As it happens: China's stolen childen
Radio CBC's
At it happens
reported three nights in a row about the latest developments in the child trafficking case in the Chinese provice of Guizhou.
September 23, 2009
Interview with Barbara DemickEvery year, hundreds of Canadians adopt babies from China. They feel they are giving their new child a good home with loving parents. They believe it's something they didn't have in their home country. But that may not be the case.
While the adoptive parents are told that their baby was abandoned, perhaps unwanted because of China's one-child policy, the child may actually have been stolen from his or family family. The motivation? The thousands of dollars in fees foreigners pay to adopt.
The Los Angeles Times went to rural China to investigate. They found parents who had been tricked or blackmailed into giving up their children. We reached reporter Barbara Demick in Beijing.
Barabara Demick wrote the article Some Chinese parents say their babies were stolen for adoption.
September 24, 2009
When Cathy Wagner adopted her daughter from China, she fell in love with her new baby. But she also felt something else -- a nagging sense, in the back of her mind, that something wasn't quite right.
Now, three years later, she's looking more carefully into what left her so unsettled.
Last night, we spoke with a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Barbara Demick detailed stories of Chinese parents who had their babies stolen from them by local officials -- authorities driven by the money to be made from foreign adoptions.
Tonight, Cathy Wagner tells her story. We reached her in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.
September 25, 2009
For the last few nights, we've been telling you about the problems with international adoptions in China. You've heard stories of Chinese parents who had their children taken from them by corrupt officials, out to profit from the money paid up by foreigners wanting to adopt. And you've heard about adoptive parents who are often unaware that the babies they take home may have been stolen.
But this issue isn't unique to China. Roelie Post monitors the international adoption business for the non-profit group Against Child Trafficking. We reached her in Brussels.