Quote · The Shawn Ryan Show
#314 Jen Lilley - The Dark Truth About the American Foster Care System
Where this was said
The Adoptive Trafficking Loophole: Legal in All 50 States
At 1:32:50 · chapter starts 1:32:40
Jen Lilley says she nearly became physically ill on a flight when she discovered this fact and spent days fact-checking it before accepting it was true. No federal law and no state law in any of the 50 states makes it a crime to adopt a child out of foster care with the explicit intent of sexually exploiting that child. A trafficker who successfully adopts a foster child acquires all the same parental rights as a biological parent — rights that, by design, shield parenting decisions from government interference. Congress has been briefed on this loophole. No legislation has been introduced to close it. Lilley frames this not as an oversight but as a systemic indictment: the people with the power to protect children have repeatedly chosen not to.
Adopting a child out of foster care specifically to sexually exploit them is not a crime in any of the 50 states. Congress is aware of this loophole and has done nothing. Traffickers already know it.
There is no federal law and no state law in any of the 50 U.S. states making it a crime to adopt a child from foster care specifically to sexually exploit them.
In 33 U.S. states, a legal guardian can sign a child under 18 into marriage without the child's consent. In 19 of those states, a marriage license shields the perpetrator from statutory rape charges. Traffickers use it as a purchase receipt.
In 33 U.S. states, a parent or legal guardian can sign consent for a child under 18 to marry, enabling traffickers who've adopted children to legally sell them via dowry arrangements.
