China Tightens Adoption Rules, U.S. Agencies Say - New York Times
The New York Times

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December 19, 2006
China Tightens Adoption Rules, U.S. Agencies Say
By
JIM YARDLEY

BEIJING, Dec. 20 - China is planning to issue new, tighter restrictions on
foreign adoptions of Chinese children, which would prohibit adoptions by
parents
who are unmarried, who are obese or who are older than 50, according to
adoption agencies in the United States.

The new regulations, which have not yet been formally announced by the
state-run China Center of Adoption Affairs, are to take effect on May 1,
2007, and
seem certain to slow the rapid rise in applications by foreign parents to
adopt Chinese babies.

"This is absolutely going to affect a percentage of our clientele," said
Heather Terry, a spokesperson for the Great Wall of China Adoption Agency in
Austin,
Texas. "This will probably affect quite a lot of people in 2007."

Ms. Terry said that foreign adoption agencies learned of the new regulations
at a Dec. 8 meeting in Beijing with officials from the adoption-affairs
center.
Chinese officials told the foreign agencies that applications had begun to
exceed the number of available babies, and that the new rules were partly
intended
to address that imbalance.

Ms. Terry added that China also wanted to slow foreign adoptions because
"they are opening up domestic adoptions now."

The adoption-affairs center declined requests in recent weeks by The New
York Times for an interview on adoption policy. An unnamed official cited by
the
Associated Press confirmed that the government is considering new
guidelines, but declined to discuss any specifics.

Even so, adoption agencies in the United States are already telling
prospective parents about the rule changes or posting the guidelines on
their websites.
"C.C.A.A. has decided to both reduce the number of dossiers accepted by
applying stricter standards to potential adoptive families and to increase
the
number of children available for adoption by improving the situation of
children in China's orphanages," Jackie Harrah wrote in a letter posted on
the
website of Harrah's Adoption International Mission in Spring, Texas.

Adoption agencies were told that China intended to increase the supply of
adoptable children by creating a new charity named Blue Skies, which would
focus
on improving health care for medically fragile infants or premature babies
at orphanages. An initial goal of this charity would be to buy incubators
for
many of the country's orphanages, according to the Harrah's Adoption
website.

Ms. Terry said that the most significant rule change is the new ban against
single parents. Up to now, Ms. Terry said, China has allowed single parents
to make up as many as 8 percent of all referrals; the new rules would
eliminate that quota. The age restrictions also have been tightened; China
now allows
people up to 55 to be considered.

Some of the new rules focus on the fiscal, physical and psychological health
of prospective parents. People who are taking medication for anxiety or
depression
can be disqualified under the new rules. Couples will be disqualified if
either person has a body fat measurement exceeding 40 percent (30 percent is
generally
considered obese). And a prospective adoptive family's net worth must now
exceed $80,000.

China will also disqualify families that already have more than four
children in the home.

Ms. Terry said that her agency has already started applying the new
guidelines. "We're no long accepting singles," she said. "That is the most
significant
change."

Single parents who are already involved in the application process and can
complete and file their paperwork before May 1 can remain eligible for a
Chinese
child.

Ms. Terry said she believed that Chinese officials were trying to act in the
best interests of the adopted children. "All the agencies worldwide have to
abide by these guidelines now," she said.

Copyright 2006
The New York Times Company