[Snuffington]

The price is really a matter of supply and demand

That's what everyone on this thread keeps saying. But it only makes sense if it is legal to sell children. It isn't.

But the cost has to be coming from somewhere. Is it paying people to search for a longer period of time? Or is there some legal slight of hand in which one can sell children without running afoul of the law.

[another cricket]

Is it paying people to search for a longer period of time?

That is part of it. And home studies. They do expire and the longer you wait the more you will have to have done.

Or is there some legal slight of hand in which one can sell children without running afoul of the law.

Well... The birth mother can ask for and get almost anything she wants within certain limits. Housing, medical care, an allowance, in some cases the a-parents even might arrange to pay for her continued education.

After they (the adoptive parents) have shelled out the money they have no guarantee that she won’t decide any time to change her mind. In some states she has up to a year after the birth to do so. As this was considered a “gift” she does not have to repay them. If this happens a couple times it starts getting very expensive.

A. Cricket

[HamiltonJay]

No, its not simply a matter of "selling children"... though there is a black market where you can if you are willing to deal with the seediness of it and yes I am talking in the United States.

I am not condoning the practice, but it is more effort to find a newborn white child to adopt than a newborn biracial or black child. Private adoption agencies must spend more time and money to find a mother etc etc. Don't get me wrong they are playing the profit game, I guarantee you their profit margins on a healthy white child are far above that of a healthy black child. The whole industry is a bit seedy IMHO, but it really is the only way you can go.