£250 for a child

Mother sold 12 of her babies for £250 each to pay off debts
By NICK PISA - More by this author »

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=557593&in_page_id=1811

A woman has admitted giving birth to 12 children and then selling them for £250 each to wealthy couples.

The children were born as Caterina Annarumma conducted a 30-year affair with a married man. She kept her secret for decades before confessing to police this year.

She claimed to love the boys and girls dearly but said she had sold them because she was living in poverty in the southern Italian city of Naples.

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Caterina Annarumma, 70, confesses she sold her 12 children for £250 each


Police have tracked down ten of the children, now aged in their thirties and forties. Mrs Annarumma, 70, has had a tearful reunion with one, a daughter called Marina.

The babies were sold to well-off Italian couples. Their mother claimed her motive had not only been cash but also a wish to give them a better life.

She said she had gone to police to clear her conscience. She is unlikely to be prosecuted for child-trafficking because the offences happened decades ago.

Mrs Annarumma said she sold her first child, a boy, for 500,000 lire (about £250) in 1961, giving her what was then a small fortune.

At the time she was 23 and having an affair with a married man, Nicola Annarumma, who would later become her husband. The pair had 12 more children up until 1979, keeping the last one, a boy named Gerardo.

"I was seeing Nicola in secret," she said. "He already had a family and we were lovers and we had children. What was I supposed to do? Kill the babies?

"When the children were born they were sold and they helped pay off debts. We lived in a hovel then and we had no money."

She continued to see Mr Annarumma, now 75, until 1988 when he divorced and they were able to marry.

The story came to light after Marina, a psychologist, learned she was adopted and traced her birth parents. Prompted by Marina's visit, Mrs Annarumma went to her local police station.

"I wanted to get it off my chest," she said

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I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

So what. Why do people seem to be so horrified at this. It is a simple business transaction. She has a product to sell, and baby-rabid couples are willing to buy.
Only in a society that puts too much emphasis on DNA.

So true,two cents!

Anyone can breed themselves into oblivion, but it's damned hard to adopt a child. If society is so horrified at the idea of someone selling a child they do not want, then make it easier (and cheaper) to adopt. Also, everything is for sale these days, why not allow the birth parent to make a buck too, instead of just the lawyers?

I think this lady did the right thing. She realized she couldn't take care of her kids, so she sold them to couples who were living in better situations. It would be more cruel if she kept all twelve and they lived in some hovel. What sort of life would that be?

Wow! She got that much for them?!

Not knowing how much 250 pounds was worth in the 60's, I would have asked for more. these days, don't babies cost in the ten thousands?

I think they may go per pound. LMAO!

At that rate, it may be cheaper to buy in bulk.

two cents ¢¢ Wrote:
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> So what. Why do people seem to be so horrified at
> this. It is a simple business transaction. She has
> a product to sell, and baby-rabid couples are
> willing to buy.
> Only in a society that puts too much emphasis on
> DNA.

I agree, why not sell a baby now and then?

The couples apparently were worthy in my book as they didn't seem to care if it was their own DNA, and they were wealthy. So who looses?

I'd rather give my cash to some poor woman than pay a fortune to "scientists" for infertility.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency/results.asp#mid

In 1960, £250 0s 0d would have the same spending worth of today's £3,825.00

*********************************************************************************************************************************
I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein