Craigslist: Want to adopt a baby?

November 22, 2009 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News

Police are looking for a woman who put an advertisement on Craigslist asking for a person to adopt her baby.

Police in Federal Way, Washington are looking for a woman who advertised her child as being adoptable on the Web site Craigslist.

“According to the Web site, there is a person who is pregnant, and it looks like she’s putting her baby up for adoption and having someone pay the medical bills,” said Ray Bunk, of the Federal Way Police Department.

“We are attempting to get a warrant, and we’ll be attempting to find the IP address from where the Craigslist posting came from and conducting an investigation from there.”

In the state of Washington, private adoptions are legal within certain state regulations, but the investigators are cautious.

“We’re just trying to make sure nothing illegal is going on,” Bunk told the Seattle Times. “We want to check on the welfare of the mother and unborn child.”

The author of the ad described herself as a 22-year-old woman from the town, stating that she was almost five months pregnant and the father didn’t want it. The author claimed to be seeking an affluent couple to adopt the baby and pay the associated medical expense.

It’s not the first time that adoption ads have appeared on Craigslist. On November 30, 2007, a similar advertisement appeared, originating in Texas. As in Washington, it’s not illegal to privately adopt in Texas, and no legal action was taken in that case.