Britain bans Cambodian adoptions

Britain has become the latest nation to suspend adoptions of Cambodian children by its citizens because of concerns over illegal selling of babies and other abuses.

The suspension takes effect immediately and applies to adoption applications that have not yet been approved by Cambodian authorities, said Margaret Hodge, minister of state for children, young people and families.

Cambodia’s adoption system does not have enough safeguards ”to prevent children being adopted without proper consents being given by their birth parents, and improper financial gain being made by individuals involved in the adoption process”, she said.

The action came after an investigation by the British government found abuses including “systematic falsification of Cambodian official documents” and the use of payments or coercion by some adoption facilitators to convince mothers to give up their children, Mrs Hodge said.

Human rights groups have alleged that Cambodian adoption facilitators pay mothers as little as £15 (€22) for new-borns, who are then placed in orphanages.

The United States, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium have also suspended adoptions of Cambodian children in recent years.

Despite the suspensions, baby sales continue in some Cambodian villages, often driven by poverty in a country recovering from three decades of conflict where 45% of people live on less than 50p (76c) a day.

Britain approved 40 adoptions from Cambodia in 2003, up from six the previous year.