Migrants pay Thais to adopt their children

Foreign workers are paying Thai men to adopt their children to help the children receive Thai nationality, says a parliamentary select committee.

Phrommin Seetabut, an adviser to the chairman of the lower house committee on labour affairs, said yesterday MPs discovered during a recent tour of the provinces that foreign women had hired Thai men to adopt their children to help them secure citizenship.

Nationality rights entitle them to state welfare and education benefits which they could not obtain as the foreign children of migrant workers.

"In one area, an alien woman paid a taxi motorcyclist 15,000 baht to be the adoptive father of her child," Mr Phrommin said.

The practice was first uncovered in Phuket in 2009.

The committee believes it is common in Tak's Mae Sot district and in Ranong.

Mr Phrommin said most foreign workers holding temporary work permits were young people of reproductive age.

Migrant workers give birth to between 4,000 and 5,000 babies a year in Samut Sakhon alone. About 1,500 babies are born to alien mothers in Phuket each year.

The number of children of foreign workers under 16 years in Thailand is estimated to be about 700,000.

Mr Phrommin said the cost to the state of supporting these children could impose a serious burden unless something was done.

Federation of Thai Industries vice-chairman Thaweekit Chaturacharoenkun said the government should promote contraception among foreign workers, in line with similar campaigns in Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea.

In those countries, alien workers have to undergo medical check-ups every six months.

Women workers found to be pregnant are deported back to their home countries, Mr Thaweekit said.

He said the government would not be able to prevent pregnancies among migrant workers without such a tough measure.

Meanwhile, a network of non-governmental organisations on migrant workers is calling on the Social Security Office to disseminate more information on social security benefits available to foreign workers.

Migrant workers contribute to the Social Security Fund at the same rate as Thais but are not always aware of their entitlements, said Adisorn Kerdmongkhon, a labour activist.