Official news releases today (8/25/98) confirm that their are changes coming to Chinese adoption law. Two articles are reprinted below that have all of the currently available details. After the changes are passed by the Chinese National People's Congress Standing Committee, the China Center for Adoption Affairs will have to devise the specific rules to implement the new laws. There is no official word on how long this might take, but it is expected to be early 1999 at best before the new regulations are officially in place.
BEIJING, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Beijing is revising its laws to make it tougher for foreigners to adopt Chinese babies, but easier for Chinese, Xinhua news agency said on Monday. The proposed rules, now before China's parliament, are designed to "ensure the maximum safety and protect the interests of adoptees," Xinhua quoted Civil Affairs Minister Doji Cering as saying. Foreigners seeking to adopt would be required first to gain approval from their home governments, and then to submit to Chinese authorities detailed health records and proof that they had no criminal background, Xinhua said. In China, couples would be qualified to adopt even if they already had a child and would not be restricted to adopting only once. Current rules exclude Chinese couples that already have one child -- biological or adopted. The minimum age required for new parents to make an adoption would also be lowered to 30 from 35, and would make children over the age of 14 available for adoption, Xinhua said. Relaxing the domestic restrictions would aim to provide more orphaned children with a chance to find real families, the article said, citing prolonged overcrowding in government orphanages. "Welfare institutions are less than ideal places to promote the healthy growth of unfortunate children because of poor living conditions and the lack of family warmth," the report quoted Minister Doji as saying.
by DANIEL KWAN
Mainland couples with children can adopt for the first time. The Adoption Law placed "excessive restrictions" on qualified couples and prolonged overcrowding in orphanages and homes for handicapped, Civil Affairs Minister Doje Cering told the National People's Congress Standing Committee yesterday. "Welfare institutions are less than ideal places to promote the healthy growth of unfortunate children because of poor living conditions and the lack of family warmth," Mr Doje said. He said the revised law would ensure "maximum safety and protect the interests of adoptees". Existing laws require adoptive parents to be childless and each couple can only adopt one orphaned or handicapped child. Xinhua said the revised law had removed the restriction. Other changes include lowering the minimum age for adoptive couples from 35 to 30 and allowing some parents to adopt children aged more than 14. The Standing Committee is set to pass the law at the end of its six-day session. The revised law also proposes new criteria for foreigners seeking to adopt Chinese children. They will have to obtain approval from their own governments and certificates of good health and no criminal records. Chinese officials said there were about 100,000 orphans, but foreign agencies believe there are millions more abandoned children. Foreign human rights activists have long called on Beijing to relax its adoption policy saying it would help solve the problem of abandoned children. However, some mainland family planning experts feared any relaxation could threaten the one-child policy and encourage dumping of unwanted infants in villages. Robin Munro, the Hong Kong director of Human Rights Watch/Asia, welcomed the changes. "This is wonderful news for the tens of thousands of orphans and handicapped children in China who have been granted the possibility of finding a home of their own," Mr Munro said. "Humane good sense has finally won out." The Standing Committee also began debate on changes to several other important laws, including the Higher Education Law, a draft law on village committees and a revised Contract Law.
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