"But after 2000, they began to confiscate our children."

Longhui is a national poverty-level county with a population of more than 1 million.

Six years ago, the fine for breaching the policy was about 8,000 yuan, preventing many poor parents from saving their children, the report said. Late on Monday, Shaoyang government announced a joint investigation into the reported scandal alongside officials from the disgraced county of Longhui, without offering details.

An anonymous employee with the Longhui family planning office denied the alleged child trafficking, saying the office had improved from a year ago when accusations of "inappropriate work" had first broken.

"When we found illegal birth children, we fined the parents in accordance with the law," he told the Global Times, refusing to elaborate.

If the scandal is confirmed, the family-planning office and the welfare center have committed serious crimes against humanity, said Feng Yujun, a law professor with the Renmin University of China in Beijing.

"To bring their children back, parents can either impeach the family planning office up to its supervisor or demand state compensation or apply for administrative review at the local court," he told the Global Times.