Baby selling refers to the illegal practice of selling one’s own baby or acting as an agent to negotiate a deal and sell a newborn for the birth parent or parents. Even though baby selling is illegal you will still find people who are willing to sell a baby for profit and of course the individuals who are desperate enough to buy them. Baby selling is not to be confused with legal adoptions.
A legal adoption is a procedure where each state will grant all legal rights and responsibilities to the adoptive parents. These adoptions go through a court appointed agency with strict regulations throughout the process. There are two types of legal adoptions; open and shut. Each state will decide on accepting both or only one form of adoption.
In an open adoption the parents have a right to choose the adoptive parents for their newborn. Whereas in closed adoptions they forfeit all rights as a parent and the child is taken from them and put up for adoption. Some states allow payment in exchange for health and medical fees that the pregnant mothers incurs, while other states do not allow any direct payment from the adoptive parent to the biological parent. Many times the adoption agency or adoption lawyer will handle all legal fees. Having said that sometimes lawyers and adoption agencies are accused of baby selling in the USA if the fees they charge seem to be well above the norm.
There are no safeguards with baby selling. Often time the child is sold to the highest bidder. There is nothing open about the adoptions. These financial transactions are usually done underground so that no criminal charges can be laid upon the buyer or seller. Don’t be fooled by the fact that the mediator appears to be part of an agency. Check out that agency first to make sure it is legal. Once the baby is sold the parent will not know anything about the baby from that point forward. The new parents do not know anything about where the baby came from, any illness in the family or other things that might affect the baby’s health. If the baby was stolen from their parents in a third world country that is not known either.
Fortunately there are safeguards in place for a legitimate adoption. Any child entering the USA must pass the USCIS processing rules for immigration before allowed entrance. It is not known how much baby selling actually goes on in the USA and from which sources the infant is coming from.
If you are a person wanting to adopt a baby, make sure you do it legally. Bending the rules will not help you to have a baby faster because you may feel you do not qualify for adoption under the conventional channels. It would not be wise to negotiate with a stranger advertising in an underground newspaper or website. You do not know these people, there is no legal investigation done to see if the pregnancy is even legitimate or if these people are just trying to make money. With a real adoption agency you will know that that there is a pregnancy through a mandatory pregnancy test. Other DNA testing will be done to insure the baby is healthy, such as drug and alcohol DNA testing for indigent women, ultrasounds, many even amniocentesis in case there are any serious illness in the family, back ground checks, health records and more. Play it safe, do it right and wait for your perfect baby!
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Comments: 53
I think it's one of the worst crimes. If the child runs into a health problem later in life, there is no way to trace the family at all.
I agree with Sharon. Selling a baby is wrong! Future health problems are an issue. I just don't think it's possible to put a price on human life.
I agree with both of you, sharon and charles, who can you put a price on a human life, furthermore you don't know who you are selling that baby too, could be a sex slave organization or something
That is so very true.
I agree with you 1000%!
Thanks.
While I agree do it all legally, I as well don't know why it costs so much to love a baby forever. I know illegally runs into so many other things, if kidnapping, just don't understand why the legal ones are wanting to put money in their pockets before putting love in the children's hearts.
i think a lot of it is agency fees, adminstration etc, you have to pay the people who find the babies, clear up the legal side of things, do investigations on the birth mothers, supply medical information etc.
I agree. It's expensive to run all that research especcially.
Baby Brokers are the scum of the Earth.
yep children are not livestock.
Excellent work, you have superb writing skills!
thank you so much Matthew
I agree that people need to be aware when they do something like this. I also wonder why the costs are so high. I could never figure that one out.
legal fees, you are dealing with an agency, a lawyer, they also take care of the legal aspects, the do the investigations on the baby mother, find out medical information that is important to know etc.
Unfortunately legal adoptions are so costly and often restrictive. The red tape involved is incredible and the wait for a young baby can be quite long. I can understand why some people choose to purchase their babies illegally but it is a dangerous practice.
me too linda but as you say it is a dangerous practice,
You do write very well and so far I have enjoyed reading your articles. I had no idea that illegal selling of babies were happening here in the great U S of A. Although it may be difficult to get a baby, in the state of Texas, if you adopt a foster child there are no fees. In fact, I believe the state will also pay for their college education. There are a lot of foster children needing a good home no matter what their age.
good point eileen, babies are not the only children that need homes, but the people doing this don't want older children even in orphanages older children were hardly ever adopted, it is just so sad.
I am in the belief that there should not be any adoption agencies that require money to trade hands. I think it is ridiculious that adoption fees are what they are. Only the upper class can actually afford to adopt. I've been there, I know what I am talking about.
Now...
I have 3 wonderful boys that were in the foster system for almost 3 years. Sad but true that they were there that long.
The adoption expenses were all FREE. Their college tuition is paid to ANY 4 year college in the state of Florida.
I hope to adopt lots more!
what a loving, generous gift for you to take in these boys and give them a home!
wonderful Alta, you are indeed a good woman, wish there were more of you around.
Before abortion was legal, there was no shortage of adoptable babies. Now the competition among infertile couples is keen, so there is money to be made.
There is still no shortage. Also, if people have love to give, how about all of the children rotting in our broken foster care system??
There truly is a shortage of infants and babies under one year old. Couples have been going to Asia and eastern Europe for 30 years to adopt babies.
You're right about the older children. They deserve loving homes, too. I commended Alta B above for adopting older kids. I don't think all foster homes are bad. I really want to take in foster children, but my husband's health isn't good. Maybe we're also too old to qualify, but I would love to have some children in our home.
adoptions have been steady increasing in the usa, the number one reason is abortion but it is NOT and I repeat not the only reason,
people use birth control now, there are no longer families of 10 and 15 children being the norm,
and there is less stigma around unmarried women having and keeping their children in days gone by that would never happen the babies were adopted out.
You're right. Abortion is only one reason for the shortage of adoptable infants. Unmarried mothers began keeping their babies about the same time birth control pills came on the market. Those are all contributing factors to the shortage of babies. Ironically, birth control pills are sometimes the cause of infertility. When couples decide to have a child, it may not be possible.
oops I am glad you knew what I mean, I wrote increasing when it should have been decreasing.
Instead of legal adoption and someone sells a baby on the black market. I believe these people lack basic human compassion
they must because a baby is not lifestock to sold like a cow at an auction
I know it is illegal, and wrong, but probably there are people out there who desperately want a baby and offer to buy one and the person needs the money, and I am sure this happens quite a bit, hopefully to baby is well taken care of, I just can't answer this question Carol., so many sides to look at, some people just cannot get approved for legal adoption because of religion or something like that, I think you have a lot of great comments here, and a good article to think over.
yes I said those reasons in the article, but it is dangerous, as you don't know who that baby came from, if that baby has any medical conditions that will need taking care of you don't know, the mother for example could have been a drug addict for all you know, or there could be a history of terrible disease in the family,
and on the other side the person selling the baby, may have stolen that baby from a family,
and he or she doesnt know who he is selling that baby too, it could be a sex maniac or murder as far as he or she knows and the worst part is they don't even care.
I agree with everything you say here Carol, as I said, I don't know how to answer the question, thanks for reading my comment, Elsie
you are welcome hon
Great article, Carol. Adoption is a topic that is dear to me, and you have represented it well.
thank you so much Shannon
You will note that even in adoption, the evils of money make themselves felt and make the innocent suffer. Such tragedies as selling children will continue until we change the nature of our money. If you really want to stop this practice instead of just complain about it you will, you must, work to change our money. No other course of action has any chance to succeed.
money is at the heart of the system, to change the entire system you have to have the powers that be who want to and they don't want to.
The powers that be have problems that such a change will solve as well.
It will secure their gains and their power. It will remove threats to their position in the world. It will protect their families. It will gain them honor, respect, and the good opinion of the public.
Look what Obama would gain from such a change. He would no longer have any economic problems to deal with. The power of the U.S. as an industrial nation would be secure. His reelection (if he cared about it) would be assured. He could concentrate on international affairs from a position of much greater power. The terrorist threat would be greatly reduced if not completely eliminated.
they are great thoughts but not sure the paridigm will change nor that that change will make it so much better
Carol,
Human nature will change the way people think and act when their situation changes. If we change the context win which people act as I suggest it makes things so much better. We can then attack the problems that the universe presents (like the flu) without having to worry first about what other people are going to do to us.
the point still remain no one is willing to change, the world is shifting toward a common world currency (still based on gold) it has already started in europe, and there is talk sprouting out about north america too,
there are others who are talking about gold being changed for oil being the most sought after commodity, but I am not sure how that could possibly work,
anyhow we will not see major paradigme changes in our lifetime.
We will not see changes if only a handful of people know that change is possible. By doing nothing we help assure that things will not improve. Unless I spread the word that there are solutions to all these problems, solutions which cost nothing, solutions which help literally everyone, unless I let people know, misery will continue for lack of change.
To give up is to assure failure.
larry you have to get the info to the people that create chance, the government leaders and econcomic experts, the common folk like us cannot change anything, we are not given the power or the authoritty to change and therefore it is just talk and nothing more.
Millions of people want to get messages to the people that create change. Government leaders cannot pay attention to evenn one percent of the messages sent their way.
But, when ideas "bubble up" from the common people, people like you and me, people who have no power or authority to change anything, then the powers that be pay attention. If enough people begin talking about this new idea and how it solves problems, then and only then will the rich and powerful pay attention.
It's like the farmer and his mule. He had to hit the mule in the head with a 2 by 4 in order to get its attention so he could get it to do some work. It takes a pretty big groundswell to get government and corporations to pay attention.
that it does
but remember the power that be, will never give up their power they will always fight to maintain their power, money, and influence.
Carol, that's one of the beauties of my solution. The powers that be preserve and protect their power and their wealth and their influence by going to my solution. In fact, life for them becomes much less stressful, more secure, more pleasant, safer, and even more prosprous. (As I said above.)
When the rich and powerful really understand my solution they will love it.
I think it's morally wrong to sell your child. Period.
I do too, but people will do what they will do
I lived in Utah for 3 years, and I was approached about 100 times if I would be willing to get pregnant and "give" a couple my babies, for a price. It seems that people wanted Polynesian babies there in Utah, and were willing to do anything. A couple of years ago, a baby selling ring was uncovered and it was it Utah, but the babies were from Samoa, an independant nation half an hours plane ride from my island. I knew alot of people who sold their babies to this agency and made money off of them, and when considering the economic situation in Samoa, sometimes I feel that desperate times call for desperate measures, but it doesn't justify the action. Samoa may have one of the highest birth rate in the world, despite the economic crisis there, but it still doesn't make it right. I have two beautiful babies, and they are both adopted. I adopted my babies from my oldest brother, who seems to be very fertile.....lol......he isn't financially stable and so I stepped in and helped him along. He has 8 children from his first marriage, and when his wife passed, my parents took care of the kids, I adopted my Rubyaahn from them, and after my brother remarried, I adopted my Phinehas from him. They are 8 and 1 respectively. I love them to death, and I don't have to worry about where to find their families in times of need. But if you are going to adopt a child, make it legal, because it will make it harder for the child if something were to happend to you later on in life.
thank you, thank you, thank you for this post, hon, it is always good to have a personal experience added to my articles.
Thanks! Sorry for the generic comment but I'm wading through over 500 e-mails.
thanks Chas