Indonesia baby trafficking ring: Singapore will review adoption processes once facts are clearer

[2026/02/03] By CNA

Singapore will review whether child adoption processes need tightening when the facts surrounding the alleged Indonesian baby trafficking cases become clearer.

Documents and records seized by the Indonesian authorities suggest that a syndicate based in West Java had trafficked at least 25 children, including 15 who had already been sent to Singapore.

In a parliamentary reply on Tuesday (Feb 3), Singapore's Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli said that agencies here were working closely with the relevant Indonesian authorities on the matter.

“When the facts are clearer, the Ministry of Social and Family Development will review whether existing adoption processes should be enhanced,” he said in a written response to a question from MP Cassandra Lee (West Coast-Jurong West).

Ms Lee had asked if the government was considering measures to assist adoption agencies and families to conduct due diligence before processing child adoptions.

In reviewing whether adoption processes need to be enhanced, Mr Masagos said his ministry will take “a calibrated and proportionate approach” for this as there are trade-offs.

“More stringent checks may lengthen processing times or render overseas adoption infeasible in some cases, and may unfairly affect the majority of adoptions where there is no indication of illegality,” he said.

Minister of State for Social and Family Development Goh Pei Ming said last month that Singapore’s adoption agencies are expected to take the necessary steps and bring in children of "correct background and origin".

The authorities have guidelines for agencies on what they can do, cannot do and what is due diligence on their part, said Mr Goh.

However, as agencies operate on a commercial basis, adoptive parents also bear some responsibility, he said.

In July last year, Indonesian media reported that 12 people suspected of holding different roles in the trafficking syndicate had been arrested.

Based on interrogations of the suspects, the police found that each baby successfully transported to Singapore was sold for the price of up to 20 million rupiah.

This is not the first report of baby smuggling from Indonesia to Singapore.

In 2016, Indonesian authorities arrested three suspects in Batam for allegedly planning to sell a three-month-old baby boy to Singapore for about US$8,000.

News from：CNA