China's Rules Stymie American Adoptions

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 28, 2009 1:38 PM CDT

(Newser) – Americans are adopting far fewer Chinese children thanks to a set of Chinese fitness rules aimed at accomplishing just that, Time reports. Adoptions from the US have fallen 50% since May 2007, when China instituted rules requiring prospective parents to be, among other things, married, under 50, non-obese, and not on antidepressants. “Three years ago I was an acceptable parent, and now I’m not,” says one recently divorced would-be adopter. “It seems kind of unfair.”

With domestic adoption increasingly viewed as socially acceptable, and the stigma around girl children fading, China’s orphanages aren’t overflowing anymore. “I think they are saying, you know what, we have fewer children now,” says the founder of a Colorado Chinese Adoption agency, “and so we are looking for better parents.”

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (1)]

Adopted children attend a class at Wang Jiayu Orphanage of Sanshilipu Village on July 11, 2006 in Yingshang County of Anhui Province, China. (Getty Images)

A 4-year-old Chinese girl sits on her bed at an orphanage on December 1, 2004 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province of China. (Getty Images)

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You would see hundreds of thousands of children. Orphanages begging you to come in, saying, 'Please help us, these children need to go home.' - Josh Zhong, founder and director of Chinese Children Adoption International in Colorado

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