Selling Babies

The recent case of a British woman who made a deal to buy a baby from a young Romanian girl and then just took it without paying, has caused a flurry of reporting about illegal adoptions here in Greece. There are many problems that arise when dealing with cases of adoption here because

    9 out of ten prospective parents prefer to sign a private agreement with a natural mother willing to hand over her infant

and that is perfectly legal here. This leaves room for adoption rings to operate (with the help of doctors and lawyers) because unless it can be proved that money has changed hands, the cases are very difficult to uncover.

    The police say that babies are being sold — mainly in Athens, northern and central Greece and the island of Crete — for up to $33,000, with male blue- eyed infants fetching the highest prices. According to Bulgarian officials, most of the mothers are from Roma, or Gypsy, settlements in Bulgaria and are paid about $4,000 for relinquishing their infants