Did anyone see the HBO China's Stolen Children documentary?

Question

"The film, by Jezza Neumann, examines parallel phenomena that appear to be linked to the nation’s one-child policy: children are being kidnapped and sold by the thousands, and parents selling their children."

I found this documentary only left me with more questions. It didn't explain several things.

First, I can't imagine that there would be enough demand to steal children to sell? If babies are being abanonded at orphanages and around towns due to the one child policy, Seems there would be plenty of babies to adopt without stealing them? The supply and demand doesn't add up to me here.

Second,if the couples that have these babies against the law have to sell them, because otherwise the child has no legal documents and can't attend school... how do the adopted couples make the adopted child legal? And so why aren't these couples forging adoption papers instead of selling htem?

So confused over this documentary. And oh the shame of it all!!! Thoughts anyone?

Answer 1

You really need to watch human trafficking...on lifetime...

This is more about Kids from america- and globally being stolen from ages ranging to 3+ and up...

And being sold as s*x slaves/wives/prostitutes...

this doesnt just happen in china-it happens everywhere...

Human trafficking can be followed by arranging the child as "adopted" or for "sexual crimes"...

its disturbing and disgusting :(

Answer 2

In China, most of the children available for adoption are placed for International Adoption because the orphanage/CCAA get 5000 dollars per adoption internationally.

To place a child domestically, in China, means losing out on that 5000 dollars.

I have not watched the film you are talking about, but I do know a little about the adoption process in China.

If you want to know a little about what is going on there, go to the link I list as my source.  Very knowledgeable guy.

Answer 3

What's happening now is that parents, such as the young unmarried couple in the documentary, who would 10-15 years ago have had no alternative except to abandon their baby, now know that there is a "market" and sell the baby instead.  There is now a lower rate of abandonment, and the areas that babies are abandoned in aren't necessarily the areas where there is "demand", so there are still children in horrible conditions in orphanages who never even have paperwork done for them to be adopted.  At the same time, there are orphanages who do complete the paperwork for international adoption who buy babies.  Crazy!   I really can't wrap my head completely around what's going on in China.  It's a huge country, with so many different areas with different policies and enforcement procedures and different types of corruption, I don't think anyone will ever figure it out!  The documentary reenforced what I've been thinking lately though - that I couldn't adopt from China because there would be know way of really knowing how the child was relinquished, and I'm glad we didn't adopt from China.  I've been kind of depressed about it lately, actually, and can't get my head around what's going on.

Answer 4

thats a good question why would they steal a kid when there are one that need to be adopted badly

Answer 5

Go to Unicef.org and you'll get an eyeful of how children are being treated as a commodity by US citizens. This amazing organization is strictly looking out for the welfare of children and are leaders in stopping and bringing awareness to child trafficking  aka today as "adoption".

Edit: Thanks Gaia.

Truly sad documentary. I wonder how many of those children are living here in the States/Canada and how many families from China are destroyed. I'm so glad that people are risking their lives to get this out in the open so these people looking for that "perfect healthy china doll orphan" comprehend what they are contributing to and who they are taking advantage of.   There is no excuse for ignoring these atrocities. Its sad that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Answer 6

Weird!  It won't let me post the link.  I have the link to the videos so that you can watch the whole thing on youtube, but Y!A won't let me post it.

Anyway, I haven't finished watching it, but I'm on #7.

What I got out of it was that there is a demand both inside and outside China for children (and women). Human traffickers make money by selling children to families inside China who want them (I didn't quite get how it's ok for a family to have more than one child via adoption, when it's not ok via birth - so I don't know how, or even if, they make the child legal). They also make money selling the children to orphanages, which the orphanages are willing to pay due to the $5,000 they'll end up making off of that child when s/he is adopted overseas.

It seems to be a very complicated system that's built on money and greed. The only thought I have is the obvious: if the money were taken out of the situation, there would be no motivation for buying and selling human lives. But that's got to start with the government, because they created this insane system.