Four arrested in Murcia over alleged 20,000-euro payments for illegal adoption of two-year-old girl

Social services at Totana town hall picked up on the case, which involved two families of Honduran origin and, subsequently, the Regional Ministry of Social Policy, Families and Equality of Murcia alerted the National Police's Minors Unit.

The girl was born in 2024, and the Directorate-General for Families, Children and Work-Life Balance had been monitoring and assessing her family circumstances since her birth, putting measures in place to protect her welfare.

The resulting police investigation found that the girl's birth parents had offered her to a family they knew. Weekly and monthly payments were allegedly agreed as part of the arrangement, allowing the second family to visit the child.

They also allegedly covered all costs associated with her maintenance and upbringing, as well as the alleged administrative procedures supposedly being carried out.

The birth family had allegedly created a scheme to convince the other family that an official adoption process was being handled by a specialist lawyer.

They also allegedly claimed that the director of the nursery where the girl was staying would confirm the arrangement was legal, and made fake telephone calls to support the deception.

As a result, police considered the girl to be in serious danger. Officers therefore arrested the four people involved, acting in coordination with the Child Protection Services of the Murcia regional government's Department for Family Affairs.

Police have accused the four detainees of offences relating to illegal adoption, fraud and identity impersonation.