Each year, Massachusetts families adopt some 3,000 children. One Harvard Business School professor asks if these babies shoul have price tags and if the market begs for more regulation.
By Debora L. Spar | February 19, 2006
The home page for Rainbow Kids is designed to rip your heart out. When you log on to www.rainbowkids.com, you see color photographs of beautiful, usually somber-looking children. There are some babies, some older kids. Most are toddlers, clasping toys or sporting huge bows in their hair. All these children are available - waiting, you quickly learn, for their "forever families." As you scroll farther, you learn how to search: by country, gender, age. The toughest one is "date added," which shows, in reverse order, how long some children have been waiting. On a recent visit, for example, you could find 6-year-old Bulat, who had been on the list for three and a half years. "He is described as quiet and gentle," the site reports, "and really enjoys playing sports." Ten-year-old Yamile "likes to write and draw ... and dreams of being a doctor when she grows up." At precious.org, another adoption photo listing, you can learn about Sofia - "sweet and smart, sparkly and fun, polite and inquisitive" - or Rafael, an "A+ student" who "is dreaming to have a family." All these children, like all the Rainbow Kids, are orphans. And, essentially, they are all for sale....
FINDING A HOME
US families adopted 127,407 children in 2001, the latest year for which data are available. These New England states saw the following numbers of adoptions:
Massachusetts 3,259
Connecticut 1,164
Maine 957
New Hampshire 630
Rhode Island 617
Vermont 407
SOURCE: 2004 NATIONAL ADOPTION INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE REPORT; MAINE FIGURES ARE FROM 2000
COMING FROM ABROAD
In 2005, the following ranked as the top countries of origin for orphans bound for the United States and issued immigrant visas:
China (mainland) 7,906
Russia 4,639
Guatemala 3,783
South Korea 1,630
Ukraine 821
SOURCE: US DEPARTMENT OF STATE
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