AMERICAN couples are paying up to US$3,000 ($23,190) for clearance to adopt disabled Hong Kong babies - and the toddlers are advertised in a magazine supplied to potential adoptive parents.
The bi-monthly magazine, Hi Families, carries descriptions of individual children, including their medical condition and photographs when available.
The profiles are supplied by Hong Kong welfare organisation Mother's Choice, which has agreed to provide special-needs children to an Oregon-based adoption agency, Holt International Children's Services.
The agreement, which has been in place for more than two years, was formally announced yesterday after ratification by the Social Welfare Department last Friday.
A department spokesman said the fee was purely 'administrative'.
Six children have so far been placed with US families and three have been matched. A further 22 are awaiting placement. The children's disabilities range from Down syndrome to physical handicaps.
Mother's Choice director Helen Stevens said disabled children who could not be placed in Hong Kong were referred to her organisation by the Social Welfare Department.