Indonesia Tries 19 Over 20 Baby Adoptions to Singapore, Jeopardizing Families
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jul 8
Indonesia Tries 19 Over 20 Baby Adoptions to Singapore, Jeopardizing Families
1 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jul 8
Summary
Nineteen defendants are on trial in West Java over an alleged scheme that bought at least 20 Indonesian babies and sent many to Singapore as supposedly legal adoptions.
Prosecutors say ringleader Lie Siu Luan promised at least S$17,000 per baby, used brokers to find vulnerable parents on social media, housed infants in Pontianak and forged birth and adoption papers.
At least 12 of the 20 babies had already entered Singapore, and one adoptive couple told the BBC their son's citizenship was frozen after officials said he may have been trafficked.
Singapore has not said whether affected children will stay with adoptive families or be returned, while lawmakers question how adoptions were approved and ministries promise a review.
The case underscores a wider Indonesian child-trafficking problem: authorities say trafficked young children rose from 27 in 2021 to 70 in 2024, driven by poverty, weak support systems and lax enforcement.