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Rules on adopting children from other countries are changing

Published April 27th, 2007 | 1 Comments

Sam and Elizabeth McLain went through a two-year process of applying and waiting before bringing home their adopted daughter, Katherine, from China. Katherine is 13 months old.

Sam and Elizabeth McLain play with their 13-month-old adopted daughter from China, Katherine. Photo by Erica Yoon.

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Mother's Day and Father's Day were tough for Sam and Elizabeth McLain. Married for nearly 11 years, the couple had tried for eight years to have children. The two holidays were so difficult for the Church Hill couple that they skipped church on those Sundays.

After spending thousands on fertility treatments and suffering multiple miscarriages, Sam and Elizabeth decided instead to put their money toward adoption. They started the adoption process in January 2005, and on April 11 brought home 13-month-old Katherine "Katie" Suzanne McLain.

Katie was born March 6, 2006, and abandoned in the Guangdong Province of China.

The adoption process went smoothly for the McLains even though they waited more than two years before bringing home an adopted child.

Other American couples wanting to adopt from China may not find it so easy after May 1.

In December 2006, the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) officially notified the U.S. Embassy in Beijing of new rules for intercountry adoption from China.

"They are putting into place more strict policies for their adoptive policies, which will go into effect May 1, 2007. That does not affect families who already have their log-in date for China," said Carrie Riddle, an international adoption caseworker for Bethany Christian Services of East Tennessee's Knoxville office. "There weren't tons of changes, but they did get a little more strict with the health of adoptive families. They're not allowing long-term illnesses. They weren't as strict about long-term illness before.

"They've changed their financial status requiring positive net worth of at least $80,000. They didn't have the net worth requirement before. They've always had an income requirement and that has stayed the same," Riddle said. "They're a little more strict about criminal history. Any applicant with a criminal arrest history is looked at on a case-by-case basis.

"Another thing that changed was single women used to be able to adopt from China, and China is no longer accepting any single applicants," she said.

Longer waiting times are occurring with adoptions from China, Riddle said, because of the huge influx of dossiers submitted to the Chinese government in the past year.

"They've just received tons and that's why the slowdown has come. The wait time is about 17, 18 months from the time your paperwork is logged into the China Center for Adoption Affairs until you get the referral," Riddle said.

The wait time could get longer in the future, Riddle said.

The McLains, working through Chinese Children Adoption International (www.chinesechildren.org) based in Colorado, turned in their dossier to the CCAA in late September 2005 and began to wait.

Then, in late 2006, Elizabeth, ill with a sinus infection knew she had to take a pregnancy test before staring a round of antibiotics.

"I thought it was a waste of money," she said. "I knew I wasn't [pregnant]." But the test came back positive as did a subsequent test at her doctor's office.

"We just kept going for ultrasound after ultrasound," she said.

Blessed with the chance to have a biological child, Sam and Elizabeth never considered stopping the adoption process. "That would have been like losing a child," Elizabeth said.

The couple received their first picture of Katie on Feb. 2, 2007. They sent back an acceptance letter and began making travel plans. In March, Sam, employed with the Johnson City Fire Marshal's office, and his mother, a former nurse, left for China. Elizabeth, a teacher at Church Hill Middle School, stayed home since their son is due June 11.

Sam picked up Katie from the orphanage on his third day in China. She was healthy and had been well cared for by a nanny.

"All the kids we saw were really healthy," Sam said. "She's done really well. She's really alert; a healthy baby."

"She'd been immunized. I was very impressed at how healthy she is," Elizabeth said.

Ava Forbes chose to adopt internationally because she believed that was the best way to ensure that she would get a baby.

She chose to adopt from Guatemala, a county the U.S. Department of State now strongly cautions prospective American adoptive parents about.

"Those [adoption rule] changes are actually taking place right now," Riddle said. "As far as the exact changes, we're not sure of that at this point. There's new legislation going into place, which will affect cases in progress, but right now the best thing we can do is see how Guatemala is going to address the legislation. This is all brand new, just happening."

According to a State Department Web site (www.travel.state.gov), "The arrest in the United States of a well-known adoption facilitator as well as concern about wrong and unethical behavior and practices by others involved with adoptions in Guatemala indicate that the adoption process in Guatemala is not adequately protecting all children."

The site goes on to say that the adoptive situation in Guatemala is "volatile and unpredictable" and that the purported illegal activities are counter to the principles of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, of which Guatemala is a member and which the United States intends to join this year.

"The U.S. government supports adoption reform efforts in Guatemala and is working closely with the Guatemalan government to help encourage the implementation of reforms to protect children in the intercountry adoption process," according to the site. "The U.S. government also supports Guatemalan government efforts to implement the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption and establish new case-processing procedures as an appropriate transition mechanism to the good practices of the Convention."

Forbes, a Kingsport firefighter and single parent working through the Pennsylvania agency A Field of Dreams, turned in her adoption application in October 2005.

"I just knew I wanted a child. I really wanted a Hispanic baby. There were a lot of reasons behind my decision for that," Forbes said. "It seemed like Guatemala was the best option for me. At first I wanted a girl, then I thought I could be a good mom to a boy, too. What difference does it make? I prayed and I prayed and I prayed, �God, just give me the child you want me to have, whether it's a boy or girl, a newborn or toddler.' Two hours later, the agency called and had my baby girl."

On Dec. 29, 2006, Ava returned home with Victoria, now 15 months old.

"I look at it this way. It takes nine months to carry a child. She told me it would be awhile. I kept wanting it to be quicker," she said. "The thing that kept me from having her home earlier, my fingerprints were rejected the first time, and I had to have it done again."

Victoria's birth mother gave her baby up for adoption, and Victoria was cared for by a foster family, Ava said.

"I went three times to visit, the fourth time to bring her home. You can visit your child while you're waiting, once you get through part of the process," she said.

Victoria is walking, and talking some. Ava plans to raise her to speak both English and Spanish.

"I do want her to know her foster family because they were so good to her and loved her so much, and they were so good to me. ... I owe a lot of her development to them because they took such good care of her."

Most children adopted internationally by Americans come from China, with Guatemala and Russia rounding out top three countries, Riddle said.

Russia tightened its rules for accrediting adopting agencies last year and hasn't yet renewed licenses for the American agencies working there.

"Most judges in Russia won't finalize adoptions unless the accreditation is current," Riddle said. "It's put some adoptions on hold until we are re-accredited. It doesn't mean adoptions have closed or are stopped; they're just slowing down right now."

Both married couples and singles may adopt from Russia. Russia also has medical requirements for adoptive parents.

"International adoption is something your family needs to go into realizing there's got to be a lot of flexibility because things can change," Riddle said. "It doesn't mean the programs are going to close down or your adoption won't go though, but they might go through a little differently than anticipated.

"In all three of those countries, there are lots of successful adoptions. We placed around 500 children last year just in our international program. That's a little lower than usual because of the slowdown in China."

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I am so happy for this family. I don't understand why it is hard to adopt a child? There are so many loving couples that would be great parents. I pray for all couples trying to adopt or have a baby.

Nicole Wilmoth | 4/29/2007 - 12:39 AM - ( Comment

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