The People's Republic of China has been open to international adoption for 10 years. Since April 1992, when the government enacted a new adoption law, over 10,000 abandoned or orphaned children have been adopted by Americans. These numbers, while impressive, are minuscule in comparison to the estimated 500,000 children waiting in welfare institutions across China for a new home.
In the 1950s, Chairman Mao Tse-Tung encouraged Chinese couples to have large families to strengthen the country. By 1970, the average Chinese family consisted of seven people - parents plus five children. Although this vast and impoverished land supports one-fifth of the world's total population, relatively little land is suitable for agriculture. Attempts at economic engineering (i.e., the Great Leap Forward) resulted in much of that land being rendered useless for long-term cultivation. These factors, coupled with a steady rise in population, led to concerns that China would not be able to feed its people in the year 2000. In an attempt to solve this problem, a "one child per family" rule was implemented by the government in 1979. The intent was to keep the Chinese population to less than 1.3 billion by the year 2000.
Benefits for couples with one child include interest-free loans, cheaper fertilizer, and a retirement fund. The Family Planning Commission even dispenses fruit trees to those who have only a daughter. (As the tree matures, it will provide income that it is hoped will replace the support the aging couple might have had if they had given birth to a son.) Those who break the law may find themselves saddled with fines (reportedly up to 3 years salary) or be unable to register the birth of the child. An unregistered child cannot go to school. Couples with more than one child may also find it impossible to receive land or to find jobs. Unfortunately, it is also illegal to place a child for international adoption, or even legally to place a child in an orphanage. The child must be secretly abandoned in a public place, with hopes and prayers for her quick discovery and safety.
China's one-child policy has resulted primarily in the abandonment of infant girls, who grow up waiting in orphanages for new homes. There is strong societal pressure to raise a son. In rural areas, a boy can undertake a heavier workload than a girl might be able to. Male children carry te family's ancestral name to future generations, and inheritance laws are geared to the males in the family. Female children undertake the burden of caring for aging parents on both sides of the marriage.
This drama, played out daily, has led to a tremendous increase in the number of abandoned and orphaned children available from China. An estimated one million children are thought to be in case at this time across China. Official Chinese figures report that there are 73 welfare homes manned by local governments, and 1200 social welfare institutions in urdan areas.
Even if they tried, the Chinese public couldn't possibly adopt all the waiting children. Those Chinese citizens who hope to adopt must meet stringent requirements: They must be 35 years of age or older, childless, display proof of infertility, and be given permission by the government. Informal adoptions often take place in China, where a childless couple finds a child at their door, and then quietly raises the child as their own.
At one time, China was the fast route to adoption. Streamlined rules allowed for the adoption of very young infants in a relatively short period of time. Adoptions from China quadrupled from 1994 to early 1996. But in May 1996, the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA), administered by officials of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, took control of adoptions. Delays were incurred while the Center hired 30 or more new staff members and trained them to review the translations and dossiers and to work cooperatively with orphanages across the country. Waits increased as 800 to 900 new dossiers arrived at the CCAA each month.
In order to adopt from China, prospective parents must have an approved homestudy, receive INS approval (the I-171H), and complete the required documents. The documents must be notarized, county and/or state certified, and authenticated at the jurisdictional Chinese consulates or the embassy. Some agencies build large groups before forwarding the dossiers to China, while others send the dossiers to China as received. The infamous "DTC" or "date to China" is all-important in plotting the impending arrival of the Chinese stork!
The costs incurred in adopting from China range from $13,000 to $18,000, which includes the homestudy, dossier collection costs, authentication fees, translations into Chinese, provincial and notarial fees charged in China., the visa to enter China, the orphanage donation, the visa medical, US visa-related fees, and the CCAA application.
At least one adoptive parent must travel to China to receive their child and complete the adoption process. The traveling spouse should be the name listed on the I-171H, and should travel with a power of attorney to enact adoption-related business for the spouse who stays home. The I-600 original will need to be signed by BOTH spouses prior to meeting with the consular officer in Guangzhou.
Travel costs to China will vary greatly. Some agencies allow families to use frequent flyer miles, while others arrange for all travel, and are unable to allow for individual requests. Most adoptive parents travel ingroups to China. No other adoption program anywhere in the world works in this same way. Your length of stay in China will vary also, depeneding on the size of your travel group, and the group's particular needs.
Chinese children are generally abandoned children with no known social or medical history prior to arrival in the orphanage. Social histories might consist of a statement as to where the child was found. Medical records consist of a brief examination. Orphanages receive between $25 and $35 per child per month for food, clothing, shelter, schooling, medical care, staff and many other incidental costs. The orphanages do the very best they can with what they have!
The available children are up to 14 years of age. The vast majority available for adoption are infants and toddlers. Virtually all are female with a few waiting males among the older or special needs children.
Currently, families can expect an eight month wait for an assignment of a healthy child (down from a year's wait) and a nine month wait for the assignment of a child with special needs. Special needs referrals are made to those families who do not meet the stringent criteria to adopt (tose under age 35, or those with children from this or previous marriages). The term "special needs " has never been defined by adoption officials in China, but experience shows that the children placed to date have had fairly minor, corrective or cosmetic special needs. This policy could be changed at any time, and adoptive couples need to consider seriously whether they could comfortably parent a child with a serious disability.
After assignment is made by the CCAA, the family will receive the medical which was generated when the child entered the social welfar institution at about 2 months of age. A small photo of the child, usually taken at the time of the medical, is also included. Further medical clarifications are often difficult to obtain. Once the adoptive family officially accepts the child, final adoption approval and travel permission is usually secured within 6 to 8 weeks. The family then travels to China to complete the adoption process.
Adoptive families are drawn to China for many reasons, including the plight of the children. They are intrigued by the culture, the ancient traditions, and the chance to explore a prevously unknown world. There are always been a worldwide tendency for adoptive parents to prefer a female child. The poignant mental pictures of abandoned infant girls waiting sadly for a new home tugs at the hearts of countless adopting couples. Additionally, single parents, both male and female, are allowed to adopt from China if they meet the criteria.
The fear of a birthparent coming back to reclaim a child adopted domestically strikes fear in every adoptive parent's heart. Foreign adoptions almost seem safer in comparison. In China, the threat of the birthparents returning to claim a child they illegally abandoned months before is mitigated. Curiously enough, some adoptive parents have found mysterious marks on their child's body. Could these be "love marks" placed on the child's body in hopes of allowing the birthparents to recognize their child at a future date? Or is it just a coincidence that many children adopted from China share these marks? How can we ever really know?
Children adopted from China are considered some of the healthiest of children adopted from abroad. Since 1986, the International Adoption Clinic of the University of Minnesota has evaluated the health status of internationally adopted children. They find that children adopted from China have fewer problems of psycho-social deprivation, tuberculosis, hepatits B, and/or parasites. Adoptive parents should still have the child thoroughly evaluated upon return from China, and repeat the examinations several months after the arrival home.
Eleven countries, including the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands, France and Norway. currently participate in international adoptions from China. Eighty to ninety percent of all adopted Chinese children come to the United States for their new home.
At present, the CCAA is considering "certifying" the American agencies that can work in China. In the other 10 foreign countries that work in China, there is a central authority for the CCAA to deal with, and in no other case are there more than 7 agenices involved. It is estimated that over 100 US agencies place children from China at this time. The disparity between US agencies that work in China is troublesome for the CCAA. There is continual talk of restricting the number of US agencies placing children from China. One thought is to use the 25 largest US agencies who qualify under the new Hague treaty requirements. Time will tell.
In November 1997, the Ministry of Justice in China advised our embassy in Beijing that all certificates of marriage, health reports, certificate of assets, and criminal history paperwork would now have a 6-month notarial validity period. The enforcement was to begin on January 1, 1998. The US Embassy and State Department acted swiftly, meeting with officials from the Ministry of Justice. They explained that, since adoptions currently take longer than 6 months to complete, all adoptive parents would be affected, and they would have to re-authenticate these documents, possible more than once. It could create serious delays and misunderstandings with agencies and individuals adopting from China.
This notarial requirement was clarified at the end of December 1997. While the 6-month rule remains in effect, the time that a dossier spends being processed by the CCAA does not count towards the 6-month limit. Therefore, if a family had documents authenticated on March 1st, and their agency submitted the dossier to the CCAA on April 1, the clock would stop between April 1 and the time the family received and accepted the referral of a child. In this case, there would be 5 more months after referral to travel and complete the adoption. Families should keep accurate records regarding the authentication dates on their documents, and keep their agency apprised of these important dates. You should try to authenticate all your documents at one late date, so that the record-keeping will be easier.
The fees to authenticate dossier documents from China increased suddenly in February 198. Regular processing (5-10 business days) went from $10 a document to $35. To date, there has been no concomitant increase in the cost of obtaining a visa to enter China.
There have also been some changes in definitions over the past year. It used to be that a family was considered childless if there were no children in the present marriage; however, the CCAA now appears to consider that all children born or adopted within the present marriage, and/or any children born or adopted in previous marriages of either spouse, will count against the couple in determining whether they are indeed "childless". This has flip-flopped over the years, and parents falling into this confusing category should be prepared for a longer wait, and the possible referral of a child with minor special needs.
Here in the US, there are new provisions affecting all adoptions from abroad. Work carefully within your homestudy agency for guidance on these new requirements.
On the one hand, immigrant visa fees have increased worldwide. The application fee is now $260 US and the issuance fee is now $65 for a $325 total fee (up from $200). Parents pay this in US dollars or travelers' checks, or Renminbi, at the US consulate in China. On the other hand, an income-tax adoption credit (of up to $5000 for adoption-related expenses paid after January 1, 1997) can be taken beginning with the 1997 tax year. Also in 1997, the Kennedy-Kassebaum Health Insurance Law was passed, stating that any pre-existing and even undiagnosed conditions in a child who has been adopted must be covered by the family's insurance company.
Some demographers forecast that by the year 2005, the forced "one child" policy will be over in China. Due to a loophole in the policy, single children who marry have permission to have 2 children. As the hundreds of millions of people born under the one-child ploicy in the last two decades come of age, they will have something their parents did not have - a choice. It seems logical that this will affect the availability of children to adopt from China in the years to come.
But for today, there are still tens of thousands of children in China waiting for homes. These little girls were born without a chance for a loving home, unless adoption were possible. Those who pursue an adoption from China need patience to survive the long wait. Hopefully, the image of the waiting child can help keep the process in perspective and the adoption dream alive!
-- Mary Chamberlain (MaryWCI@aol.com) is Asian Adoption Director of World Child Agency. She and her husband are proud parents of two wonderful chilren, who also happen to be adopted!
-- Reprinted by permission from Adoptive Families magazine, March/April 1998