One day, Dmitri Stewart's adoptive parents gave him some heartbreaking news -- they no longer wanted him. Using a "rehoming" website, they sent the then-13-year-old 3,000 miles away to live with a woman they had never met.
Sadly, Dmiti is not alone. Although the exact number is unknown, an investigation by Reuters estimates that several hundred adopted children are "rehomed" via online bulletin boards each year. The children are advertised with their personal and medical information that should be private. There is no legal documentation citing this exchange of children.
What's most terrifying are the motives of people who visit rehoming websites. While some may be good people who are going about adoption in the wrong way, others are pedophiles and sex traffickers. This is something that Arkansas politician Justin Harris and his wife learned the hard way after giving their two adopted daughters to a man who later sexually abused them. The rapist was sentenced to 40 years in prison, but the couple walked away scot-free.