Illegal Adoptions Feature Story

Illegal Adoptions Feature Story
Background and Instructions:
You are a reporter for a San Diego online daily news site. Three
weeks ago, you and other regional reporters received this press
release from San Diego District Attorney Samuel Martin:
Early this morning FBI agents, San Diego Police officers, and
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the home of
Fernanda Torres, Ashley Lopez, and Andrea Gomez.
Torres, Lopez, and Gomez have been charged with violation of
the Protection of Victims of Trafficking Act, alien smuggling,
kidnapping, child endangerment, and false imprisonment. Torres
has also been charged with operating an illicit business.
Officers discovered three infants inside the home. They are with
San Diego Children’s Protective Services pending further
investigation.
These arrests end criminal and morally repugnant activities, but
our investigation remains active and we expect other arrests in
San Diego and other states.
INSTRUCTIONS: The information above should be included in the
body of the story. It should not be the basis of the lead. You are to
write a feature story. This format allows you flexibility in how you
begin your story. For instance, you might begin by focusing on a
mother who gave up their child. You could opt to broadly discuss the
worldwide problem of illegal adoptions
By the third or fourth paragraph, you should write your delayed
lead. This is the paragraph that tells readers what your story is
about. After that, write the body of the story. Below you will find
additional information needed to complete this assignment.
You and your editors decide to investigate the story further.
Martin, who is the chief prosecutor in the city, has been a source
of information for past stories.
After explaining to him that you would like to produce a feature
story on the illegal adoptions, he agrees to provide information.
He asks that you treat his comments as background. You agree.
This requires you to identify him in the story as “a law
enforcement official.”
Martin says the arrests represent only a small part of a much
larger international criminal organization active in the buying and
selling of Mexican babies. It is a major case of human trafficking.
According to the DA, the San Diego smuggling ring had been
placing ads in Baja California newspapers and online from
purported American couples seeking women with babies who
wished to give them up for adoption. Women who responded,
typically single, pregnant and poor, found themselves in touch
with other women, members of the smuggling operation.
The women operatives, based in San Diego, visited the expectant
mothers and, if they were judged to be healthy, were offered full
financial coverage of their prenatal care and delivery, plus a few
hundred dollars for giving up their babies.
Once born, the babies were smuggled into San Diego and taken
to a home owned by Fernanda Torres. She ran the operation.
Torres, using a network of unscrupulous attorneys, found couples
who wished to adopt, but were deemed unsuitable by legitimate
adoption agencies. In some cases, they earned too little, were too
old or perhaps had several children already.
Torres brought together the couples and infants. If the prospective
adoptive parents liked the infant, the “adoption” was finalized. The
parents paid Torres between $10,000 and $15,000 and received
a forged birth certificate and other pertinent documents. At least
fifty such baby sales transpired at the Torres home, according to
Martin.
Martin provides you with other details including the names and
addresses of several women in Baja California who allegedly sold
their babies. Because you are an enterprising reporter, you
arrange to talk to the women in person.
Here are summaries of the interviews you conducted. You
have the women’s permission to quote them by name.
Maria Esquivel, 22, a Tijuana factory worker:
“I ended up pregnant, and that’s when my boyfriend disappeared.
Imagine, here I am in Tijuana, far away from my family in Mexico
City. So, when a friend told me about the ad, I called the number.
A lady came here from San Diego, and she offered to pay for my
medical care and the hospital for when I gave birth. I said okay
because I didn’t see what else I could do. Maybe I could have
looked to get an abortion, but that scared me. I went through with
it and got $200 for myself. “
Cipriana Gomez, 26, a Tijuana domestic worker:
“This was something that broke my heart. I have two children, but
I’m by myself and hardly making it. With another baby, I don’
know what I would do. I wish I could meet the couple that has my
baby—she’s a little girl I was going to name Thalia. I tell myself
that she is going to have a better life in the United States.”
Angela Ramirez, 18, a Tijuana student:
“I started out with my pregnancy thinking I would keep my baby.
But I’m still in school, and I live with my aunt. My parents died
when I was small. Anyway, my aunt said I was too young to be a
mother, that I could have babies when I was ready. She found the
women through the newspaper. Like my aunt, she said how I was
just a kid and that these Americans would adopt him and make
sure he had things easier than here in Mexico. It was very hard
and painful to give birth, but it was nothing compared to handing
my baby boy to that lady. That was an awful day; I couldn’t stop
crying. I feel that I’m always going to miss him.”
Luisa Cervantes, 26, a small business owner
“My baby was kidnapped,” said Cervantes. She alleges that the
day she gave birth to a son four months ago, two women dressed
as nurses came to her room. “Sandra, my baby, was in a crib right
next to me. The women who I thought were nurses said they had
to conduct some routine tests, and so they took the baby. When
they didn’t come back after about an hour. I asked another nurse,
and then I realized the women kidnapped Sandra. All I do is cry.
Who could be this cruel?”
.
Cynthia Thomas, director of Babies International, an
organization that arranges legal adoptions:
“This is nothing less than human trafficking,” she says. “It’s
especially terrible because these are helpless infants being
placed with people who are not subject to any sort of background
check or home visitation. You hope that these are loving and
wholesome homes, but without the requisite checks, you just
don’t know. The case of Mrs. Cervantes is especially horrible.
Whoever is engaged in this criminal activity deserves severe
punishment. Sadly, illegal adoptions happen all over the world.”
You interview Martin on the record. That means you may quote
him by name regarding the following information. He tells you that
Mexican authorities have been involved in the investigation and
will make arrests of ring members in the Tijuana area. He says
this is one of the largest child selling and trafficking operations to
be detected in the United States.
Significantly, he adds that there will be arrests in Baja California
starting next week.
Still ahead is the daunting task of attempting to locate the babies
who were sold. He notes that Torres kept meticulous records of
her transactions.“She was bringing in many thousands of dollars
per month,” says Martin. “It was a very lucrative business.”
Finally, you speak by telephone with Martha Filkins, the attorney
representing Torres. “Mrs. Torres simply provided temporary
shelter for abandoned infants,” says Filkins. “We will prove in
court that she broke no laws.” She then ends the conversation.
Write a feature story of between 575 and 650 words. The
story is due on the day and time indicated.
Most of the news is old, so it will not be included in your lead. It
will, however, be folded into the story.
Remember, this is a feature story. That offers you the chance to
get creative and use evocative and colorful language. Consider
the wealth of interview and supplemental information at your
disposal. You should judiciously incorporate this material. You
might opt to focus on one of the women who sold their babies or
on the sad phenomenon of illegal adoptions.
Be careful to properly attribute quotes, especially those
concerning Martin. Remember some of what he said is on
background, while the statement is on- the- record.