Kristersson was alerted about sold children - the adoptions continued

DN has reviewed eleven Chinese orphanages that Adoptionscentrum mediated adoptions from China during Kristersson's (M) time as chairman 2003-2005.

According to Research China, which mapped illegal adoptions and which DN interviewed, the children were often described in the adoption documents as abandoned and found.

But that was rarely the case.

Instead, the children were often bought or kidnapped from poor families that ran counter to the one-child policy that prevailed in the country.

Donations are the driving force

When adoptive parents came to China, they were required to make a donation of 3,000 dollars, equivalent to 24,000 kroner at the time.

The money was often left directly to the orphanages.

Neither Swedish authorities nor adoptive parents were told what the money was used for.

According to Research China, it was precisely the donations that drove the trafficking of children.

- An orphanage director had a monthly salary of around 150 dollars.

For each child the director placed, the orphanage received $3,000.

It became a kind of fund, which allowed them to pay up to 500 dollars per child and adopt it away for 3,000 dollars and make a nice profit, says Brian Stuy to DN.

Pattern

Already in 2004, DN wrote about children who were bought from hospitals and later sold.

DN states that Research China's database shows that it was not an isolated incident.

According to the Adoptionscentrum's then information officer Margret Josefsson, Kristersson received that information.

- In all major events, the chairman and board were informed, she tells DN.

Despite the warning signs, the adoptions continued.

- They wanted well, but they were satisfied with the answers they got from China, that everything went right.

We also trusted the Swedish supervisory authority in this.

Links to human trafficking

SVT has sought Ulf Kristersson (M), who responds in an email:

"The Adoption Center is a non-profit organization that is subject to the rules for international adoption issued by the state regulatory authority [...] I was interviewed about these issues in 2021, then suggested that a white paper should be made, to get to the bottom of the serious data that exists , that there were irregularities in some countries.

The previous government appointed such an inquiry, which is now working on the issues, and the new government will of course look closely at the results of that inquiry when they are presented."