Daughters of the Bamboo Grove Quotes

“The Duans later said they were just one family among many who were selling babies to the orphanages. They insisted that the real fault lay with a government that harshly penalized families for unlicensed births while failing to set up any legal mechanism for babies to be turned over to an orphanage. Experiments in setting up “baby hatches” for families to safely abandon children were discontinued because virtually all the children were sick or disabled, overwhelming the limited resources of the social welfare institutions. The Duans had found their market niche. “I would make sure those babies were safe. I would bathe them and feed them,” said the mother, Chen, soon after she got out of prison. “You can judge for yourself: Was I a good or a bad person?” It was true that the trafficking system worked for a while. Babies made it to the orphanages. The orphanages earned money, building hotels, old-age homes, playgrounds. The adoptive parents were thrilled with their daughters. One might say it was a win-win situation. Except that it was all illegal, in violation of international law. And that three-thousand-dollar cash donation for a baby was in effect a bounty that incentivized a wave of kidnapping of female babies and toddlers.”
― Barbara Demick, Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins