Preliminary inter-country adoption statistics of the US

many agencies still get top dollar $26,000+ for a child with Down syndrome and other long term issues.
The countries are all to happy to rid the financial drain of these poor dear kids with major lifetime medical issues and push that responsibility off on the naive born again American.

This phenomenon is striking, when you consider the history of child placement, international adoption and the motives behind baby-selling.

Since it's conception, so to speak, healthy babies have always brought in tremendous profit to those participating in private adoption.  I cannot think of a better example to help illustrate the origins of adoption-greed than that which can be seen here, Bastardy and Baby Farms and  Butterbox Babies (the movie).  In the preface of the book, Butterbox Babies Baby Sales, Baby Deaths  New Revelations 15 Years Later, journalist/author Betty L. Cahill writes: 

The story of baby deaths and black-market adoptions in Nova Scotia surfaced in the fall of 1988, when Malcolm Phillips, a reporter with a local paper on the South Shore, contacted the cbc television newsroom in Halifax. He said he knew of a secret baby burial ground in the area, and that babies buried there had died of neglect at the Ideal Maternity Home more than fifty years earlier. People in the Chester area had told Phillips about the burial ground, but he felt the story was too legally sensitive for him to write about.  [From:  http://www.fernwoodpublishing.ca/website_pdfs/butterbox.pdf ]

For a very long time, healthy babies made money, sick babies were considered worthless burdens... and unwed mothers, (and their infants), were an affront to moral society.

This theme became a working model for those in especially poor/over-populated regions of the world.

Investigations show that sale of babies is rampant in many Nigerian cities. Our correspondents learnt that mostly affected were under-aged women and commercial sex workers who got pregnant in the course of their work and could not abort the pregnancies for one reason or the other.

One area where the business thrives is Ugwuaji village, a community about 10 minutes drive from Enugu. Investigations showed that the community was a fertile ground for child trafficking as well as a refuge for unmarried pregnant girls.

Findings showed that many unmarried pregnant girls from Enugu metropolis thronged the community to avoid public shame in the city. A source said, “They go there to hide and after delivery they contact kingpins of the business who assist them in selling the babies.”

Investigations showed that the kingpins bought each baby from the girls for as low as N70,000. The kingpins sell a male infant to childless couples for N340,000 and a female at N300,000.

 [From:  Markets where babies are sold as commodities ]

The implied message is this -- shame brings unmarried pregnant girls to clinics/maternity homes, as opposed to abortion clinics, and because adoption is the chosen option, a moral resolution can absolve an immoral act.  That would be a lovely washing-of-hands, if not for two things.  One... morality goes out of the window when babies are being taken and then sold immediately to the highest bidder.  Two... those born with known/suspected health problems often go neglected, and/or given a discount selling-price, to keep the inventory moving.  This moving of all children out of the orphanage is supposed to give the worldly impression that care is being given to all children, but the truth is, if there is money to be gained through the life of a child, both orphanages and adoptions agencies/child-sellers will find it.

Meanwhile, in poor countries, an interesting twist to the adoption triad has (unsurprisingly) developed, as explained in the article, Babies For Sale:

· GET RICH QUICK SYNDROME – In Nigeria, ritual is quite rampant. In some of these cases involving the sale of babies, we have heard of ritualists patronising such places. These children are used in money-making rituals for those eager to become rich overnight, or other nefarious purposes. That is the scariest part of the whole matter.

· HARDSHIP/INSECURITY – Because things are so hard in the country, a place where a whole family lives on less than $2 a day, suffering in the midst of plenty, the urge to do anything to survive would surely become more manifest, including the sale of babies for financial recompense, which in most cases is just a pittance.

· CHILDLESS COUPLES – Some people genuinely want to have children of their own, and where this fails, they go the adoption route. The red-tape involved in the official adoption process might make them seek alternative means of fulfilling their hopes of becoming parents, including purchasing babies from shady characters.

This meeting of the (poor-in-pocket) minds explains why some choose to become independent baby brokers, using local hospitals as a ways and means to supplement an income.

Every month, some two dozen infants change hands at the country's largest public hospital and the so-called clinics, sources said, adding the buyers in most cases are child-less couples.

The price range, however, is higher for boys than girls, the sources said. Depending on the identity of the parents, and the baby's look and complexion, the price of a girl child varies between Tk 9,000 and Tk 15,000 while that of a male child between Tk 12,000 and Tk 20,000.

Over a hundred DMCH birth attendants and other employees in collusion with some of their relatives have been running the racket for long before the very eyes of the hospital authorities.    [From: Baby trade booms at hospital ]

As pediatric specialist, Dr Mary Mathers says in the article, Adoption children's health 'neglected', "Adoption does offer a good second chance for many children - but we are now in a situation where we do not find children for parents, we have to find parents who are suitable for children with very complex needs."

The sad irony being, as adoption-awareness programs encourage and inspire many couples in "wealthy" nations like the USA and Canada to adopt, more and more of these paying couples are turning to poor foreign countries with over-filled orphanages because as one AP put it:

After having four boys biologically, Ms. Kurtz says, the couple wanted to add girls to their family. They considered adopting Canadian foster children but "the red tape [in Canada] is just astronomical," Ms. Kurtz says, and domestic adoption is full of uncertainties. With international adoption, "we knew that we'd be able to find siblings," she says, "and we knew that we'd be able to find girls."  [From:  Double-up on adoption ]

Seems absolutely moronic to believe international adoption is without it's serious problems, doesn't it?

I'm glad there seems to be a downward trend in the overall numbers representing children being exported/sold through international adoption.  I hope it continues. I don't see the push to increase foreign adoptions as being a positive; I see the push to adopt any and all types of children as being a very serious problem.... the sort of problem even money can't fix.