China Law Blog

So there will soon be an industry for "go-between" couples who can make big bucks acting as adopting parents.

nanheyangrouchuan --

Thanks for checking in. I think you will be proven right on this. Ain't this how it always is?

I always thought the adoption scene in China was slightly weird. You could always tell baby buying season (there are two periods a year I believe when adoption is permitted) by the sudden sprouting of numerous white couples carrying Chinese babies around the tourist zones in Beijing. Frankly tougher regulation would be no bad thing - but the current suggestions sound pretty stupid. The area that really needs to be tightened up is the monitoring of orphanages and how they get these babies. Not to mention better co-ordination with foreign agencies that can monitor the child's welfare once they leave China. The UK already makes it quite difficult to bring babies adopted abroad back in, precisely because they know that people go abroad partly because they're worried they wouldn't qualify under the stringent domestic rules.

Duncan --

Thanks for checking in. I concur.

First of all it should be noted, that selling children, particularly female children, predates the communist period and is a long established practice of peasents during harsh times to lesson their financial burdens. Generally they are sold into servitude of wealthy families rather than adopted. See Pearl S. Buck's "The Good Earth" for a fictional but representative example.

Secondly how do they check all this, particularly the anti-depressents. Do you have to submit a note from you doctor? Are they really going to dunk people to calculate their Body Mass Index or is just an estimate sufficient?

Curious.

Muskie --

Thanks for checking in. I am guessing China will go by an ask and tell policy. If the prospective adopting parents don't tell about their medication, I'm guessing the Chinese government will not know. As for the obesity thing, I would think that if there is to be any actual testing it will at least be limited to those who seem to need it based on their appearance. Truth be told though, this is a great question and I have no real clue.

I've said it before: I wish that all the restrictions put on adoptive parents would also be put on birth parents in the US as well. If every birth parent had to go through to have a child what an adoptive parent goes through to adopt one, there would be no overpopulation issue, I assure you.

James --

Do you really believe the benefits of giving the government the say as to who can have kids and who cannot outweigh the negatives? I think your idea would be a an unmitigated disastor and I find the idea of giving the government veto power on this truly frightening.

It is not fair that they dont let people under 50 adopt a baby or be obese. You should not judge a person by their age or weight well that is my opinion.

I myself am concerned about how the antidepressant drugs will be handled. For instance, I have never had any form of depression, nor has anyone in my family. Recently started taking Zoloft to treat premature ejaculation (its a common prescription for it).

Outwardly, mentally I have no effects from it other than being able to last longer in bed. Does that make me a bad prospective father?

I hope China looks at what the AD is being used to treat and not rubber stamping anyone as unqualified.

Shamer Losteer --

Thanks for checking in. I agree.

Concerned about AD Meds --

I would say that taking Zoloft for any reason does not, standing alone, make one a "bad prospective" parent.

i am a disabled women and for now single. my whole life all i have said from the day i found out i couldnt have kids of my own is that i wanna adopt a little girl from china. and i know i could love and care for her just as good as any other parent. i think these new rules are unfair no one should be judged based on what they look like for being a parent. as long as you have love and finacial means for this little girl from china you should be allowed to adopt i think it is very unfair to put all these restrictions on people.

Well I am entering a bit late into this conversation and I will state plainly that as an adoptive parent of a Special Needs Chinese daughter, I am biased in favor of these adoptions. On the other hand, meanigful dialogue is critical and that includes listening to all points of view.

I am not going to address the issues of fairness in any depth. China is China. The US has no right to dictate to them how to run their adoption policies. They have their own reasons for what they choose to do, whether we agree or not. Imagine if we allowed Chinese to adopt US orphans (and we got' em, folks) and then they complained about the rules we set.

Some other salient facts--China does not go by an ASK/TELL POLICY (except insofar as single mothers must sign forms stating they are not homosexual):

To adopt from China, families must pass a homestudy. That is when a social worker comes out to the house and interviews the family after the family has filled out a lot of forms about everything from medical history to parenting ideas, to chemical dependency history, to one's own childhood. These are thorough questions. The social worker inspects the house and can make as many visits as (s)he deems necesary to be satisfied that parents are safe and prepared for a child. If the social worker feels that the parents are innappropriate for adoption, the process is over. Period. I know of people who have been denied adoption based on questionable sobriety after a history of alcoholism. Your life is an open book and a perceptive home study is grueling. I suspect that would eliminate the Michael Jacksons of the world right there (of course Michael can probably afford a private attorney to do a private adoption and enough money can cover up anything, right?). Oh sure, a personal can lie...a homestudy is only as good as the social worker conducting it.

Parents are also required to comlete a thorough physical exam. There are papers that the doctor completes. That is where medication and BMI come in. Unless you plan on having your doctor lie about that Prozac and your 40+ BMI, the process is over right then. Period. Whatever health problems you have (one poster mentioned premature ejaculation), the Chinese government gets to know about it.

Once the adoption is complete and families are home from China, the social worker visits again to check things out. Parents are required to send updates to China for a certain length of time, post adoption--updates go to the adoption agency here and are sent on to the China Center for Adoption Affairs. At this stage, adoptions can be undone if the child is not being well cared for.

I think it would be difficult for someone to be a middleman stand-in for adopting parents who don't meet the criteria. Parents must go through a local law enforcement clearance, and then again on the state and federal level. Bank (financial) records and guardianship records have to be submitted. I meant it when I said that one's life becomes an open book! Then, once parents are deemed acceptable here, records go to China and the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) can still kibosh the whole process if they feel hinky about it. These are their children, after all.

In other countries, such as Russia, this process involves multiple trips and many bribes (adopting parents are given the clothing size and gift preferences of the judge and are expected to meet her/his critera--even after all this is done, in Russia, parents make a court appearance and the judge can end the process right then and there). The fact that so many parents go through this anyway is testimony to the desire to create families through adoption.

Why do people adopt? Some of us cannot bear children. Many of us have biological children already--we have a son. Our son was seven when we adopted and our new daughter was almost four. We asked that we be placed with an older child. And we sought out a child with special needs. I know of families who have adopted children with Down Syndrome because they love these kids and they know these little guys are not likely to be adopted. I know of deaf parents who have adopted deaf children for the same reason. Some parents just have resources they know they can share. Many adoptors are starting second families--their kids are grown. Some are adults who were adoptees. Some disagree with bringing kids into the world when there are already so many. Some have a high regard for the culture. There are as many reasons as there are adoptive families.

As far as baby buying,there is a valid point there. The majority of parents in the US who adopt are well-educated, high social economic status white people. This is one aspect of adoption that most people find extremely uncomfortable to look at. One way that parents can address this issue is by choosing an adoption agency that has on-going programs in China. Some of them help train doctors and build schools and such. There are ways to continue to support orphans in China after adoption (or instead of adoption). These same agencies are the ones that are most concerned with the ethics of making sure these girls are legitimate orphans and are legally free to adopt. Some of these agencies also have interest-free loans or programs that allow lower income families to adopt (for just the cost of airfare) children who are harder to place in families--either because of age, special needs, or because they have siblings who need to stay together.

I don't think it is possible to have programs for international adoption that are free of politics and uncomfortable economics. I do think the parties involved have tried hard to minimize the potential for abuse, just as I think most parents who adopt internationally have a genuine regard for their child's birth country and desire to expose their child to as much of their birth culture as they can for the interests of their child's sense of identity.

Oh and incidentally, when we adopted, we were asked in China if we planned to eat our new daughter--there is a rumor to that effect. We also signed paperwork that our daughter would have the same rights and privileges as any biological children would have.

I hope my response will be posted here because I hope that I have some answers to the concerns stated, as well as maybe introducing some new things to think about. I am always happy to answer questions if anyone has any. I really like that people want to discuss the things that others find offensive or intimidating. They should be out in the open.
~LT

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