Police in Wielkopolska, western Poland, have detained a middleman who matched up unwanted babies with desperate women who wanted to become mothers but could not conceive.
The man looked for babies to sell on the internet and conducted a transaction with people who wanted to “adopt” a baby, say police.
“He offered 30-70,000 zloty (7,500-17,600 euro) to surrogate mothers and charged several thousand zloty in commission,” said Andrzej Borowiak from police in the western city of Poznan.
The man is suspected of concluding at least twelve ‘baby trafficking’ transactions for which he may face up to five years in prison.
“Baby trafficking is quite common. There are web sites which offer so-called indicated adoption. Some of them are illegal practices,” Beata Dolegowska, head of the Child-Adoption-Family Foundation told Rzeczpospolita, and adds that it is difficult to find evidence for baby trafficking and usually such cases never reach court.
“Biological parents are often driven into a corner as they don’t have money or can’t provide satisfactory conditions for a child’s upbringing,” says Dolegowska. “On the other hand, people usually prefer to adopt a baby, not a child, and there aren’t many babies ready for adoption in Poland, which brings about conditions for baby trafficking”. (mg)
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