his own grandchild on Facebook for 45,000 rupees by tricking his daughter-in-law.

Another tactic is when families are fooled into sending their children abroad with the assurance of a better future. For example, in Ethiopian bush, illiterate families are asked to send the youngest of their children for education to America. Not only that, but families are given money to help them and they are also promised that they would be kept posted regarding their child. Promises of pictures with the child’s adoptive American guardians, and money every year are made as well. There are times when mothers are forced to sell their babies; due to poor economic conditions, they are left with choice. Often women who get pregnant before their wedding also give up their child due to social pressure.

Do all these examples suggest that children are being trafficked?

In many ways, this is trafficking. If a child is being abducted, forcefully or fraudulently taken away from his birth family so as to sell them for adoption, then it is trafficking.

Domestic adoption v/s Inter-country adoption

After babies are abducted, they get trapped in the market of illegal adoption; a market that not only looks at adoptions within the country but outside of the country as well. These children have been reduced to mere commodities and it really is a market. I think that day is not far away when babies might just be auctioned.

But there is a twist in the story. Agencies actually prefer inter country adoption over domestic as it fetches more profits. For example, in the state of Maharashtra, agencies were inclined more towards foreigners and NRI’s even though there were more eligible Indian parents that were keen on adoption.

Even though the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) (CARA is the authority that takes care of inter-country adoptions in the country) has issued guidelines that give priority to domestic adoptions, these agencies completely disobeyed the guidelines. And this is not the only case. Back in 2005, a Chennai based orphanage that was recognised by the government to carry out inter-country adoptions had illegally carried out the international adoption of 350 Indian children. All though they are legally recognized agencies, they defied CARA’s guidelines.

Not just that, other developing nations (from where the adoptive parents adopt most) are also poisoned with corruption. According to American investigative journalist, Scott Carney this problem exists mostly in impoverished Asian countries. Malaysian Social Services (agency recognised by CARA to do inter-country adoptions) located in Chennai, India, paid about 236 dollars per child. China’s Human Province’s institutions buy children openly for up to 350 dollars. Western adoption agencies are not far behind either. In 2007 employees of Zoe’s Ark, a French charity, tried to fly 103 “Sudanese war refugees” from Chad. Police later reported that many of them were unwillingly taken from their families in Chad. If people are paying this much to buy babies, imagine the profits that agencies will be making by overcharging the adoptive families.

Nations involved in inter-country adoptions

Adoption-Agencies

Reasons

As I’ve mentioned earlier, inter-country adoptions are carried out for the sake of money; and the measures used are completely unethical. Forged documents about the children are provided to the adoptive families, who are then charged a very high price. What’s worse is that agencies exploit the helplessness and desperation of the adoptive families.

Did you know that it takes only 53 days to adopt a child from Panama, 265 days to adopt from China and 606 days to adopt from India? While from Mexico, it takes 770 days (even though it’s one of the closest neighbours of the United States of America), and it takes 741 days if you wish to adopt a child from the Dominican Republic. Now do that Maths and figure out how the developing nations rule in this matter. It’s no wonder that they take advantage and charge prices that are sky high!

Chantal Saclier of International Social Service (ISS) in Children and Adoption: Which Rights and Whose expressed, “In the last two decades, inter-country adoption has progressively changed. From its initial purpose of providing a family environment for children, it has become more demand-driven. Increasingly in industrialized countries, inter-country adoption is viewed as an [option] for childless couples . . . To meet the demand for children, abuses and trafficking flourish: psychological pressure on vulnerable mothers [to give up their children]; negotiations with birth families; adoptions organized before birth; false maternity or paternity certificates; abduction of children; children conceived for adoption; political and economic pressure on governments . . . Indeed, a booming trade has grown in the purchase and sale of children in connection with intercountry adoptions.”

Solution

There is a solution to everything and so is the case here.

The government should deploy security in hospitals and nursing homes, as well as, maintain records of the mother and child.The pilot project mentioned earlier is a very good example wherein both the mother and child will be under electronic surveillance.

Awareness programmes should be conducted about the procedure for adoption, and who are preferred. If the child is allowed for inter-country adoption, then a visa is definitely needed. The procedure for getting a visa should get stricter in the case of children.

CARA should take note of the agency that did the adoption process in detail. A deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)test should be conducted on the child so that they know who the biological parents are, and the biological parents should be interviewed to investigate whether the child has been surrendered willingly, and to get a medical background of the child.

And when the child has been abandoned, then too, proper health tests should be conducted so that the people who are adopting him or her have full information about the child and are therefore able to take care of him.

Most importantly, the process of follow ups should be stricter and carried out for a longer time to keep an eye on how the child is doing in the new country, and whether he or she is being treated well or not.

Current status

Inter-country adoptions have actually declined over the past decade. This is due to the stricter measures taken by CARA. Despite being a part of the Hague convention, corruption still exists during inter-country adoptions in our country.

Statistics of Inter-country and Domestic adoptions in India

International-adoptionConclusion

The practice of inter-country adoptions started during the time of the Second World War when thousands of children were orphaned. It was a kind of humanitarian aid, but today, unfortunately it has lost its humane touch. Stricter laws and micro-managing this process may be the answer, but either ways, this illegal practice must be set right!

!