Teenage Mexican mum caught up in Irish adoption scandal tells her story

15-year-old duped into parting with her baby

Within days, seven other mothers in the area, most between the ages of 15 and 22, agreed to let their babies be part of the ad campaign, all of them desperate for the money on offer.

“We’re going through a nightmare,” said Fernanda Montes, an 18-year-old housewife received $670 to pay a hospital bill from the birth of her three-month-old. “How could we have trusted someone so evil?”

The women told AP that Bosquez and Soto persuaded three of them to register their children as single mothers so they could participate in the anti-abortion campaign, even though they live with the children’s fathers.

Mexican children’s rights activists believe that that could also have made it easier to release the child for adoption: only the mother’s signature would be needed.

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The children were then taken to a hotel in Guadalajara where they met with Irish couples who believed they were going to adopt them.

Police became aware of the scam on January 9th when 21-year-old Laura Carranza was accused her of trying to sell her 2-year-old daughter by her sister-in-law.

Carranza denied that allegation but acknowledged she was ‘renting’ her 8-month-old son and led the authorities to Bosquez and Soto.

Residents of Ajijic, a town on the shore of Lake Chapala favored by American and Canadian retirees, told AP that Irish citizens looking to adopt Mexican children began appearing there at least four years ago.

The Irish couples are now back home and none have been charged with a crime.

Ireland’s Minister for Children, Frances FitzGerald, said: “Obviously, for any couple caught up in this, it’s a nightmare scenario.

“What you can’t have in Mexico is people going to local agencies or individuals doing private adoptions because they come back, there is going to be a difficulty.”

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Nster.com