'Sophisticated' and ‘thriving in secrecy’: What’s beneath Indonesia’s underground baby trafficking trade?
Lawyers and experts say a complex web of social and economic pressures, along with a widespread lack of understanding about legal adoption procedures, has contributed to a lucrative baby trafficking trade in Indonesia.
Across Indonesia, a hidden network of illegal baby trafficking is thriving, fuelled by social media, poverty, and legal loopholes. (Illustration: CNA/Rafa Estrada)
24 Dec 2025 06:00AM(Updated: 23 Jan 2026 04:29PM)
BANDUNG, West Java: After four failed fertility programmes at four different hospitals in the Greater Jakarta Area, Indah – not her real name – was in need of a break from doctor’s offices, blood tests and hormone injections.
It was 2023 and she found herself scrolling endlessly through social media, liking photos and videos of babies posted by Indonesian orphanages.
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“I wasn’t really looking to adopt one,” the 42-year-old told CNA. “I just liked watching videos of them. They gave me joy.”
Then a little girl named Shinta – also not her real name – appeared on Indah’s feed. In the short clips posted by the girl’s orphanage, Shinta was always smiling wide, occasionally bursting into laughter when someone called her name.
“There was just something about Shinta. She was really smart. She was really confident,” Indah said.
“I could really imagine myself tucking Shinta into bed and reading her stories.”
Indah decided to contact the orphanage behind the posts, a decision she soon regretted. From the very first exchange, she was bombarded with questions about her income.
“The conversation felt cold and transactional,” she recounted.
“They wanted to know what my husband and I do for work, where we work, how much we make. Whenever I ask about Shinta and what her story was, they would redirect the conversation.”
The final straw came when an official asked if she and her husband were prepared to “compensate” the money the orphanage had spent raising Shinta – who at that point had not even turned one.
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Indah asked how much. To which the orphanage official replied: “160 million rupiah”, which at the time was worth around US$11,000.
“I thought to myself: ‘This can’t be right’. ‘Is it normal for an orphanage to put a price on a child?’,” she said, adding that she immediately backed down.
Indah was right to be worried.
A complex web of social and economic pressures has contributed to a booming baby trafficking trade in Indonesia, with illegal syndicates often targeting hopeful parents through social media, experts told CNA.
Poverty remains the biggest driver, with many expectant mothers struggling to afford prenatal care, let alone the costs associated with childbirth and raising a child.
Adoption in Indonesia is meant to be free of charge. All orphanages should be registered and accredited with the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs.
The deep stigma around abortion, the strict conditions placed on terminating a pregnancy in Indonesia and a widespread lack of understanding about legal adoption procedures only serve to compound the problem, the observers added.
Ai Maryati Solihah, chief of the Indonesian Child Protection Agency. (Photo: CNA/Wisnu Agung Prasetyo)
In July, police in West Java, West Kalimantan and Jakarta arrested 21 suspected members of a syndicate which allegedly sold at least 25 babies to families in Indonesia and overseas. Police said the syndicate has operated for at least two years and purportedly made at least US$16,000 per baby.
“The crime is becoming more and more lucrative and the tactics employed by these baby traffickers seem to be more and more sophisticated and their targets wider,” Ai Maryati Solihah, chief of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI), a government agency, told CNA.
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“In the beginning, we saw traffickers recruiting babies from around their respective areas but then we see inter-provincial trafficking and now international trafficking.”
Illegal syndicates often target people looking to adopt babies and parents looking to give up their newborns through postings on social media. (Photo: CNA/Wisnu Agung Prasetyo)
Police have told CNA that they are in their final stages of their investigation into the July syndicate and all 21 alleged members can stand trial as early as January next year.
KPAI chief Ai said the orphanage which tried to solicit money from Indah is under KPAI’s radar but more evidence is needed before law enforcers can step in.
The child protection agency has dealt with 148 trafficking cases over the last five years. But experts warn that these cases may only scratch the surface and that it is impossible to know the true extent of the crime.
“These syndicates thrive in secrecy and they are very organised. The only way to bring down a syndicate is to find someone from the inside willing to cooperate with law enforcers,” Andi Rohandi from the lawyers’ association IKADIN told CNA.
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In 2022, police in the outskirts of Jakarta arrested illegal orphanage owner Suhendra Abdul Halim who briefly gained social media fame for inviting women with unwanted pregnancies to leave their newborns at his Bogor “foundation”, which turned out to be unlicensed.
He was later convicted to four years in prison for selling at least 50 babies for 15 million rupiah (US$900) each.
Two years later, police raided Bali Luih Children’s Foundation on the outskirts of Bali capital Denpasar for buying and selling an unknown number of babies who were trafficked from various places in Java.
Some babies were “recruited” before they were even born, with their parents promised 45 million rupiah. The foundation’s owner I Made Aryadana is now serving a six year prison sentence.
Andi is representing 13 of the 21 suspects in the case cracked by the police in July. He believes tackling the issue goes deeper than just shutting down the networks.
“Even if you get a syndicate member to cooperate and you manage to dismantle one network, another seems to emerge with new tactics,” he said.
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