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As many of you are aware, there has recently been a great deal of speculation about the status of the international adoption program in China. This is an attempt to outline what we think is happening, and give some guidance to people who are attempting to make sense of lots of conflicting information.
On the positive side, China's commitment to international adoption remains unswerving, the 1992 law governing adoption in China remains in force and unchanged, and adoption processing continues. If you are over 35 and childless, there will be little impact on your plans except that processing will be somewhat slower than in the past. There is still every expectation that you will ultimately be referred a healthy child.
Special Needs Adoption: If you are under 35 or have a child or children are in the home, the China Adoption Law states:
Article 8 The adopter may adopt one child only, male or female. ......disabled children may be adopted irrespective of the restrictions that the adopter shall be childless, reach the age of 35 and adopt one child only.However, the law does not give a precise definition of "disabled" , and it is this point which is currently under review. (The Chinese do not use the term "special needs", although the meanings are roughly analogous) All children, regardless of their age are being evaluated to determine their health status before referral. All special needs adoptions are presently (Nov. 20, 1996) under review, pending a determination of what children will be classified as special needs cases. A final determination of what will constitute special needs has not yet been made, and it may take several months before this decision is reached.
All dossiers submitted to China since last April are now under review to determine if the families meet the requirements of over 35 and childless to adopt a healthy child. If you are under 35 (either parent) or have prior children, even grown children from a prior marriage, you need to speak to your agency as soon as possible about the medical conditions that may apply to a child who will be referred. This issue affects only those waiting families with prior children or who are under 35 years of age.
If you meet the age and childlessness rules, then your adoption will probably proceed as it always would have, although the dossier processing will certainly take longer than has been the case. It is not possible to make a precise estimate of processing time, but we expect that processing will speed up as the staff at the CCAA eliminates the backlog of dossiers in place and streamlines the adoption process over the next few months.
For several years, the Ministries of Justice and Civil Affairs were jointly in charge of adoption application processing. This caused occasional procedural disagreements between the two ministries and slow downs in processing, so in May of 1996 it was decided that the Ministry of Civil Affairs would assume full responsibility for initiating child referrals and reviewing adoption applications for correctness and to determine that the applications and referrals were fully consistent with Chinese law.
The first consequence of this reorganization was that a large number of dossiers, probably more than a thousand, were delayed for several months before they were transferred to the Civil Affairs offices. When these dossiers finally arrived at Civil Affairs, the adoption process became overloaded, because there was now only one office trying to deal with a workload that was previously spread over two ministries. Although there was never a decrease in the absolute number of adoptions processed (as the numbers from the U.S. State Dept. illustrate) a longer turn around time on dossier processing occurred because of the increased numbers of dossiers in process in Civil Affairs. The rate of adoption processing may have slowed in the last 3-4 weeks, but statistics are not yet available.
The second consequence of the reorganization was staff turnover. When the CCAA was put under the sole jurisdiction of Civil Affairs, a new Director, Mr. Guo SiJin was appointed for the CCAA and the staff of the CCAA was expanded. Mr. Guo has stated that his goal is to process all dossiers in the backlog as quickly as possible and to make the system run smoothly and quickly. Due to the many new staff, American adoption agencies have had to rebuild working relationships and contacts with new CCAA staffers. In recent weeks, many agencies have sent their representatives or directors to Beijing to meet with Mr. Guo and his staff. It will be some time before this process is complete, but then we should see dossier processing moving more quickly.
The Chinese authorities are acting to assure the long-term stability and legality of international adoption in China. FCC does not believe that any attempt to interfere in internal Chinese government decision-making or to change internal Chinese policies can have a positive impact.
Many agencies have sent representatives to China (often the executive directors) to discuss the adoption program with the Chinese authorities. Waiting families and prospective parents have strong advocacy taking place on their behalf. The committment of the Chinese to a strong international adoption program remains unchanged. Although it is difficult advice to give and difficult advice to accept, the best course for individual families may be simply to wait.
A very current source of updates is the a-parent-china mailing list. This source allows waiting parents to pool information and post what is learned from all sources. However, the current situation has given rise to a number of unfounded rumors, almost all of which paint the current situation as much more dire than it probably is! If you read this list, please remember that not everything that is stated is necessarily correct. If you post to this list, please try to post factual information, or qualify information that is conjecture or plausible speculation.
A number of families have stated their intention to divert to another country, particularly Korea or Vietnam. This is an individual decision that depends on the particular needs of your family. However, we do not yet know how different China adoption rules will be than in the past. We hope that the current uncertainties about the precise definition of special needs classification and the length of time required to process an adoption application for a healthy child referral if the family meets the Chinese requirements will be resolved quickly.
Fortunately, the Chinese are well aware of the deep love that we have for the children we've adopted. In return, potential China adoptive families should be comforted by the continued commitment of the Chinese government to international adoption and the advocacy for it by a large number of Chinese officials. Reproduced below is a statement from the Chinese embassy given in thanks for our support of the Chinese international adoption program when Human Rights Watch issued a flawed report on Chinese orphanages. We have no reason to think that they've forgotten the common love that we share with them for these precious children. Please be patient. Any further solid information, as opposed to rumors and speculation, will be posted on the F.C.C. web site as quickly as possible.
A MESSAGE FROM THE EMBASSY
The Ambassador has received hundreds of letters recently from many adoptive parents of Chinese children and other friends regarding the accusations in a recent Human Rights Watch/Asia report. One letter says, "It is grossly unfair to suggest China is letting children die in orphanages based on one person's dated and uncorroborated report on one orphanage." Another comments, "While the orphanage needed many things--more light, a paint job, toys--the facility was heated, the nurses were attentive, and the children were well fed, overbundled and bored. Several U.S. adoption experts tell me this description matches the conditions they routinely encounter."
The Ambassador wishes to take this opportunity to express his sincere thanks to all those who have written him to offer their sympathy and support. Their letters have confirmed the point the Embassy is trying to make. That is we in China care for our children. The many adoptive families' own stories of adoption seem to fall on the deaf ear of the Human Rights Watch/Asia.
China has made tremendous efforts for the protection, happiness and development of the children including the less fortunate ones in the country. The reason is simple, the Chinese Government firmly believes that children are the future of the country and society.
Please rest assured that the Embassy will continue to work with its many friends here to help advance the cause of child care and protection in China.