Mothers jailed for selling children in Ukraine, Brazil, Russia, US

In a disturbing global trend, women across Ukraine, Brazil, Russia, and the United States have been jailed for attempting to sell their own children. The cases have shocked communities and sparked renewed calls for tougher child protection laws.

In Ukraine, a 20-year-old woman from Dnipro was sentenced to eight years in prison after trying to sell her two-year-old son for £18,000. Authorities say she wanted the money to start a business.

“According to her, she did not want to take care of her son, so she decided to get rid of him,” Ukrainian police said.

Footage released by officials shows the moment she was arrested after receiving the cash. Her son was immediately taken into protective custody.

“She found a potential buyer, to whom she offered to hand over the minor for a cash payment of one million hryvnias,” the Dnipropetrovsk prosecutor’s office stated. She pleaded not guilty.

In Brazil, a woman reportedly tried to sell her 27-day-old baby to pay rent and enroll in baking lessons.

The child was rescued in Goiânia, about 560 miles from São Paulo. Police said the mother admitted to accepting money in exchange for her newborn.

“The mother confessed, she told the whole story that they actually offered her a sum of money to hand over the baby,” said Goiás Civil Police chief Humberto Teófilo. The baby was placed in protective care.

Russia saw a similar case in 2019, when Rasulzhan Kyzy Barnokhon accepted £11,512 for her one-week-old baby girl in Moscow. It wasn’t her first attempt to sell a child.

“She said that she met a man online and wanted to date him. But before that, she wanted to sell her children who, according to her, were an ‘obstacle for dating men,’” said Yulia, an activist with NGO Alternativa.

Barnokhon was pregnant with her third child at the time. She had also posted her one-year-old daughter for sale online. “After the deal is done, we do not know each other,” she allegedly told an undercover buyer.

In the U.S., Jessica Woods, 33, was arrested in Florida after trying to sell her 18-month-old daughter for $500 outside an H&R Block office.

Witnesses said Woods first entered the business to use the restroom and was seen hitting the child. When offered help, she allegedly said, “You can have the b*****d,” and abandoned her.

The child was taken to the Palatka Police Department and placed in foster care. Woods was charged with child abuse, neglect, abandonment, and selling a minor. Her bond was set at $255,000.

In South Africa, Kelly Smith was recently convicted of trafficking and kidnapping her six-year-old daughter, Joshlin, who disappeared in February 2024.

Joshlin has not been found. Prosecutors said Smith sold her to a sangoma — a traditional healer — due to her “light eyes and skin.”

Neighbors accused Smith of selling the girl for around $1,000. A witness testified: “She [Kelly] confessed to me that she had sold her child to a sangoma.”

These disturbing cases highlight a global crisis where children are being commodified — even by their own parents. Authorities continue to investigate, as child advocates push for stronger preventive measures.

(Daily Mail)

ALSO READ TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE