Baby Prices Soar 1,667 Percent

Wow, we really must be out of the recession.

Back in June 2010, I noted two incidents of people attempting to sell their babies. The asking price: $25 and $30.

Now there's news out of Washington state of a woman demanding as much as $5,000 for her newborn — at a Taco Bell.

From the Chronicle's Mommy Files blog:

Heidi Lynn Knowles, 36, of Vancouver, Wash., reportedly stumbled into the restaurant and started taking bids from customers for her newborn son. The asking price ranged from $500 to $5,000. The cops were later called and showed up at a motel where Knowles was crashed. She was charged with attempted child selling-buying, a Class C felony, and was held on $50,000 bail.

Now, this woman sounds pretty nuts and I certainly don't condone baby-selling, but why do these people always pick such terrible venues?

In the earlier incidents, the parents tried to strike deals in the parking lots of Walmart and PetSmart. If anything, Taco Bell is worse. The customer base has been enticed there by "Why Pay More" value meals. You think they have $5,000 for a baby?

How hard would it be to wait outside Whole Foods until you can discreetly approach a childless couple in their late 30s or early 40s? The average cost of adopting a baby from China is $19,000 to $23,000. I'm sure they'd jump at a chance to get one for five grand.

Maybe we just never hear about those cases.