Stolen babies

last updated 8 January 2015

China

Thousands of Chinese infants and toddlers are snatched from their parents each year and sold into adoption, the Los Angeles Times reported this week. This black market in human beings is primarily domestic. Rural Chinese families with no sons are eager for boys, while girls are sought in areas where the sex ratio is disproportionately male. But some of the children are sold abroad as “orphans.” One Hunan orphanage that has facilitated many adoptions for Western parents was recently caught buying abducted babies. “Among the U.S. adoptive community, there’s almost a sense of freaking out over this,” said Brian Stuy, an American adoption activist. “Everyone adopts with the idea these are orphans needing a home.”