Chinese adoption has changed drastically in the past 10
years.
Most people who discuss Chinese
adoption with me are unaware of these changes, so I thought I would share some
information.
This information is from Amy
Eldridge of
Love Without
Boundaries.
There have been immense changes in China adoption in the
past 10 years. The landscape has changed considerably from the days when
Chinese orphanages were filled with healthy infant girls who had been abandoned
because of the government's one child policy and the social preference for
boys. Now, the orphanages are filled with special needs kids, many
critically ill. Over 98% of newly abandoned children in China have
serious medical needs, which explains why 60% of adoptions in 2010 were special
needs adoption.
Why the significant change? First, there has been a growth in more modern
attitudes about girls. It is really only in the rural areas that the
social preference for boys remains. Ten years ago, 85% of the Chinese
population lived in rural areas. Now, only 50% are rural and 50% are urban.
With that urbanization has come more education, the internet, and the like,
which has led to more modern attitudes. Second, there has been growth in
the availability of ultrasound technology. Now, anyone who is pregnant
can know the child's sex. Anyone who carries a girl to term does so
knowingly and with every intention of parenting her. Those who want a boy
instead will have an abortion. Third, domestic adoption in China is
growing rapidly. This was caused in part by the public interest in
adoption after all the news reporting about the orphans of the Sichuan
earthquake. And another factor is the increased rate of infertility in
China. One government agency estimates that as many as 40 million couples
in China are infertile. Infertility is skyrocketing because of increased
premarital sex without much sex education, causing increased rates of STDs and
frequent abortions that might be less than sterile and because of environmental
toxins and pollution.
Domestic adoption is preferred by orphanage directors,
because domestic adopters pay higher fees than international adopters. In
Guangzhou, domestic adopters pay fees of $15,000 to the orphanage (foreign
adopters pay $6,000); in Hefei, the fee is $7,000 for domestic
adopters. Most adoptions are handled on the county or provincial level,
even though the CCAA now has a national office of domestic adoption.
Orphanages just don't send the files of healthy infants for international
adoption when they can place the child domestically.
So, for these reasons, there are fewer and fewer healthy infant girls available
for international adoption. And there has been skyrocketing abandonment
of special needs children. One reason for that is the increase in children
in China born with birth defects. Birth defects in China have increased
40% since 2001. It is estimated that 1 in 8 to 10 children born in China have
birth defects. There are a number of theories about why the rate of birth
defects is so high in China, but most believe it is environmental exposure --
after all, in a recent list of the 20 "dirtiest" cities in the world,
16 of them were Chinese cities. In one area of Shaanxi Province, where
there is considerable coal production and other environmental hazards, it's
reported that the birth defect rate is 85%.
Special needs children get abandoned because of the stigma associated with
disabilities and/or because of medical costs. Extended family, especially
the mother-in-law, will insist that a disabled child be abandoned because the
child is considered unlucky, a curse on the family. Children with visible
disabilities will be refused education, and when they grow up will have
difficulty finding a job. Medical costs can be too high for a family to bear
-- there is no health insurance, no free health care in China. All health
care has to be paid for up front. Even if you're in an accident, you
won't be treated until your family shows up to pay the bill first. There
are no emergency rooms in China. Poor families will abandon their
children in the hopes that they will receive health care in the orphanage.
The poorest orphanages in China might get from the
government only $25 per child per month, and formula could cost $20 per child
per month. Then there are salaries for nannies, power, clothes, other
food, and there isn't much left over for medical care.
According to China Daily, in 2011 there were 31,424 adoptions in China. Of these 27,579 children were placed with Chinese families and 3,854 were placed overseas.
We are so incredibly blessed by Harper's addition to our family. When we chose to adopt her, we were told she had a special need that would present lifelong issues. We are so happy to learn that she is 100% healthy! This is definitely the exception for an international adoption from China. We couldn't be happier with our precious new baby.
