China, a country aborting 23 million annually, puts greater restrictions on adoptive families

Yesterday, the China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA) released new, more stringent eligibility requirements for adoption, effective immediately. These new requirements will have a devastating impact on waiting families as well as orphans expecting to soon go home with families.

The blog No Hands But Ours announced that this decision “will impact many families in process or beginning the process to bring home a child through China’s special needs program,” with “a few of the most-impactful changes includ[ing] family size and time between adoptions.”

Some of the requirements include the following restrictions on family size:

The PAPs (prospective adoptive parents) should have enough time and energy to take care of the minors in the house including the prospective adoptee. In a couple adoption, the number of minors living in the house of the PAPs should be not more than 5; in a single adoption, the number of minors in the house of the PAPs should be not more than 2.

Also, regarding adoption frequency and numbers:

1. Adopters should submit post placement reports as required after the adoption; There should be a 1 year interval between the second adoption application and the previous one (from the registration date of the previous adoption to the current adoption application date).

2. In principle, the PAPs should adopt 1 child from China at a time.

3. In a couple adoption, if adoptee is a twin or multiple births or have siblings, the adoption will be exempt from the limitation of item 2.

See the full verbatim list of requirements at the No Hands But Ours blog.

China’s communist government and Family Planning Commission are known for gross human rights violations, including forced abortions. The government recently expanded its coercive One-Child Policy to allow for two children in some cases. However, the policy remains coercive and burdensome for women and families. It was also recently revealed that the country’s annual estimate of 13 million abortions annually was too low a figure. The actual figure is closer to 23 million per year.