Baby Trafficking Brokers paid $150 to get baby

Law enforcement authorities in Vietnam arrested two women for attempting to bring a 10-day old baby into China to be sold.
The women told police that they were paid $150 to get the baby.
The baby trade in Vietnam appears to be growing in recent months.
From AFP:
The arrests came after police here detained six Vietnamese who tried [...]

International Adoptions Market Value: $1.3 Billion

The 2005 EU Organized Crime Report stated that an estimated 1 million children are involved in illegal adoptions. The market value of these adoptions are estimated to be worth EUR 1 billion ($1.3 Billion) a year.
Source: EUROPOL, “2005 EU Organized Crime Report”, October 25, 2005, pg.16, (accessed: March 25, 2007).

Gray area of international adoptions

The difference between the illicit trade in infants and legitimate intercountry adoptions is at times difficult to monitor. As Ethan Kapstein writes in Foreign Affairs, “the difference may be clear conceptually, but it is not always clear in reality.”
“Buying infants is illegal covering the cost of raising then until they are adopted is not,” Kapstein [...]

$5,000 to $25,000 to adopt a child on the black market

Source: Ethan Kapstein, ” The Baby Trade,” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2003, pg. 115-125.

Children from Romania were being bought for $20,000 to $30,000

Source: ” Baby trade,” The Economist, February 7, 2004, pg. 50.

9.5 million children are living in developing world orphanages

Source:  Ethan Kapstein, ” The Baby Trade,” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2003, pg. 115-125.

30 to 90 percent of adoptions in Switzerland are outside offical channels

In Switzerland, out of the nearly 600 children adopted from abroad, 30 to 90 percent are handled outside of official channels.
Source: “Unicef sounds alarm over child trafficking,” Swissinfo, October 18, 2007,(accessed: October 19, 2007).

Adoptions from Africa on the rise

Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail reports that adoptions of children from Africa are on the rise by Canadians due to the scarcity of Chinese children.
From the Globe and Mail:
Canadian adoptions from Africa are on the rise: Last year, there were more than 100 adoptions, a more than threefold increase since 2002. Most are from [...]

Parents of illegally adopted girl sentenced

An Argentina couple was sentenced to prison for illegally adopting a girl 30 years ago.
From the BBC:
An Argentine couple have been jailed for illegally adopting a baby girl born 30 years ago to parents who were kidnapped by the military government.
The case was brought by the adopted woman, Maria Eugenia Sampallo, whose real parents [...]

The $100 million Guatemalan Adoption Industry

The AP reports on the case against Casa Quivira, an adoption agency in Guatemala, that has been charged with human trafficking and fraud.
From the AP:
wo Guatemalan lawyers retained by an adoption agency that has sent scores of children to the U.S. have been charged with fraud and human trafficking, their attorneys said on Monday.
Vilma Zamora [...]