China's new adoption regulations
By: Carrie Johnston, MSSA, LSW
As rumors of China's new adoption regulations have been splashed across the news recently,many families may wonder,"How does this affect us?" With the United States granting 6,493 visas to Chinese children in 2006, China has been one of the top countries from which children are internationally adopted by Americans.
The China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) announced that the new eligibility regulations for prospective adoptive parents will take effect on May 1, 2007. Some in the adoption community say that the new restrictions are in response to the large number of adoption applications that have been received in recent years. But many feel that Chinese officials have formulated the guidelines in order to recruit only those adoptive families that will provide the greatest chance that the children will be raised by healthy, economically stable parents.
The guidelines include that the adoptive parents are a heterosexual couple that have had a stable marital relationship for at least two years. If either spouse has had a divorce, the length of the current marriage has to reach five years. Each spouse may not have had more than one divorce.Also included is the age range of 30 to 50 years of age for each spouse with an exception to the age of 55 years in the case of a special needs adoption. Each parent must be in good physical health and free of cancer or other infectious disease, as well as be in good mental health. If the parent has been on medication for a mental disorder such as depression or anxiety, he or she must have been off medication for at least two years.
Neither parent may be deaf, blind or have any bodily or facial deformations. Both parents must have a bodymass index (BMI) of less than 40 to rule out obesity. At least one parent must hold a stable occupation with the family having a net worth of at least $80,000 and income of at least $10,000 per person in the household, including the prospective adoptive child.The number of children in the household must not reach five with the youngest being older than one year. The parents must both have at least a high school diploma and have no criminal record.
Professionals in the adoption community feel that these new eligibility regulations may send parents looking to adopt from other countries rather than subjecting themselves to the scrutiny of China's government. Frustrated by the new requirements, the number of single parents who have previously provided wonderful homes for China's children will no longer have the option of adopting from China. Many people are disappointed with China's decision because there is no hard data that correlates marital status, taking antidepressants, or BMI with one's ability to parent. China's government is working in the best interest of all Chinese orphans, but only time will tell the true results of this change in adoption regulations.
