Chinese Orphans Kidnapped and Sold

World Journal ^ | March 7, 2006 | Associated Press

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Chinese Orphans Kidnapped and Sold

US Embassy Presses For Investigation of Liang Guihong Case

Authorities Say Group Sold 78 Children Last Year -Many for US Families

A mainland China court last month found 56 year-old Liang Guihong, an orphanage director and eight other individuals guilty of kidnapping and sale of children. Liang was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The prosecution pointed out that most of the babies (last year alone there were 78) were placed with overseas families.

There was rebuttal testimony that Liang Guihong and others only delivered abandoned babies to the orphanage, helping find homes for them and that mainland authorities, anxious to wipe out the black market in babies, were abusing the system to unfairly punish Liang Guihong and the other defendants.

The case is very sensitive because several thousand Chinese babies each year are adopted by foreign families. The government wants adoptive parents and the public to be confident that the children receive proper care. The US embassy has asked the Chinese government to investigate the case to determine if the the babies adopted by US families were in fact orphans or abandoned and not kidnapped children.

Meghan Handy, head of the International Child Service Alliance Association in Alexandria, Virginia said “This will cause daily pain for any adoptive parents with doubts. Caring parents want orphans to find homes but this does not mean taking children from their own families to another land when they can be cared for in their own country.“

Each year several thousand children are abandoned in China. Because of the government’s one child policy those parents who wanted a male child, unwed mothers and poor families will leave female babies with orphanages or abandon them by the side of the road.

Americans adopt the most Chinese babies. According to Hendy, Americans last year adopted a record 7,906 babies and since 1989 have adopted 48, 504 children.

At the same time several thousand children each year are kidnapped and sold to families who want their own child, servants or child brides.

Mainland China has a fairly good adoption system and tries to ensure that adopted children are orphans or abandoned.

Authorities of the official China Adoption Service Center arrange for matching foreign families and children. It prohibits direct contact between prospective adoptive parents and orphanages.

The Qi Dong County court in Hunan province ruled that Liang Guihong, social welfare institute director Zhang Chenming and eight other individuals bought kidnapped children from Guangdong province. Some 3200 to 4300 Chinese Yuan (Translator note: approximately US $400-500) per child went to the social welfare institute while foreign families also provided financial donations to the institute. The case also resulted in 22 employees dismissed for negligence.

According to Hendy, “ China’s management of the adoption system is very good. It does not have a bribery and corruption problem. These children are all abandoned and need a loving and caring home.”

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This is my translation from original Chinese language newspaper article.