Macedonia Probes Claims of Adoption Racket

Minister pledges to get to the bottom of allegations that adoption officials have been effectively selling off babies for large fees.

Macedonian officials have ordered an investigation of the country’s adoption agency, following last week’s dramatic sacking of the entire national commission in charge of adoption, a source from the Ministry of Social Affairs said.

The same source told Balkan Insight that preliminary findings had boosted suspicions that adoption officials “may have been stripping babies of their identities and selling them to rich couples for a fat fee”.

Last Friday, the Minister of Social Affairs, Spiro Ristovski, replaced all 15 members of the commission for adoption. He then offered no explanation for the act and said only that all ongoing adoptions had been stopped.

He has not since specified what is going on, but, tellingly, said that the ministry would be “ruthless” towards possible wrongdoers.

“I cannot speculate where the procedures [that are part] of our investigation will lead, but be assured that their sacking does not exclude them from [criminal] responsibility,” Ristovski told the Vecer daily.

A local NGO, “Building the Future”, which works for orphans’ rights, has longed voiced suspicions that a crime chain has become well established in the adoption system.

It suspects that the fees for effectively buying orphans vary from 5,000 right up to 60,000 euros per child.

“We have this information from parents and from people directly involved in the adoption process,” the head of the NGO, Ilija Jovanovic, said. “It is now up to the ministry [of social affairs] and the police to investigate,” he added.

He told Balkan Insight that according to his information, the chain starts at the gynecology centres where mothers are paid up to 3,000 euros to sign papers surrendering custody over their newborn children.

“The babies, especially the healthy ones, are then stripped of their identities and sold to wealthy couples within or outside the country,” Jovanovic said.

His informants have told him that healthy babies are segregated from the rest and ae kept with selected temporary foster families that are also part of the chain until a buyer is found.

Thoose least sought after are Roma babies or children with disabilities. These are “not in high demand” and are most likely to adopted normally, albeit after going through the legal system’s sluggish and bureaucratic adoption procedures, which often last for years.

“The others go on sale like cattle,” he maintained.

According to official records, only about 30 children are currently awaiting adoption in Macedonia, which is far too few to meet demand. Some 300 couples have applied to adopt.

The source from the ministry said inspectors are now probing dossiers of orphaned children to see if they can spot any inconsistencies, or odd or missing data.

Eligible parents are also being checked to see whether they applied using the proper procedures, the source said, adding that the ministry might soon issue its findings.

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