National Security Service reveals illegal child adoption cases by foreigners

The National Security Service (NSS) has announced that it has “revealed numerous cases of child adoption by foreigners with gross violation of Armenian legislation”.

According to the NSS, two citizens of Armenia have organized the adoption of more than 30 Armenian children by Italian citizens by grossly violating Armenian legislation. The two suspects have used their connections in a maternity ward, several governmental agencies and orphanages, the NSS said.

Several administrative personnel staffers of the maternity facility are also involved in the scheme. The NSS said that from 2016 to 2018 these staffers have coerced more than ten women who had applied for abortion to eventually give birth and give the child for adoption.

In several cases the medics even threatened the women, gave false information and incited the women to give consent for adoption. The NSS said these medics even did not hesitate to charge the women money for “rendered medical services”.

After receiving a written consent, the majority of the newborns were taken to orphanages with accompanying medical papers, which contained fake health diagnoses.

“Staffers of the abovementioned facilities, by abusing their powers and using the made up diagnoses noted by the maternity ward in the medical papers, violated the priority of Armenian nationals’ right to adopt these children and indirectly obstructed the children’s adoption by Armenian nationals”.