Children for sale - just click here

Wow! What a neat kid . . . Rescued from an orphanage..."

Each day, at the click of a button, hundreds of updated galleries of innocent, smiling young faces can now be accessed through the internet.

America is leading the way with a host of adoption agency websites deliberately calculated to attract couples desperate for a child and willing to pay thousands of pounds.

You can click on any state on a coloured map of America, type in your requirement and on the screen within seconds appear row upon row of children waiting for adoption.

There's Chin, an 11-month old baby girl from Asia. "This little beauty is a very lovable baby," one agency declares. "She loves to be cuddled. She is crawling everywhere and is about ready to take off walking. This little precious is ready for a family to take her home and give her lots of love." Then there's Maria, "a precious little Guatemalan girl. She is developing great. She is healthy, alert, and has beautiful big eyes".

There are comparatively few white, American-born babies on the internet market. Most of the new arrivals are flown in from Eastern Europe, China, Latin American countries and the former Soviet Union.

Airlines are even offering "special delivery" adoption flight discounts for baby collection by new parents from more than 100 destinations worldwide. Northwest Airlines and KLM are offering a new "Let us know when you are ready to go" flight. "Let us make that special delivery and fly you right into their arms," reads the advert.

There are hundreds of sites where babies are treated like consumer goods. Many are bona fide and provide a valuable, non-profit-making service to adoptive parents. But many others are little more than baby shops, exploiting the vulnerability of would-be parents for as much as they can get, as in the case of twins Kimberley and Belinda, reported in the Standard this week.

The pair were bought from a Californian web business for £8,200, only for their new British parents, Alan and Judith Kilshaw, to discover they were sold for half the price to an American couple months before.

From figures available on the internet, it emerges that white children are harder to come by, and the more unscrupulous agencies are likely to charge more for them than for non-white babies. A healthy white baby might cost £18,000, an Asian baby £9,000, while a black baby could cost only £3,750. When enquiries were made with Texan agencies, one said that "'full African-American babies" were difficult to place, and were available for as little as £2,400. However, white and Asian babies required a "full service fee" of £6,000.

An indication of the enormous scale of the US baby market can be gauged by www.adopting.org, whose logo is a variation on the Michelangelo fresco in the Sistine Chapel. A tiny baby's hand grips a parent's finger against a background of clouds.

The site has had 2.1 million visitors since its launch four years ago. It offers information on how to contact US-based international adoption agencies, the latest influx of babies and young children from around the world available for adoption, extensive profiles of prospective parents, adoption advice - even for single parents - and news bulletins.

Agencies who advertise use every conceivable emotive name to attract couples. In California, prospective parents can chose from A Bond Of Love, And Baby Makes Three, A Cherished Child, A Child's Dream, A Cradle Of Hope, A Helping Hand and A Place To Call Home. They go to great lengths to land new clients. The Yunona International Adoption website features "this month's special children", who are mainly from Russia. To view them you are given the choice of three icons to press: Boys, Girls or Siblings.

Yunona says: "A picture is worth a thousand words in any language." It also offers options - at a price - on how to spend the waiting periods inherited with the "long and tedious" process.

"To help ease the communication gap we can arrange for an English language tutor for your child," it says. "You may also want to brush up on your Russian! We can serve as translators and set up a conference call between yourselves, the orphanage caregivers and, if appropriate, your child.

"You would be able to get a first-hand update on your little one and maybe even hear your child's voice." Many of the American-born children on offer suffer from physical, emotional or mental problems and are, therefore, much easier and cheaper to adopt. Typical is five-year-old Elia, advertised by California Kids Connection.com. She is described as "a lovely and energetic" Hispanic girl who is legally freed for adoption. She is said to have "a wonderful sense of humour and will keep you laughing".

The advert continues: "Elia has a cleft palate which impairs her speech. She has had two surgeries for her palate and will require more surgery in the future. She is in special education classes. Elia needs a loving adoptive home where her special needs will be met."

Although there is no suggestion that this agency operates a tiered-rate policy, there are many who undoubtedly do. There is no mention of this in the news section on the adopting.org database.

It prefers to play up the happier side of adoption, telling, for example, how 40 children brought to America at Christmas by the Families For Russian And Ukrainian Adoption were given a big party at a Denver golf and country club. "Thoughts of homeland were far behind as tow-headed toddlers caromed about the banquet room amid proud and doting parents," the reassuring picture captions read.

The website, however, also makes an appeal to would-be adoptive parents to give homes to children like Ryan, who have more obvious problems. A report about Ryan explains that he is "a kind and empathetic 13-year-old boy who enjoys drawing, basketball and wrestling who has attention deficit hyperactivity".

Owing to past abuse, the report continues, Ryan has difficulty trusting others and attends weekly therapy which "will need to continue after placement".

Another gateway to the burgeoning American adoption market is Internet Adoption Photolisting Agency, published by an organisation called Precious in HIS Sight. This site features the Adopt An Angel agency, which offers a two-year-old Bulgarian boy, saying: "Iliyan was admitted to the orphanage at 11 days old in good health. He is very sociable. He makes simple sentences, sings and takes direction. Please let us know if you are interested in this adorable little one."

It also has a commercial wing selling a 22ct gold angel badge, sets of Russian nesting dolls in angel's garb and a jewel box for storing lost teeth.

Across The World Adoptions, a Californian agency, offers 13-year-old Sacha from Eastern Europe with the following pitch: "Wow! What a neat kid... He's a trained folk dancer and a great athlete to boot... The fees are reduced because of Sacha's age." Prices are said to range from between $5,000 and $12,000.

There are more photographs from East West Adoption Inc, based in California, which offers children from Russia, the Ukraine, Moldova, Estonia, Romania and China. It says: "The children who are available for adoption have all been relinquished by their parents for adoption, or are determined by the courts to be eligible for adoption. They reside in orphanages and range in age from five months to l6 years.

"The child or children are legally adopted in the country where they reside before their adoptive parents bring them to the US."