This week the Department of State put out the following question on their blog:

How can the international community best ensure that adoptions are transparent, and that the rights of adopted children, birth families, and adoptive families are protected?

It is good to see the Department of State is looking for input, though the assurances being looked for can only be appreciated when realizing adoption is a business and has been around for more than 100 years.

Baby brokering

In 1881, thirty years after the first modern adoption act, several syndicated news papers ran a story about baby brokering in New York City. The article contained a striking phrase: "generally the demand is rather in excess of the supply, and hence the chances of profit are fairly good".

Trade of Children (Voice of Children)

PEAR Nepal:

http://pearadoptinfo-nepal.blogspot.com/2010/06/trade-of-children-voice-of-children.html

Some Disturbing Allegations from Voice of Children

Italian mother breaks silence to confess she sold her 12 children for £250 each

By NICK PISA  Last updated at 22:49pm on 6th April 2008

A woman has admitted giving birth to 12 children and then selling them for £250 each to wealthy couples.

The children were born as Caterina Annarumma conducted a 30-year affair with a married man. She kept her secret for decades before confessing to police this year.

Take one healthy child,
negotiate a price
scrub away the grime
call it something nice

When it starts to talk
make sure that it's polite
and when it calls you mother
be sure to say 'that's right'

Send it to a good school
the best that you can find
what a lucky bastard
to have a mum so kind

That God blessed little miracle
is a fucked up fairy tale
since when did any miracle
come with a bill of sale