The article is linked above and copied in full below, but allow me to shorten the story with key lines:
"About 80 newborn baby girls from a county of Guizhou Province in southwest China have been removed from their families by local officials since 2001, and most have been handed over to foreign adoptive parents as orphans at a price of $3,000 each....Now, allow me to be clear. As a potential adoptive parent, I by no means advocate the stealing and selling of children. This is an abhorrent practice - clear and simple.
One family's "fifth daughter was removed by local family planning officials when they didn't pay the appropriate fine..."'This is the policy', Shi said. "You pay, or you let the government take care of the baby," he was quoted by the newspaper on Wednesday.
"But instead of being raised as promised, the girl was taken to the Zhenyuan orphanage and later adopted out to a foreign family, at a reported price of $3,000...
"It's believed authorities forged documents stating the babies were orphans and adoption fees were split between the orphanage and officials.
One law expert explained that "local family planning officials and the orphanage had committed a crime because nobody had the right to exploit a parent's right of guardianship over their children. The fact that babies had been removed to make a profit meant it was also abduction"
However, I feel disgust at the Chinese press for reporting this as if it is news, or should come as a surprise. The Chinese government keeps and strictly enforces a One Child Policy. Under this policy, a women who delivers a second child must pay a fine. Children are not given up for adoption as they are in the U.S. - they are abandoned, in the hopes that they will soon be found. Infanticide is rampant. Abortion is frequently forced on a mother by her government in late stages of pregnancy. All of these horrible practices occur as a direct consequence of the One Child Policy. It comes as absolutely no surprise to me that children would also be removed from their homes after birth, if the family could not pay the fine. Why would families not choose to have second children, if they could so easily get away with breaking this law?
I have a problem with the policy. I think it degrades basic human freedoms and forces good people to do horrible things to their own children. I have a problem with every negative consequence that comes as a result of this law - infanticide, abortion, abandonment, institutionalization. But I fail to see how this article states anything worth becoming stirred up about, when it refuses to criticize the policy itself.
As an additional point, the article states that each child was sold into adoption at a fee of $3,000. This fee is a required part of the adoption process for every international family, and although I first saw it as extortion, it has been explained to me many times as a simple payment for the care of the child - and to continue the care of children after my child leaves. If this sum is payment rather than a cost of service, than the magazine missed a much bigger story - as all international families paying for children is against international law, and contrary to all publications and communications by the Chinese government.
SW China: Baby girls taken and sold for adoption
By Wang Jingqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-03 08:06
About 80 newborn baby girls from a county of Guizhou Province in southwest China have been removed from their families by local officials since 2001, and most have been handed over to foreign adoptive parents as orphans at a price of $3,000 each, the Southern Metropolis News reported on Wednesday.
Among the 80 families are Lu Xiande and Yang Shuiying, a poor farming couple whose fifth daughter was removed by local family planning officials when they didn't pay the appropriate fine, it reported.
Like every other father in Zhenyuan, Lu wanted a boy, who finally arrived after three daughters. His wife then gave birth to another girl, and the couple had to support five children with a yearly income of about 5,000 yuan ($732).
Shi Guangying, a local family planning official, gave them an ultimatum: Give away their little daughter or pay fines of about 20,000 yuan ($2,928).
"This is the policy", Shi said. "You pay, or you let the government take care of the baby," he was quoted by the newspaper on Wednesday.
But instead of being raised as promised, the girl was taken to the Zhenyuan orphanage and later adopted out to a foreign family, at a reported price of $3,000.
At least 78 girls have been handed over to foreign families in the past eight years. Two children with disabilities remain at the orphanage.
It's believed authorities forged documents stating the babies were orphans and adoption fees were split between the orphanage and officials.
The practice of making farmers who break the two-child policy and then fail to pay fines hand over their baby girls is now under investigation by the local public security bureau in Zhenyuan county.
Zhou Ze, a lawyer and professor with China Youth College for Political Sciences, said local family planning officials and the orphanage had committed a crime because nobody had the right to exploit a parent's right of guardianship over their children.
The fact that babies had been removed to make a profit meant it was also abduction, Zhou said.
"It is legal that they can charge fines, as the parents did violate the law by giving birth to more than one child. But that doesn't mean they can take away the child. The fines can be paid later or reduced", he said.
Tang Jian, an official of the Zhenyuan family planning bureau, said: "According to our investigation, it is true that babies who have parents were forced into the orphanage and then abroad".
Under Chinese adoption law, abandoned babies whose parents cannot be found can be registered for adoption.
"The most important thing is that we need so many other government departments, so many, to help us in the investigation," Liang Honghao, director of the Zhenyuan police bureau, was quoted by the Guangdong-based Time Weekly yesterday.
No comments:
Post a Comment