China’s one-child policy boosts child confiscation for overseas adoption

By IBTimes staff reporter

May 12, 2011 / ibtimes.com

New evidence about child abduction by family planning officials in China for the purpose of overseas adoption has raised questions on the current human-rights situations in the country.

A report by a Chinese magazine, Caixin, mentions that officials in the Hunan Province of China have been confiscating babies from parents who are unable to pay fines for breaching the one-child-per-family policy. In response, a formal investigation was launched by the Hunan provincial government on Monday to verify the details.

The family policy introduced in 1978 was an attempt by the Chinese government to alleviate social, economic and environmental problems in the country. It officially restricts married, urban couples to have only one child, although it allows exemptions for several cases, including rural couples, ethnic minorities, and parents without any siblings themselves.

Many countries across the globe like the US, Britain, France and Germany have already voiced serious concerns over China's deteriorating human rights agenda , amply reflected in the growing domestic security measures employed by the country.

As per the Caixin report, over 100,000 orphans and disabled Chinese children were adopted by families abroad until last year and the largest number now lives in the United States.