In the col­lec­tive imag­i­na­tion, inter­na­tion­al adop­tion evokes images of chil­dren being saved from a life of des­ti­tu­tion in poor­er coun­tries by being adopt­ed by fam­i­lies in Europe or Amer­i­ca. But the real­i­ty that has emerged is one of child traf­fick­ing, fal­si­fied doc­u­ments and gov­ern­ments around the world turn­ing a blind eye.