Babies in China Taken from Parents and Traded for Adoption

Everybody is aware of the fact that in the People's Republic of China there're family-planning laws which allow people living in urban areas to have one child while those living in rural areas two children. Lately an awful truth has been discovered about those who violated the laws. Several baby girls in southern China have been taken from their parents, who broke the family planning policy, and then sold to families from overseas. Southern Metropolis News started an investigation and discovered that around 80 girls in one country had been stolen and then sold for $3,000. The state authorities had taken the babies because their parents did not have the possibility or did not want to pay the steep fines that were imposed by the law for having more babies than it was allowed. It is possible that in order to complete the deals the authorities forged the necessary papers.



It is worth mentioning that those who have too many children have to pay a fine of around $3,000, which represents an annual income for most farmers. It is no surprise that the policy is extremely unpopular among residents of rural areas. The 80 baby girls, who were sold to families overseas, were confiscated from parents living in Guizhou province, located in the south of China. After the babies were taken, they were brought to orphanages and then adopted by families from the United States and Europe. The orphanages and the local officials divided the adoption fee.



In China, child trafficking is a widespread illegal activity. In 2006 some tightening adoption rules were elaborated in the country, but the practice showed that these rules were ineffective, with the level of corruption in the field still continuing to rise.

Family Planning Policy



According to the country's officials, since the family planning policy was introduced in 1979, it prevented about 400 million births. China managed to control its population with persuasion, force and encouragement. A lot of academics from China and other countries believe that the policy is a mistake and it will lead to serious demographic issues. The officials do not intend to relax the policy and allow some couples to have more babies. Since 1970s the Chinese officials started encouraging less children, delayed marriages and larger gaps between births. "The total fertility rate - the number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime - was reduced from over five to slightly over two," mentioned Prof Wang. All of the above happened before the introduction of the family planning policy. The decrease in fertility rates is partly because of the improving social and economic conditions.



A decrease in the number of children was registered in such Asian countries as Thailand and South Korea, but the decrease was the result of modernization and not because the two countries elaborated a strict family planning laws, in fact, these countries don't have such policy. Some specialists admit that since 1979 the family planning policy in China helped lower the fertility rate and led to some change in attitudes. "A lot of people simply don't want that many children. People have accepted the policy," said Prof Wang. He mainly referred to rural areas, where the majority of couples report being happy with only one child.