The trafficking mentality of some Chinese welfare institutions speaks volumes about the objectifying of children. Although this isn’t a happy topic, adoptive parents of children from China need to know about these issues. There will come a time when small children grow up and access to the Internet brings them in direct contact with child trafficking stories. There are things the mothers of Chinese Adoptees should know before this happens.

May 10, 2011: According to Global Times reporter Liu Linln, over the last 10 years at least 20 children born outside of their parents’ birth quota in Longhui county (population 1 million)  have been seized  by “family-planning enforcers” (FPE). The FPE literally take these children from families and send them to “welfare centers” (otherwise known as orphanages) then list them as orphans placing a $3000 price tag on their heads so the government run orphanages can then place them with US and other international adoptive families. Some of the families report that the child taken was actually their first child. The child was taken while the husband and wife were at work. Yang Libing, a migrant worker, told the magazine, that their 7-year-old child has been found living in the US. Read the entire article here.

This isn’t the first (or the last) we will hear about this immoral and illegal endeavor. In 2005, a number of officials in welfare centers in Hengyang and Hunan, were exposed for participation in human trafficking. In 2009  the Southern Metropolis Daily reported similar cases in Zhenyuan county, Guizhou where “welfare centers” bought children for 3000 yuan and then selling them to foreign adopters for $3000. 3000 Yuan is approximately $460 US dollars.

The trafficking mentality of these welfare institutions speaks volumes about the objectifying of children. Care in Chinese orphanages is neglectful at best and many continue to traumatize children through beatings, tying them to potty chairs, starvation, and worse. China has one of the worst records for human rights. Children with this kind of history are at serious risk for developmental trauma disorder and more. This is a real dilemma for adoptive families. Many families I have met do not want to hear about or address this topic. Many families are in denial that this could even happen to them or that it might happen to other people but “not to me”.. There continues to be such a myth surrounding Chinese Adoptions. Many couple romanticize them by telling stories about the “Red Thread Myth“. The cold hard facts are hard to hear but speak volumes about next steps to healing our children from China.