[MissyAmomChina]

Hi All,

About 2 to 2.5 years ago, my husband and I really looked into Korea. At that time, I thought that there were four sending agencies/orphanages/facilitators in Korea. I *thought* only some (maybe 2) had weight restrictions on potential adoptive parents. I recently was talking with another adoptive parent and she said that all the facilitators had weight restrictions. Has there been a change and is this true???

Also, if someone feels comfortable, could somone please private message me if Holt's WC program has a weight restriction for AP's? Thank you so much.

[MissyAmomChina]

Wow. 75 views and no responses. Can someone tell me if all agencies/facilitators working with Korea have weight restrictions?

[Bunnygirl]

According to the country guidelines at RainbowKids.com Adoption Information, Support, Child Photolistings, Articles and Resources, The Korea government itself imposes weight restrictions on parents adopting from abroad -- they cannot be more than 30% overweight. Some agencies may impose even more stringent weight requirements but I think you'd have to check with the individual agencies. Also, it's possible that the requirement might be more flexible for couples adopting SN or older children, but, again, you'd have to check with the individual agencies. You could also check the USDOS website & check under the info. they have there for adoptions from Korea.

[sak9645]

I am not aware of any new restrictions. U.S. agencies must be affiliated with one of four Korean social welfare organizations, and it is those four organizations that make such rules. At least up until recently, only one or two of them had weight rules, and some exceptions were possible.

Now, be aware that Korea has experienced a significant reduction in the number of children available for international adoption, primarily for three reasons. One is that the country is enjoying great prosperity, meaning that fewer women are placing babies for reasons of poverty. The second is that young women are more knowledgeable about sexuality and contraception, and are also facing less stigma if a pregnancy occurs outside of marriage. The third is that the cultural climate has also changed in terms of acceptance of domestic adoption, and the government is also encouraging Koreans to adopt domestically.

Because there are so few healthy babies available for international adoption, some AGENCIES may be tightening up their requirements in order to reduce the number of applicants. However, they seem to be doing so in areas unrelated to weight -- for example, by saying that you can't specify gender of child.

Sharon