[MissyAmomChina]

Hi,

Yes I'm very familiar with the 2 infant smuggling incidents that hit the press. The one in Hunan and the one in Guangxi. (The one in Guangxi was not about children going to SWI's) My daughter is from Guangxi and 2 of my dear DTC friends have daughters from the Hunan orphanage in question (in the time which things could have been questionable). So, they were greatly impacted by the news

I do not think these two incidents suggest a shortage of infants--in fact they both took place during the timeline when things were speeding up/at the 6 month time of referral

All I'm saying is that even if 2 great things are happening (number of abandoments are down, number of domestic adoptions are up)---I still don't believe that there is a shortage of children available. The approximately 10,000 a year children adopted internationally is realistically a drop in the bucket. Again, no one knows (except the Chinese government) how many children are abandoned and how many orphanages there are. However, people do know that not all orphanages are open to international adoption (estimations vary--some say it's very small percentage that participate in international adoption).

I do not believe for a minute that there aren't enough children to meet the domestic adoption demand (which should take priority) and the international adopton demand. I simply believe that China has decided they will allow x number of children to be adopted internationally and even with an increased demand, they don't choose to change that number. Again, that's their perogative---but it's still pretty lousy to think of the children left behind without families.

Take care,
Melissa