China Adoption

My daughter Amy is in the process of adopting from China. As she is single, adopting domestically is almost impossible, plus the dangers of domestic adoption scare many prospective adoptive parents away. Our country seems too obsessed with reuniting families at all costs even when not in the best interests of the child. My husband & I did adopt a son domestically 30 years ago, and I just can't imagine how horrible it would have been if the courts had taken him away to give back to a biological parent.

China has a history of being very fair, regulated, and safe. Because of their one-child policy which applies to much of their population, if their first child is a girl, they often abandon her so that they can try for a son. This is especially important for farming families who depend on their sons for help and to continue their farm. Because of this, many baby girls are abandoned in China and eventually become available for adoption. Several years ago I saw a story about this in a magazine and immediately wished that we were younger and could adopt again. About a year and a half ago when my daughter told me she was considering this I was so thrilled. She didn't know my earlier thoughts and I had no idea she was even considering adoption.

The problem is - China has slowed down their adoptions to a crawl. Where the wait time was 6-8 months, it has grown to a year, then 2 years and now Amy is looking at a possible 4-5 year wait. There are lots of guesses as to why, the Olympics this summer being one of the possibilities, but no one really knows. We are anxious for the Olympics to be over though to see if there is a speed up. When Amy does get her referral, I hope to be able to travel with her to China.

I love to read China adoption blogs and will be listing some favorites on the sidebar.