In order to fight child trafficking, China is improving its adoption guidelines. China’s one child per family policy for population control has led to a booming black market in child trafficking. Though having more than one child will result in heavy fines, the government does not have the power to take the children away from their family. However, some officials have illegally taken away children, mostly girls, in order to take advantage of the $3,000 per child paid by adopting families to orphanages. Other children are bought or abducted by gangs and forced into child labor.
To combat this trafficking problem, the Chinese government has tightened adoption rules. These revisions ensure that people will use only official adoption methods. Abandoned children can only be adopted through orphanages and adoptive parents will not receive legal guardian status without proper registration. Chinese authorities hope that these new rules will cripple the black market’s demand for abducted children.
Compiled from: China Tightens Adoption Rules to Fight Child Trafficking, Some Chinese Parents Say Their Babies were Stolen for Adoption, WUNRN (16 August 2011).