Playing Adoption scam tears families apart

Unfortunately, The Banks are not the first to profit from the corrupt practices that take place in and through private services within the adoption industry.  For decades, people like Judge Beethoven (in Brazil), Attorney Roberto el Cid/Roberto el Cid Aguirre (in El Salvador) and others have made it possible for people like Lauryn Galindo (in the United States) to bring babies to anxious adoptive-parents-to-be.  Those who follow the international adoption market know corrupt practices take on many forms in many nations, and now more Americans are learning just how little the United States cares about the fate of stolen children.

Historically speaking, I'm sure people like Georgia Tann, Thomas Barnardo, and Harry and Bertha Holt all believed they were providing a great services for many.   I'm sure none of them could have anticipated the harmful deeds of others.  I'm sure none of them thought selling children to those who wanted them was a bad thing. [Who would have ever thought the so-called unwanted children of so many were actually loved and wanted by family? ]

Meanwhile, because the demand for children is so high, more private adoption workers are willing to go to more corners of the world to find children for desperate PAP's.  After all, money has a way of speaking it's own language, doesn't it?

In Guatemala, long troubled by allegations of fraud, processing of new adoptions has stopped. Officials there plan to revamp adoption procedures to comply with Hague provisions, but it's unclear when that might occur.

Russia closed and then reopened its program - with a new, strict emphasis on the health of potential parents, and fewer children being adopted. In recent times, Russia routinely sent upward of 4,000 children a year to the United States, but last year that figure fell to 1,861.

In January, Russian leaders called for adoptions to the United States to be curtailed or halted, upset by the acquittal of a Washington-area father whose adopted son died of heatstroke after being left in a car.

South Korea, once a world adoption leader, also has reduced its numbers over time, and plans to end its program by 2015.

That altered landscape has driven some U.S. adoption agencies out of business, forced others to add new services, and led many to try to develop new programs in emerging countries.

Three weeks ago, Chinese Children Adoption International, a Colorado agency that for 14 years has handled strictly China adoptions, announced it was starting a program in Haiti, partnering with a Christian charity in Port-au-Prince.

"The days of having one or two big, strong programs are over," said Janet Mintzer, chief executive officer of Pearl S. Buck International in Perkasie, which works in China, Korea, and the Philippines.

Last year, Mintzer traveled to Nepal, a country the size of Arkansas, pinched between China and India, to secure an adoption license. She journeyed to Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Mexico to explore possibilities there.   [From "Rules are changing; programs are closing"]

What disturbs me is not the corrupt ways of many.  [As far as I'm concerned, that's always a given.]  What disturbs me is this belief that so many think adoption is going to SAVE children from further harm!  Many people believe adoption will improve the lives of children languishing in orphanages like those brought to The Oasis in Mexico. 

Don't people know child traffickers are paid to secure young healthy babies for orphanages? [See:  "Baby selling racket exposed in Delhi" ]

Don't people know how those who work for orphanages benefit from "charitable donations"? [See:  "Not for Profit?" ]

Don't people know how little the children see the benefits of donations given to charity?  [See: "Vows of Poverty"  / "Playing both sides of the fence?" ]

Going back to the current Banks situation.... prohibiting caught criminals from practicing in adoption services is not going to deter anyone from trying new things in less regulated countries.  Encouraging people to adopt from foreign orphanages ("save the children") is not going to improve the horrific conditions our own children in American Foster Care are forced to endure.

Knowing many impatient American PAP's are now looking to Taiwan for children can only mean one thing:  The Hunt is On.