China's International Adoption Rules

Unmarried, 50+ and Homosexuals Disqualified

Prospective parents wishing to foster orphans from China may have to reassess their options if they don't fall in line with China's new adoption regulations.

The China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has narrowed its qualifications to parents between 30 and 50 years of age, not including singles, gay couples, or people who are medically considered overweight. Adoption agencies in the U.S. claim they've known of these new restrictions since May 2009 and are in the process of disqualifying several clients on their roster.

Adoption Demand High in China

The CCAA reports that this decision was primarily a matter of supply and demand. Since 2000, China has undergone a large foreign demand for orphans, but has not had enough orphans to meet even a quarter of the applications coming in.

"The number of people applying for adoptions is soaring, but following the development of China's economy and society the number of abandoned and orphaned children is less and less," an official from the CCAA stated.

With these newly issued regulations, the CCAA expects to receive considerably fewer applications. Adoption agencies within the U.S. concur that this is already the case.

"A large number of our families turn to adoption later in life, and applying a new rule that neither parent can be over 50 years old will disallow them, as will rules applying to obesity," said Jackie Harrar, executive director of Harrar's Adoption International Mission in Texas.

Additional regulations require couples to have at least a high school degree and have a minimum of $80,000 in total assets. Along with obesity, applicants must lack any physical handicaps, mental disabilities, severe diseases, and facial deformation.

In recent years, China has stood as the most popular choice in adoption overseas, with Guatemala and Russia tagging behind. In 2006, U.S. Embassy reportedly issued 6,493 visas for Chinese orphans. 4,135 visas were produced for Guatemalan orphans and 3,706 for their Russian counterparts.