Corruption Within the Chinese Adoption System
This article “Chinese Babies Stolen by Officials for Foreign Adoption” recently printed in the Los Angeles Times has created a stir within the adoption community. It has been re-printed in several different newspapers, among them the front page of last Sunday’s Oregonian. It is a harrowing topic, one that hits home for every member of our adoption constellation.
The article talks about widespread corruption within the Chinese adoption system where children have been stolen by government officials and sold to orphanages presumably motivated by the $3000.00 per child that adoptive parents pay orphanages. This has been documented to have taken place in villiages all over the country.
When news like this comes to our attention the instinctive reaction is to think “not me” or “no, not my child” but it’s so difficult to know for sure. What can we do to ensure that we are not feeding a system that could potentially be stealing babies from their mothers?
I planned on seeing this movie in November at Adoption Mosaic’s Adoption Awareness month event, but jumped at the chance to see it in a more intimate setting with fellow adoptees. I’m so glad I did. This film is complex, honest and intense, and the discussion we had following the movie was all of these things and more. I think we could have sat and talked for many more hours than we did.