U.S. couple’s adoption dream becomes a nightmare

Adoptionland NewsAdoption Trafficking, Excerpts

LONDON – When Emily and Matt Knudsen began the lengthy process of adopting a child from Africa, they believed they would be saving an orphan in distress. “Our biggest desire was to meet a need, to adopt a child who truly had no other options,” said Emily, at the family’s home near San Francisco, Calif. Motivated by their Christian faith, …

The Dark Side of Chinese Adoptions

Adoptionland NewsAdoption, Adoption Trafficking, Asia, Excerpts, Media, Rights, The Americas

Six orphanages were found to have been buying babies who were then adopted by families from other countries. One of the convicted middlemen in that case is now out of jail. He and his mother spoke to our China correspondent, Marketplace’s Scott Tong. SCOTT TONG: As Chen Zhijing tells it, her family stumbled into the baby-selling business. In the late …

Adoptionland: Brutal essays by adult adoptees expose the truth of intercountry adoption

Adoptionland NewsAbout Us, Adoption, Adoption Trafficking, Excerpts, Featured

With news that Vietnam is once again going to allow their children to be adopted out of country, reading a collection of essays by people who were uprooted and transplanted into new cultures is ice water on all those squishy ideals of what intercountry (or international adoption) does. The writers whose essays come together in Adoptionland: From Orphans to Activists …

Foreigners exploiting law loophole to adopt, say Ugandan MPs

Adoptionland NewsAdoption, Adoption Trafficking, Agency Complaints, Excerpts, Rights

Kampala (AFP) – Uganda MPs have raised fresh concerns that hundreds of children have left the country through “dubious circumstances” as a result of foreigners working with local lawyers to exploit a loophole in the law, allowing them to be adopted.  Last September, an official report said a boom in Uganda’s “international adoption industry” had led to some children who …

Ladies, say ‘NO!’ she shouts. “We will not give away our children anymore.”

Adoptionland NewsAdoption Trafficking, Excerpts

In this May 8, 2015 photo, volunteer Anne-Marie Saintou announces that only special needs children will be treated, or allowed to live at the Mercy & Sharing residential center, as she walks in the seaside community of Luly in Arcahaie, Haiti. Saintou is part of a campaign by the nonprofit organization to warn people about promoters and recruiters for orphanages …