[sak9645]

China's current position is that, while encouraging families to have just one or two children is a good thing, which will help increase the country's prosperity, there have been occasional problems with overzealous enforcement of government family planning policies at the local level.

In addition, the government says that corrupt local officials have sometimes demanded huge "fines" from families who have had second or third children, and then kept the money. Faced with such illegal demands, some families have abandoned children.

China has stated that it is attempting to root out corrupt practices that have led to abandonment, and to inform local officials about how the family planning policies should be implemented. It has also said that it is trying to educate people about the importance of limiting family size, so that people will CHOOSE to have fewer children.

Whether we feel that overzealous enforcement and/or corrupt practices by limited numbers of officials is, indeed, the problem, or whether we think that China -- faced with international criticism -- is retreating from intentionally coercive policies, I think that the ethical adoption community -- parents AND providers -- will be enormously pleased if fewer children are abandoned.

I sincerely believe that most people seeking to adopt are not asking for "designer babies". They are seeking to be parents -- and choosing to make a small contribution towards solving the worldwide problem of homeless children by agreeing to parent a child who lacks the love and structure of a family.

If fewer children are abandoned, this could reduce the number of children available for international adoption. However, I feel that there will, in all likelihood, continue to be children in need of homes, even if the one-child policy is weakened significantly. I also feel that international adoption may be needed for some time, despite China's stated interest in getting more families within the country to adopt domestically.

Despite its growing prosperity, for example, China still has areas where people live in such dire poverty that it is difficult for Americans to imagine the conditions. Under these circumstances, families may well make adoption plans for a child, just so he or she will survive.

Although China has made great strides in bringing basic health services to the masses, Chinese women still die in childbirth --leaving fathers who may not be equipped for the single parent role. And many poor families still do not have access to services if their children are born with medical issues -- mild (such as undescended testicle) or serious (tetralogy of Fallot).

Cultural issues also will remain, and changing cultural perceptions may take generations. As an example, although China has started a campaign to get families to treat daughters and sons equally, many families believe that they must have sons to care for them when they are old. It is presumed that daughters will marry and wind up caring for their husbands' parents. This is a very important in a country that doesn't have Social Security or Medicare -- a country in which an elderly person may wind up in a nursing home on an orphanage's grounds if he/she does not have a son to support him/her.

Likewise, there are cultural barriers that could hamper efforts to encourage domestic adoption. Many people in China believe strongly in the "blood tie", and it could take a generation or two before the idea of adopting a stranger's child takes root.

Another cultural issue that will need to be addressed relates to unmarried parenthood. China is similar to the U.S. of 50 years ago, with respect to the way young women with unplanned pregnancies are treated. One reason for the decrease in available U.S. babies over the past several years relates to the destigmatization of unmarried parenthood. Today, young American women often choose to parent children conceived outside of marriage. Someday, Chinese women may feel comfortable doing so, and this will reduce the pool of adoptable babies. But until that time, many Chinese single women will feel pressed to make an adoption plan -- which may involve abandonment -- rather than reveal to family, employers, etc. that are pregnant.

Sharon