A friend of mine has been in process to adopt a child from China for
what seems like years now. I can't imagine what has taken so
long, since I know she has taken pains to dot every "i" and cross every
"t" and jump over every hurdle presented to her and has followed the
process closely. I know too how harrowing the process has been
for her, and I know at the same time what a wonderful mom she'll be
when she finally gets the chance to be one.
China tightened
its rules on adoption in 2001, deciding at the time that only 5% of
Chinese children (down from a previous 25-30%) could be adopted to single-parent families like my friend's . A
new study, however,
compared
Chinese girls adopted by single-parent families with girls adopted by
two-parent families, and found there was little difference in the
children's adjustment or levels of emotionally-based behaviors.
The study then refutes China's claim laid out in its adoption policy
which states in part that it "would be best for
the adopted children to live in an adoptive family with both
parents."
The study took into account comparisons in socio-economic status
between the single-parent families and the dual-parent families, and
also points out that by and large the single parents adopting children
from China were middle-aged women with high levels of education and
adequate income, hardly what most would consider to be poor parent
material.
China's adoption rules are set to tighten even further
starting May 1, barring anyone who is single, overweight, depressed,
married
less than two years, divorced and remarried less than five
years, or over 50 years of age. Whoa! That's a fairly large
portion of the population right there! Supposedly the new rules
are to help streamline the adoption process and to shorten the wait
prospective parents must now face, but I can't help but think that
China is attempting to keep its children in orphanages. For what
reason, I can't even begin to guess, but my heart breaks thinking of
all those children who need homes and the potential parents who would
love to give them one but can't. I can hope that the new
information released from the study will somehow soften China's
apparently hardening heart, but I won't hold my breath.
