Requirements for Adopters

 Requirements for Adopters

 New Criteria Spelt out for Adoption by Foreigners

 Foreign couples planning to adopt Chinese children need to have stable marriages, sound physical and mental health and comfortable finances and must not be overweight.

    The new guidelines, which go into effect on May 1, give preference to more suitable applicants, a Ministry of Civil Affairs official said yesterday.

    A key criterion is that applicants should have a Body Mass Index (BMI) a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to both adult men and women of less than 40.

    A BMI of 40 means extreme obesity, for example, in a person who is 1.7 metres tall and weighs more than 115 kilograms.

    Xing Kaimin, director of the ministry's China Centre of Adoption Affairs, said obese people are more likely to suffer from diseases and might have a shorter life expectancy.

    The applicant couple must be married for at least two years; and those who were earlier divorced should have been currently married for at least five years.

    Xing said a complete family is essential for adopted children.

    The current law allows single foreigners to adopt Chinese children, but requires the father to be at least 40 years older than the adopted girl.

    Another change is that couples must also have less than four children and be in the 30-50 age group, according to Xing. The current law does not specify the number of children of adopting parents, but they should be at least 30 years old.

    He stressed the guidelines are temporary and might be revised.

    "We will continue to deal with foreign adoption according to law," he told China Daily, referring to the Law of Adoption and a Registration Regulation on Foreign Adoption.

    "The priority criteria are meant to protect children's interests and shorten the waiting time for more qualified applicants," Xing said. "It does not mean we are prejudiced against less qualified applicants, who can still apply."

    Xing said the centre, the only institution authorized to deal with foreign adoptions, has received a soaring number of applications to adopt Chinese children in recent years.

    Prospective adopters now have to wait for 14 to 15 months on average from the time of their applications till they receive an initial match, Xing said.

    "We want to pick the most qualified so that our children can grow up in even better conditions," Xing said, noting there are fewer abandoned or orphaned children because of social progress.

    Xing said more than 100 licensed adoption agencies in 16 countries have been informed of the revisions.

    More than 50,000 Chinese children are reported to have been adopted by foreigners in the past 10 years, of which US families make up four in five.

    About 8,000 Chinese children were adopted by US families last year. The figure was 5,000 in 2001.

    (China Daily December 25, 2006)

 Requirements for Adopters

    1. In accordance with the provisions set forth in the Adoption Law of the People's Republic of China, the adopters should meet simultaneously the following requirements:

    (1) Childless

    "By childless" is meant to indicate that the adopters have neither biological children, nor any adopted children, nor step-children.

    (2) The capacity of rearing and educating the adoptees

    "By the capacity of rearing and educating the adoptees" is meant to indicate that the adopters should have the full civil capacity, and the capacity of rearing and educating the adoptees physically, intellectually, resourcefully and morally as well as the capacity of fulfilling parental obligations to their children.

    (3) No such diseases as considered medically unfit for adoption.

    "No such diseases as considered medically unfit for adoption" is defined as mainly mental disease and infectious disease.

    (4) 30 years old.

    "By 30 years old" is meant to indicate one's 30 full years of age. When a couple jointly adopts a child, both of them should reach the age of 30.

    2. Where a person with spouse adopts a child, the husband or wife should get consent from the other to adopt the child in concert.

    3. Where a spouseless male adopts a female child, the full years of age between the adopter and the adoptee should be over 40 years.

    4. The adoption of a child belonging to a collateral relative by blood of the same generation and up to the third degree of kinship, may not be confined to the restrictions that "children whose parents are unable to rear them due to unusual difficulties, the "age difference between the adopter and the adoptee shall be no less than 40 years" and that the adoptee is under the age of l4.

    "By the adoption of a child belonging to a collateral relative by blood of the same generation and up to the third degree of kinship" is meant to indicate siblings and brothers-sisters-german of the third degree of kinship; "the children belonging to a collateral relatives by blood of the same generation and up to the third degree of kinship" indicate the children of the siblings and that of brothers-sisters-german of the third kinship, namely, nephews and nieces, and brothers-sisters-german and cousins-german of the fourth generation.

    5. Orphans, disabled children or abandoned infants and children, who are raised in the social welfare institutes, and whose biological parents can not be ascertained or found, may be adopted irrespective of the restrictions that the adopter should be childless and adopt one child only.

    (China-ccaa.org October 16, 2006)

Requirements for Adoptees

    In accordance with the provisions of Article 4 of the Adoption Law of the People's Republic of China, the following persons can be placed out as adoptees: orphans under the age of l4 bereaved of parents; abandoned infants and children whose biological parents cannot be ascertained or found; and children whose biological parents are unable to rear them due to unusual difficulties.

    "By orphans bereaved of parents" is defined as children whose parents are dead or announced dead by the people's court.

    "By abandoned infants or children whose parents cannot be ascertained or found" is defined as infants and children abandoned by their biological parents or whose biological parents cannot be ascertained or found.

    "By children whose parents are unable to rear them due to unusual difficulties" is meant to indicate that the biological parents cannot rear their children because the parents are disabled or suffering from serious illness or whose life is extremely difficult caused by other elements.

    (China-ccaa.org October 16, 2006)

Basic Requirements for Foreign Adoption Organizations in Cooperation with CCAA

    In order to practically ensure the lawful rights and interests of adopted Chinese children, foreign adoption organizations in cooperation with CCAA should meet with the following basic requirements.

    I. They shall put the interests of adopted Chinese children in the first and foremost place.

    They must honor the basic principles of the Convention on the Rights of Children and the Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption, fully recognize the fact that children should be in a family environment full of happiness, love and understanding, and choose optimal families in the best interests of adopted Chinese children.

    Ⅱ. They must abide by the related laws and regulations of China and the regulations and requirements of CCAA.

    They must abide by the Adoption Law of the People's Republic of China, the Measure for Registration of Adoption of Children by Foreigners in the People's Republic of China and other related laws and regulations; they must observe the regulations of competent governmental departments, and the regulations and requirements of CCAA and offer active cooperation with CCAA.

    Ⅲ. They must be adoption organizations entrusted by their governments.

    They have the Power of Attorney authorized by their governmental departments for adopting children in china. The Power of Attorney must be within its valid time limit. The American adoption agencies must currently and provisionally possess an effective license approved for inter-country adoption by the governmental department.

    Ⅳ. They must be non-profit organizations.

    They must be non-profit charity organizations approved by their governments. They should require reasonable payments and have no improper financial and other gains associated with inter-country adoption. Adoption organizations in the United States must be non-profit organizations with the legal status of 501 (C) 3 as approved by the American Internal Revenue Service.

    Ⅴ. They must have experiences with a certain scale for international adoptions.

    They must have experience of international adoption services; and they must be capable of handling over ten (ten inclusive) adoption cases from China for each year; they must have other children and family service programs other than adoption.

    Ⅵ. They must be able to provide a complete range of international adoption services.

    The services mainly include:

    1. They must have a standard working procedure and standard China adoption procedure, and be able to guarantee that the related adoption policies and regulations from China are conveyed to adopters smoothly, truly and accurately.

    2. They can provide pre-adoption training, adoption guidance and related consulting services for adopters and assist adopters to make pre-adoption preparations.

    3. They can make home study of adoption families and complete home study reports. If provided by the laws of their countries that adoption organizations are not responsible for home study or for completing home study reports, they should assist adopters to make good home study reports.

    4. They can provide post-adoption services to families adopting Chinese children and make true and timely post-adoption feedback reports for CCAA.

    5. They could take active measures to protect the interests of the adoptees, while the adopters were not able to continue the nurture of the adoptees, till the adoptees were replaced properly.

    Ⅶ. They must have stable and sound organizational setup.

    They must have stable and formal offices and a sound organizational setup, with clear division of functions and responsibilities of the board of directors and executive bodies.

    Ⅷ. They must have a professional team specialized in international adoption.

    The staff of adoption agencies should have been well educated and they should have professional knowledge and experience for families and children's services.

    (China-ccaa.org October 16, 2006)