The Tide to Adopt Orphans from China in the US Reached the Peak Last
Year. (This news article, one of three, was reported by Chen-Shu Lin,
in the Chinese language newspaper "World Journal" on 1/23/2002,
and translated by Joy Cheung. The permission to publish the
translated article was granted by Jerry Liu, Chief Editor.)
Subtitle:
Adoption of orphans from China reached the high tide last year.
Each year four to five thousand Chinese orphans find new families
in America. Currently seven to eight thousands are growing up in
New York State. Almost all of them are girls.
According to "Families with Children from China" (FCC), the Chinese
government in 1993 set up regulations for adoptions outside the
country. In Beijing, a central organization (CCAA: China Center of
Adoption Affairs) was in charge. The first wave of adoptions started.
Before this date, there were only a few adoptions of orphans by
diplomats, scholars and businessmen in China.
It is easy to see the tide reflected by statistics. In 1993, the
American Consulate issued 300 visas to adopted babies. In 2000, the
adoption tide reached the maximum. Five thousand and fifty-three
orphans from China were adopted. One quarter of them was adopted
by families who live in New York State.
Last year, 4681 orphans were adopted and brought to the United States.
Among them, one quarter, or one thousand babies, started new lives
in New York State. According to FCC, since the official regulations
were put in place in Beijing in 1993, approximately seven to eight
thousand Chinese babies immigrated to New York State. They are almost
all girls. "The number of boy babies I know in New York are probably
less than ten," said Joe Kelly of FCC.
1993 also became the diverting point of American families adopting
orphans from Asia. The tide of American families adopting Korean
orphans since the Korean War slowed down gradually since 1993.
Currently there are about one thousand Korean babies adopted each
year by American families.
Up to now, the applications for adoption submitted to Beijing is
about twelve thousand a year. Every year approximately seven
thousand cases are arranged for adoptions by families in foreign
countries. The number allocated to the U.S. is about four to five
thousands. New York took one quarter of the total. From here we can
see that New York State played an important role in the adoption
wave.
Now the waiting list for adoption of Chinese orphans is as long as
five thousand families. Usually within one year, the parents can have
their wishes come true and carry back their treasured baby, a total
stranger, from an orphanage in China. "The adoption numbers decreased
slightly last year, a reflection of the stricter regulations by the
Beijing Bureau. This includes the drastic decrease of the single
parent adoption quota to five percent,"said Kelly. He did not deny
that this restriction could be related to FCC's intention of
preventing adoptions by gays or lesbians. Before now, a single parent
was required to sign a statement guaranteeing that he or she was not
gay to qualify as an adoptive parent. Now, the Beijing bureau simply
uses the low quota to prevent such adoptions.
The understanding by the Chinese people about the regulated adoptions
across the border is limited. Recently there was a survey in An-Hui
Province. Thirty-seven percent of the people did not know about the
regulations. The survey also found out that 44% approved of this
adoption and 21% disapproved of the adoption. This survey, the only
one so far in China, also found out that younger people had the
highest acceptance of the idea of adoption of Chinese orphans by
foreigners.