China's new adoption regulations aren't design to restrict the
number of foreigners who can adopt youngsters but to ensure that
kids receive the best possible family care, according to an
official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Lu Ying, director of the China Center for Adoption Affairs
(CCAA) under the ministry, explained that China now has far fewer
children available for adoption by foreign couples.
"More domestic families have adopted children from our center in
recent years and economic and social development has meant that
fewer children have been abandoned or orphaned," Lu said.
According to international conventions preference is given to
domestic families rather than foreign couples. The number of
foreigners applying to adopt a child in China has increased and
they usually need to wait 14 to 15 months, Lu said.
"The new rules will help shorten waiting time for qualified
foreigners and speed up the process for children, especially the
disabled, so that they can go to their new families where they can
get better education and medical treatment, more quickly," he said.
The rules have been made in the interests of the children and to
guarantee them optimal family conditions, he explained.
The new rules, to take effect on May 1, 2007, make it more
difficult for overweight, single and economically unsound
foreigners to adopt. They give priority to stable, financially
secure foreign couples aged 30-50.
Foreign media reports said the new rules were aimed at curbing
the number of foreigners who can adopt Chinese children. However,
Xing Kaimin, a CCAA official, denied this explaining the new
criteria were meant to protect children's interests and not to show
prejudice against less qualified applicants who can still
apply.
Obese people, for example, are more likely to suffer from
disease and might have a shorter life expectancy, which is not
without consequence for the life of an adopted child, China
Daily quoted Xing as saying.
Other rules state that a couple wishing to adopt must have been
married for at least two years and those who've divorced should
have remarried at least five years previously. The current law
allows single foreigners to adopt Chinese children but requires the
father to be at least 40 years older than an adopted girl.
A new requirement states that those wishing to adopt must have
fewer than four children.
The new rules will provide a reference for foreign adoption
agencies which can offer preferential arrangements for qualified
families and improve efficiency, Lu said.
More than 100 licensed adoption agencies in 16 countries have
been informed of the revisions. But Lu said the priority criteria
might be modified over time.
More than 50,000 Chinese children are reported to have been
adopted by foreigners in the past 10 years with 80 percent of them
going to US families.
About 8,000 Chinese children were adopted by US families last
year. The figure was 5,000 in 2001.
(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2007)