Stressed mom auctions boy, 1, for free on website

A stressed Dutch mother has offered her one-year-old son for free through an auction website on the Internet, national public radio reported Wednesday.

The Marktplaats website, the Dutch subsidiary of Ebay, has removed the advertisement.

“He has no illnesses. I am disposing of him because I have so many things in my head and am not very good with children,” said the person who placed the advert, claiming to be the mother.

Marktplaats said adverts with children for sale “luckily do not happen very often”, although a mother had once offered her daughter who was going through puberty saying she could “do nothing with her”.

The advertiser appeared to come from Leeuwarden in the far north of the Netherlands. A telephone number and an e-mail address were included, but the number could no longer be reached.

One of the 152 people who looked at the advert offered 2.50 euros, despite the clear statement that the child was being offered free of charge.

The local police offered no immediate reaction.