Article re Black Market Babies – 1976

By TAO

I found the article below from 1976, babies from that time period are just now reaching middle age.  While the article does not state that these black market adoptions were processed through the courts – it implies that is the case – because as the article states it was hard to prosecute without evidence.

While you are reading the article below – keep in mind that $1 US with inflation factored in is equal to $4.03 in 2012 (source).

Ask yourself if societal mores have changed so much, that what people thought was wrong then – is now considered acceptable and the norm.  Family law does and should evolve over time.  Without doubt great strides have been made in our era, women can get divorced for spousal abuse – imagine that… we can get contraceptives without permission from our husbands… Yet not all the changes are good and at the risk of becoming the fuddy-duddy I always disliked, and swore I would never become – adoption law is where I think society took a distinctive wrong turn.  What I read in the article that was considered black market then – yet now seem to be fairly common practices today, in one form or another, and I am assuming within the letter of the law.  I think the discussion is worth having about societal changes which are driven by society that are for the worse.  It also makes me ask whether that is the reason todays prospective and some [adoptive] parents can’t seem to understand why some/many of us think these practices are wrong.

Please read the entire article because it will give you a greater sense of why I ask the question, and there is a lot you will miss that can’t all be put into this post.  I have only included selected quotes from the article with my comments below each quote, but without the context of the entire article it may not be entirely balanced.  All text below in italics and indentation are from the source linked.