[Conchito1213]

Hello,
Let me preface this by saying that I work with Guatemalan adoptions and therefore am much more familiar with that process than with China adoptions, but I ran across this issue on another list serve and was curious to know more information.

I have heard on other lists that African-Americans are "not allowed" to adopt from China and that this is something determined by the system in China (not an agency decision.)

However, others on this discussion chimed in to say they knew of African-American couples who had successfully adopted from China with no additional requirements.

Are there any African-American parents adopting from China out there and if so, was this an issue at all?

Just trying to satisfy my curiousity. I realize this is a very touchy subject and I don't wish to offend anyone or insinuate that Chinese culture is in some way more racist than other cultures. I know very little about Chinese culture and also know that racism is prevalent across the world.

Any insight would be helpful. Thanks!

[terryb]

I read on this site recently (though not in the China Adoption forum, can't remember which is was) that there was an article from a newspaper or magazine about the first AA couple to adopt from China. I think this was last year some time.

I guess that's pretty vague isn't it?

If I can find the thread, I'll try to link back to it.

[Li Jia-Yu]

When we became a family last October 2005 we saw many many parents of various races adopting children from China. It was very touching to see how China has decided to open themselves to providing children an opportunity for a different life to parents from abroad.

Like ourselves we met many other interracial couples who adopted from China. I sincerely hope that race does not become a deciding factor in the adoption process, all I can say it wasn't for us. We met four AA couples who adopted in China. What was beautiful to witness is we all felt the same elation and love when our babies were placed in our arms.

Li Jia-Yu

[mom3boys]

We are a interracial couple (I'm white and my husband is black) and we were told that this will be no issue at all. We are almost done paperchasing so we don't know for certain whether the CCAA has an issue with this, but I certainly hope not. I think that issues around race are much more of an issue here in the U.S. than in some other countries. They prefer to adopt out to Chinese families, but other than that I don't think that race plays a role at all.

Marjorie

[terryb]

I did find the article I'd read. I was quite surprised when I first read it since I'd read about AA families adopting before.

Single, black woman adoptee adopting Russian toddler?


I hope the link works.

[Couchkat]

As a matter of fact, there is a full AA couple in our FCC group (Memphis, TN) that successfully adopted from China. They were the first ones to do so! China does not have these restrictions, although some agencies do. I am trying to find the newspaper article online, but it's in the archives and it's not free.

[TaraL]

I know that there is a Yahoo group for AA adopting from China (sorry I don't know the name of the group). Someone mentioned that there are some agencies that may have these restrictions. That is very sad to me if that is true. The last place I would think to find racism is in international adoption agencies. You would think that they would be above that.

[Couchkat]

Actually let me re-phrase what I wrote. I don't know if agencies have restrictions, but they tried to discourage this couple from adopting from China.

[looneytunes32]

There is a couple on my agency's forum that had to talk to several agencies before they found one that would work with them.