Cash-for-babies scandal leads to Netherlands halting intercountry adoptions

The abuses included coercing or paying birth mothers in places like Indonesia, Brazil, and Columbia to give up children.

The Netherlands has placed a ban on overseas adoption after an investigation into past international adoptions exposed many abuses.

It found that Dutch government officials were aware of child theft and trafficking in respect of children from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Colombia and Brazil, between 1967 to 1998.

Deutsche Welle's Keith Walker says the abuses came to light when a number of adult adoptees embarked on searches to find their birth families:

They found that even today the abuses may still be going on.

Stefan Bos, Journalist - Deutsche Welle

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It is a very painful situation for thousands of children who did not know and still do not know today who their parents were.

Stefan Bos, Journalist - Deutsche Welle

The thought was 'even if we falsify documents, even if we buy children, it is in the best interest of those children to be in the rich Netherlands.'

Stefan Bos, Journalist - Deutsche Welle

“Adoptees deserve recognition for mistakes that were made in the past,” Sander Dekker, the Dutch minister for legal protection, said this week.

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Listen to the full report from Deutsche Welle's Keith Walker by clicking below:

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