Since 2019, the Armenian authorities have been conducting a classified criminal investigation into twenty illegal adoptions. Anpas, Arcobaleno Onlus and Famiglia Insieme Onlus have not been formally charged.
However, among those accused are Anush Garsanyan, who represents these three Italian agencies in Armenia, and Razmik Abrahamyan, the director of the Republican Maternity Hospital in Yerevan. The main charges include illegally separating children from their parents and bribery. In a strongly patriarchal society where women often face various forms of violence, many mothers were reportedly coerced into giving up their newborns, who were then adopted in Italy.
This journalistic investigation revealed evidence of a network operating from at least 2007 to 2019 and sending an unclear number of children to Italy. The investigation revealed inconsistencies in records, opaque cooperation projects and the charging of high and unjustified fees to Italian families seeking to adopt, as well as the existence of graves of children declared dead that were found to be non-existent.
The Italian Commission for International Adoptions (CAI) appeared to have provided inadequate oversight.
The investigation involved fieldwork in Armenia, the collection of official documents, and dozens of interviews with affected families, experts, and lawyers. Both Armenian and Italian authorities blocked access to certain sites and refused requests for information.
Key Findings
- The Italian organisations Anpas, Arcobaleno Onlus and Famiglia Insieme Onlus failed to meet official requirements and were involved in opaque, or even fictitious, cooperation projects. For example, Arcobaleno Onlus is still requesting donations for the 'Maxillofacial Paediatric Operating Room' at the National Institute of Reproductive Health, Perinatology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Yerevan, despite the fact that it appears not to exist.
- Italian adoption agencies reportedly charged around €25,000 per adoption, but this sum appears to include several dubious expenses. In comparison, the cost of adoptions from Armenia to the United States is calculated to be less than €6,000. The official fees charged in Armenia for processing all legal documents and requests, as well as medical charges, are less than €3,000. By contrast, the Italian agency Anpas quotes '€14,000 for the foreign agency's services in Armenia', as well as '€5,000 in additional assistance costs'. This discrepancy cannot be explained by official charges alone and suggests the existence of a lucrative margin and the likely use of bribes to facilitate child trafficking.
- The agencies were operating without proper oversight from the Italian Commission for International Adoptions (CAI).
On the right: Marine (35), with her daughter from a second marriage. In 2011, she gave birth to a child and was falsely informed that the baby was suffering from serious illnesses. She was coerced into signing documents under pressure from doctors, her then-husband, and her father-in-law. Her child was placed for adoption without her free and informed consent. The case is currently under investigation, and there is substantial evidence indicating that the child is now living in Italy. Armenia, Yerevan, on 10 April 2025.
Photograph by Cinzia Canneri.
