Someone recently brought it to my attention that if you call the FBI office in the state you were born, they will end you a “Freedom of Information Act” form to fill out to see if they can place you with being a black market baby. The person who shared this with me is going to try it. We don’t know if it is a fact or not but I thought it was worth putting out there for anyone who is searching and believes they may have been adopted through the black market. If anyone has attempted this or does attempt this I would love to hear from you and read your comments in regards to your results.

No one knows how many US children leave the country to be adopted abroad nor how many US and foreign children are victims to black market adoptions. I did find a statistic that said few of the 150,000 New York City “orphans” whom Children’s Aid Society sent West on Orphan Trains in the 75 years from 1853 to 1920 are still living. Many were formally adopted, their actual numbers are unknown just as the number of “informal adoptions” among several decades of black families is unknown.

In TN where 5000 children were kidnapped for black market adoption in the 1950’s -1960’s by Geogia Tann, Director of TN Children’s Home Society is a state whose “adult access” law was at first challenged in the 1990’s in federal court by the sealed records lobby of adoption agencies but eventually became law.

California, dubbed the largest market for stolen children in the US failed to pass 1990’s open records law proposed by Assemblyman Chuck Quackenbugh.

Here are some additional statistics on black market adoptions. I don’t think until recently have I realized how many adoptions were through the black market.

5,000 babies a year are illegally brought into the U.S.;
$1,000 to $50,000 U.S. dollars was the cost of black market adoptions or baby buying (baby broker receiving bulk of profits). Source: In The Market For Babies," The Plain Truth, 9-90, p.28

10,000 children are known to be illegally transported abroad each year, most of them by an estranged parent. [as of 2001; unknown numbers leave the U.S. for illicit purposes including black market adoptions.] Source: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Alexandria, VA

$80,000 is what a black market adoption can cost, 1996 to present. Source: Los Angeles Times, 6-22-96, B-7

$120,000 is the price a child can bring for other illicit purposes. Source: Enslaved, by Gordon Thomas (published by Pharos)