Infant girls taken, put up for foreign adoption

Almost 80 infant girls from Guizhou province were taken by family planning officials since 2001 and put up for foreign adoption, the South China Morning Post reported, citing state media. According to a report in the Southern Metropolis News, farmers in Zhenyuan county who could not afford the US$2,926.50 fee for failing to comply with the two-child birth control policy in rural areas were forced to give their infant daughters to officials. Authorities then forged documents stating that the children were orphans and gave the children to families in the US and Europe for a US$3,000 fee, which was split between officials and the orphanage. Records show that at least 78 girls were given to foreign families over the past eight years.