New laws planned to curb unethical adoption practices

Such practices will be made a crime, with fines or jail terms; Bill likely later this year

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Significant changes to adoption laws and practices are on the cards here, including moves to make unethical adoption practices a crime.

These practices could include "tricking parents into providing consent to give their child up for adoption, hiding important information during the adoption process and 'testing' a child's 'adoptability' as if they were up for sale", said the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 12, 2021, with the headline New laws planned to curb unethical adoption practices. Subscribe