The Associated Press reported that Chinese officials met with representatives of U.S. adoption agencies earlier this month to announce changes in some of their criteria for foreign adopting parents. Many Americans are surprised to find out that countries placing children for international adoption each set their own criteria for adoptive parents. Thus, an individual or couple visiting an American adoption agency might learn that they are eligible to adopt from one of that agency’s international adoption programs but not another.
For example, some countries are open to single parents adopting, some are not. Some countries have maximum age limits for adoptive parents (China is the only country I’m aware of that has a minimum age requirement—30 years old, formerly 35.) Some of these requirements are surprising because they would be considered illegal discrimination in America. Some countries have a maximum weight limit. The Philippines at one time gave preference to Catholic adopting parents. India gives preference to adoptive parents who are ethnically Indian. Some countries have specified there cannot be more than a certain number of children already in the home. In other countries a health condition or prior divorces can disqualify parents from adopting. Some U.S. adoption workers say they were told at the Beijing meeting that a “severe facial deformity” would disqualify people from adopting—Chinese officials have so far refused to confirm this. U.S. adoption agencies must abide by the rules of the country in which the child in currently a citizen, even if the agency has already approved the family’s homestudy (which, since it’s completed by the American agency, does have to follow basic U.S. anti-discrimination laws and show that requirements are relevant to the ability to parent the child).
It should be noted that many countries will grant waivers for children classified as having “special needs”. Some of these needs may be quite minor or correctable, such as a heart murmur or a cleft lip.
The good news is that most agencies have several programs, and a completed homestudy can be accepted by another agency should you for some reason not adopt a child through your first agency. Adoptions through state child welfare systems typically have fewer requirements. Domestic infant adoptions often allow birth parents to choose among qualified families. Something that might bother one birth mother might be seen as an advantage by another. Of course, in the U.S. religion and appearance cannot be used as disqualifiers for adoption. Returning to the subject of international adoption, many people are not aware of how many country programs there are, and each country is different. U.S. adoption agencies currently have programs in China, Russia, Ukraine, Guatemala, Columbia, South Korea, Kazakhstan, India, Thailand, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and more. I firmly believe that if someone is called to adopt, there is a place for them.