For information on Bulgarian adoption from the US Department of State, click here. This will give a look at how adoption in Bulgaria is conducted ... rules, regulations, laws, etc. ... when international adoption of a Bulgarian child is being conducted by law-abiding citizens, adoption professionals and potential adoptive parents hoping to add a Bulgarian-born child to their family.

The BBC has aired the results of an undercover operation conducted in Bulgaria that exposes a baby-selling ring. This will give a look at how trafficking in humans in conducted by criminals. You can not only read about it if you've missed the broadcast, but see it as well, including much of the video surreptitiously shot in the course of the gathering the evidence, by clicking here.

The set-up was that one of the BBC crew wanted to adopt, but a criminal record in the UK prevented him from becoming an adoptive parent through legal channels in the Britain. There was no question that a great deal of money would change hands and that any paperwork would be forged.

The professional trafficker they were "working" with, has served time for human trafficking in the past, and he makes no pretense of being anything but what he is. He had no problem locating, then producing children, and obviously couldn't care less about the purpose or intent of the person wanting a child.

There is no doubt that there are children for sale in Bulgaria. In far too many places in the world, and to far too many slimeballs, people are product, and enough money can buy anything from infants to sex workers to slaves for labor.

There is an important point that must be made here, and that is that this has NOTHING TO DO WITH INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION.

Although there certainly are some in the world who are unbothered about the practice of selling human beings and enjoy the lucrative aspects of the slave trade, and there are those content to own another person through purchase, these people are not where international adoption begins and ends.

Equating traffickers with those legitimately and legally involved in international adoption is much like lumping Columbian cocaine cartels in with the Budweiser Clydesdales because both groups move intoxicating substances around. Even if you aren't happy about the availability of beer, you must admit that the differences between the two are stunningly and obviously vast.

This is not to say that there is no contamination, unfortunately, and just as beer can wreak as much havoc as cocaine when in the wrong hands, traffickers in human flesh will slosh into the adoption world given the chance to pick up a few bucks.

The error, however ... and a dangerous error it is ... is giving in to a tendency to shoot the Clydesdales in hopes of getting rid of the drug cartels.