China Weighs Rules

Restricting Adoptions
People Who Are Single, Obese, Over 50 or Taking
Psychiatric Medications Could Be Denied
By GEOFFREY A. FOWLER and ELIZABETH BERNSTEIN
December 20, 2006; Page D1

China, the most popular foreign country for U.S. adoptions, is considering
new rules that could disqualify thousands of would-be parents.

Those new rules would bar people who are single, obese, over 50 years old,
or currently taking psychiatric medications from adopting Chinese children,
according
to several U.S. adoption agencies that have seen the regulations. They would
ban disabled people and families with net assets of less than $80,000. And
they would set new minimums on length of marriage for couples seeking to
adopt. The China Center of Adoption Affairs confirmed that it is considering
new
adoption criteria while declining to discuss them in detail.

The rules, which have yet to be finalized, could take effect in May,
according to the U.S. agencies. The changes wouldn't apply to people who
have already
submitted their applications to China. But people who haven't yet begun the
process may already be too late to get applications in ahead of the new
restrictions,
some agencies say.

China's rule changes come amid a global effort to strengthen regulation of
international adoptions. The U.S. is preparing to ratify a treaty called the
Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, which is aimed at curbing abuses
such as child trafficking but may slow the adoption process and raise the
cost
of adopting a baby overseas. Guatemala, another popular destination for
people seeking to adopt, could be closed off to Americans entirely if the
U.S.
signs the treaty next year. And a number of countries, including South
Korea, Russia and Colombia, already restrict adoption by singles or older
people.
China had traditionally been one of the more flexible nations, U.S. agencies
say, but these new rules now make China among the toughest.

[Fostering Change box]

Americans adopted 6,493 children from China in the year ended Sept. 30,
2006, down from 7,906 in the year earlier, according to the U.S. State
Department.
China already had begun limiting the pool of prospective single parents, and
outright bans gay adoptive parents. The new rules could affect gay people
who currently skirt that ban by hiding their orientation and adopting as
single parents.

China says its rationale for a change in rules is simply that it cannot meet
the demand of prospective families. Birthrates are falling, and as the
Chinese
economy booms, fewer parents are abandoning their children due to poverty. A
traditional preference for boys appears to be waning, so fewer girls are put
up for adoption. And with the recent loosening of China's one-child rule,
more families are keeping their second child. The result is that "the number
of kids available for international adoption is naturally declining," says
Sun Wencan, who runs the adoption department of the Social Welfare Division
of China's Ministry of Civil Affairs.

At the same time, the numbers of overseas-adoption requests have multiplied,
in part because China's adoption process is centralized, predictable and
low-cost.
Most parents spend $16,000 to $20,000 for a Chinese adoption, including
round-trip air travel and accommodations. Adopting a baby inside the U.S. or
from
a popular country like Guatemala, where adoptions are handled privately
through lawyers, can cost double that.

China's popularity is evident at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, a
southern city a short train ride from Hong Kong. Americans picking up their
adopted
children often stay at the White Swan because it sits next to the consulate
where the U.S. handles adoptions. The families go through a simple
two-minute
oath-taking ceremony at the consulate required for the adopted children to
get a U.S. visa.

The State Department says it hasn't received official notice of any changes,
but the embassy in Beijing has been told that the Chinese government will
update
the foreign embassies there in the next few days. "We want the Chinese to
have requirements that protect the children," says Christopher Lamora, chief
of the Intercountry Adoption Unit at the State Department. "If these
requirements do that, then we support them."

The proposed changes, which adoption agencies say were outlined at a Dec. 8
meeting with the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA), would have the
biggest
impact on single parents, who will now be cut out altogether.

Ann Hassan, China adoption coordinator at New York agency Spence-Chapin, who
was at the meeting, says that married applicants will also face new
restrictions.
As outlined, the rules would require couples to be married for at least two
years. And if either applicant was previously divorced, the couple must be
married at least five years, she says.

The rules, which have yet to be formalized, could also affect applicants who
are taking certain psychiatric medications. Ms. Hassan and other agencies
said
that there is still confusion over whether the new rules are meant to cover
only severe mental-health issues such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia,
or if applicants taking medication for depression (a fairly common malady
among people battling infertility) would also be barred. "This is why it's
really
important that we have written guidelines," says Ms. Hassan.

Some of the rules are similar to what other countries already require in an
effort to ensure that parents are healthy enough to care for children. For
instance,
many adoption agencies say that CCAA told them that only parents with body
mass indexes, or BMI, under 40 would be accepted. BMI is a ratio of weight
over
height, and a BMI of greater than 40 is usually considered "morbidly obese."
There are some stricter rules in other countries: Agencies in South Korea
may require a BMI of no higher than 30.

"What you are seeing is a more aggressive posture in terms of protecting
children's rights and insuring placements result in a permanent and safe
family,"
says Thomas J. DiFilipo, the president of the Joint Council on International
Children's Services, an adoption advocacy and education nonprofit.

China's tightening could force some prospective adoptive parents to turn to
other countries such as Russia or Vietnam, where depending on the
applicant's
situation, there may be more options. Parents may also look more carefully
at the option of adopting children with minor birth defects that they think
can be corrected in U.S. hospitals, agencies say. Even in China's new rules,
the restrictions on parents who adopt special-needs children are less
severe.

Chavonne Yee, who is single, has long wanted to adopt from China and has
already completed many of the requirements. But when the 41-year-old Chicago
resident
learned last week from her adoption agency that China may bar singles, she
decided to consider adopting a special-needs child, which would allow her to
complete the adoption more quickly before the rules kick in. "I'm concerned
that if they've made these restrictions now, they could change again," says
Ms. Yee, who is a business development manager at Texas Instruments.

--Helena Yu contributedto this article.