Chinesepod - China tightens adoption rules for foreigners

Opinion / China Watch

China tightens adoption rules for foreigners

By Jim Wilson (The New York Times)
Updated: 2006-12-20 17:16

One person who is disqualified is Tony Velong of Temple Terrace, Fla. Mr.
Velong and his wife, Tracey, had previously adopted two girls from China
and were considering applying for a third. But they are too old: he is 59
and she is 51.

Are China��s new restrictions on foreign adoptions overly strict, even
discriminatory?

Post a Comment��I��m sure anybody who is healthy and eligible to adopt a
child and couldn��t because of the age rule would be disappointed at
least,�� said Mr. Velong, who was 55 when the first child was adopted.

There is no question he is physically fit: he is the police chief of
Temple Terrace.

��I��m still working the street,�� Mr. Velong said, ��and you have to be
in good shape. In reality, today��s 60 was yesterday��s 40, and I don��t
think that��s fully understood.��

A major reason that Chinese babies, most of them girls, are available for
adoption is China��s two-decade-old population control measure known as
the ��one child policy.��

The C.C.A.A., which was known to be developing the new guidelines for
months, refused a request in recent weeks for an interview on adoption
policy, and yesterday a call to the Chinese Embassy in Washington was not
returned. An unidentified official cited by The Associated Press
confirmed that the government was adopting new guidelines but declined to
discuss specifics.

Some of the guidelines are a culmination of what had been a previous
tightening of criteria, agencies said. For the past few years, for
example, to whittle down the applicant pool, China has limited the number
of single parents allowed to adopt to 8 percent of the total, partly on
the theory that if a single parent dies, the child has no other parent to
turn to, agencies said.

The ease of China��s earlier standards was probably one reason for the
deluge in applications, agencies said. But China is also popular because
its system is well organized and efficient and because Chinese orphans
are generally well cared for and have a good chance of being healthy when
adopted.

Foreign parents have become a common sight in cities like Guangzhou or
Changsha, where they usually travel in groups and stay in the local
five-star hotel for a few days as they acclimate themselves to their new
baby.

The quality of the Chinese system and the health of the children is what
prompted Mindy and Michael Henderson of Austin to apply for a Chinese
child this year, a girl, Grace, who they adopted last month. Under the
new rules, Ms. Henderson, 33, would have been disqualified because she
uses a wheelchair for a neuromuscular condition. As it was, she said, her
adoption agency had to lobby hard to gain approval, and was successful
only because Grace is 5, not an infant.

��It��s really a shame,�� Ms. Henderson said of the health-related
restrictions. ��I��m really, really active. I use a motorized wheelchair
so I can get around by myself. I drive my own car, I��ve got a master��s
degree and I work a full-time job in management. My husband doesn��t have
any sort of a disability.��

Adoption agencies differed on who would be most affected by the
restrictions. Ms. Terry said, ��The body-mass index and the anxiety and
depression are probably the two most significant blows. These are really
common diagnoses here in America.��

Ms. Harrah said that the age limit would exclude a lot of eager
applicants, and that the marriage requirement of five years for a second
marriage would mean for many that ��by the time they have been married
for five years they will be over 50.��

Others lamented the singles exclusion.

��It��s a very sad day,�� said Peggy Lee Scott, president of the Northern
California chapter of Families With Children From China. Ms. Scott, a
single mother who adopted a Chinese baby 13 years ago, said a third of
her chapter��s families were headed by single mothers.

��There always were a limited number of countries willing to adopt to
single parents,�� she said. ��China was willing and recognized we could
do a good job.��

Ms. Scott��s daughter, Abigail, concurred.

��Just because you don��t have another adult doesn��t mean you miss out
on anything,�� Abigail said. ��In my opinion, having one parent is cool
and makes you unique.��

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