Infant Trafficking Under the Guise of Adoption Involves Doctors
Newborns are being traded illegally. The illicit practice, disguised as adoption, occurs at health clinics and hospitals.
By
Kompas Team
·6 minutes read
INSAN ALFAJRI
Front view of YK Midwife Practice in North Jakarta, Thursday (23/2/2023). The midwife was indicated to be facilitating the illegal adoption of babies.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — A Kompas investigation has revealed that midwives and doctors are involved in infant trafficking under the guise of adoption as part of a baby trafficking syndicate. The midwives persuade mothers who give birth to illegitimate children, while the doctors provide legal documents and find adoptive parents through unofficial channels.
The cost of purchasing newborns reaches Rp 30 million. The money is used to cover the cost of childbirth and issuing birth certificates. Health workers were found to be involved in the provinces of East Java, Banten and Jakarta.
In the city of Probolinggo, East Java, a clinic managed by an obstetrician with the initials DKD is suspected of offering adoption services. Kompas went undercover to gather evidence of the alleged adoption service from DKD’s assistant with the initials S. When we pretended to be looking for a baby to adopt, S responded, "Male or female?" She provided information that a baby born on 6 April 2023 was female and just two days old.
Doctor’s involvement
S explained that it would cost between Rp 29 million and Rp 30 million. We offered Rp 15 million, but S did not agree. The money was used to cover the cost of childbirth and issuing a birth certificate (SKL). "Here [we] process the birth certificate, later, you take care of [its issuance]," S said on Saturday (8/4/2023).
S ended the conversation. "Don't take too long, otherwise it [the baby] will be taken by other people." After the phone call, S sent a photo of a 2-day-old baby girl via WhatsApp. She added that all adoption processes would be handled by a doctor.
Probolinggo residents had heard of adoptions at the clinic, said HR (39), who had once been offered to adopt a child at the clinic. "At that time, my wife miscarried. After two treatments, the nurse there offered adopting a baby. It turned out there was a [reimbursement fee] and money for the mother amounting to Rp 20 million. I don't have that much money," said HR.
Going undercover, we proved that the clinic adopted out babies on Wednesday (29/3). We pretended to adopt babies that their biological parents did not want. We asked midwife EM at DKD’s clinic is she could handle an adoption. She nodded and then said: "The baby is given to the doctor. Later, all childbirth and inpatient costs are borne by the doctor," said EM.
IRENE SARWINDANINGRUM
A midwife at the DKD Clinic in Probolinggo City, East Java, Wednesday (28/3/2023).
When confirming the transaction with DKD through his wife Ira, she asked us to come to Probolinggo on 11 April 2023. The next day, Ira asked to postpone the meeting until after Lebaran.
However, after Lebaran, Ira did not respond to our call. With the assistance of the Indonesian Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (POGI), Kompas contacted DKD by phone. When asked about adoptions at his clinic, DKD denied that his clinic offered adoption services. "That is not true," he said on Wednesday (3/5).
We also asked about the two midwives who were involved in illegal adoptions. "The midwives have never been involved at my practice," he said. DKD refused to provide further explanation, saying that he did not know us.
Forced
A similar practice occurred at YK’s midwife clinic in Cilincing, North Jakarta. A woman, EK (36), said she had been forced by the clinic to hand over her baby because she could not afford to pay the delivery fee of Rp 3.5 million. EK could not refuse the clinic and in the end, she signed her son's adoption papers on 18 Jan. 2023.
Without receiving a copy of the adoption form, she was separated from her son, who was born the day before. "I cried hearing my baby’s voice. I was not allowed to see him. Early in the morning, I was told to go home," said EK.
Before she was released, YK gave her Rp 3 million for postpartum recovery costs. After the incident, EK was haunted by the face of her son, so she contacted lawyer Rendi Rumapea via TikTok. After receiving a subpoena (somasi) from the lawyer, YK returned EK’s baby to her on 11 Feb. 2023.
YK declined to comment. "Mas [brother], I leave all to Allah. God knows," she said on Thursday (13/4). The following day on Friday (14/4), we went to the clinic in Cilincing. A clinic employee named Dian said that we could not meet YK.
EE, who adopted EK’s baby outside the official path, also declined to comment. During a meeting at her home on Monday (10/4), EE said the adoption problem was settled. "Sorry. I've finished everything. Frankly, I was stressed yesterday. That's all, I don't want to be disturbed."
DOKUMENTASI NARASUMBER
The birth certificate belongs to NI (26), a woman from North Jakarta in March 2023. This document records the name of a man who is recorded as her husband. Even though he didn't know him. Later he found out, it was the man who adopted his child by paying Rp. 15 million to a middleman.
Data falsification
Kompas also found illegal adoptions that used falsified birth certificates (SKL) at Vitalaya Maternity and Children’s Hospital in Pamulang, Banten, according to the account of NI (26). An SKL dated 17 June 2022 bears the unknown name Herdianto listed as the father of NI’s son. Herdianto is a Lampung resident who bought NI’s baby through middleman SH in Bogor.
The SKL was signed by a doctor with the initials ARI who had treated NI during her pregnancy. When she noticed the irregularity, NI asked a nurse at the hospital. "I was surprised. I asked the nurse, who told me to write down SH, the name of the other person," NI said.
SH, who calls himself "the father of a million children", deals with unmarried women who become pregnant. NI visited SH because she did not want her baby to be documented as illegitimate. NI did not intend to sell her baby.
Later, NI learned that Herdianto bought her son from SH for Rp 15 million. Herdianto confirmed that the money was paid to SH to cover the cost of treatment. Meanwhile, NI rejected Herdianto's statement because the childbirth cost was covered by her national health insurance.
Just go to the management, OK. I’m not available because I still have a surgery.
Kompas visited Vitalaya hospital on Wednesday (12/4/2023) to ask why Herdianto's name was on the SKL of NI’s baby. One employee found that Herdianto was listed as NI’s husband in the hospital’s database. "Mrs. NI’s case is closed at our hospital," the employee said.
We went to the hospital again on Monday (17/4/2023). An employee said that Kompas’s visit had been reported to the hospital management. He asked us to talk to the police, because the hospital management had given all information to the authorities.
Doctor ARI, who had signed the SKL of NI’s baby, did not respond to requests for comment. We visited the hospital for a third time on Friday (5/5), and caught ARI in his car as he was about to leave the hospital. He said he was in a hurry to get to another hospital to handle a surgery. "Just go to the management, OK. I’m not available because I still have a surgery," he said. (FAI/DIV/IRE/DVD/NDY)
