adopting a baby from abroad

[Cl]

A friend has asked me if I know anything about adopting from abroad. She is half Chinese, so was particularly interested in a Chinese girl as she's read - like the rest of us- that they get a raw deal in China. She and her dh have been trying for a baby for over 5 years, so it's not a whim and if the CHinese option didn't wprk out she'd consider any nationality.
Does anyone know anyone who's done this?

Try this webpage.

uk.dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Shopping_and_Services/Children/Adoption/Adoption_Agencies/China/

There are a number of sites on it that may be helpful.

There is a charity run to help the orphaned and abandoned children of China. It is at www.goodrock.org.uk. The lady who runs it, Jacqui, adopted her little girl from China and was appaulled by the state of the orphanages over there, so she set up this charity that works with the government and social services to try and provide them with a better future and environment in which to grow up. She does not deal with adoption, but she almost certainly will be able to point your friend in the right direction. In the meantime your friend might wish to look at sponsoring one of these children. Again, Jacqui can give you the details. You can email here at [email protected]. But do look at the website first to get an idea of what she does.

My DH & I adopted DD from China in 1997. At the time, parents between the ages of 35 and 50 with no children could adopt a healthy infant. (If you already had children you could either adopt an "older" child or a special needs child.) I think the rule now is you may adopt a healthy infant even if you have children already and they may have loosened up on the age restriction too. China is one of the few countries that allows single parents to adopt. We had a 9 month wait to be referred to a child after our paperwork was submitted to the government agency in China that handles adoption. I'm not sure what the wait is now. I think it might be lengthier. My BIL and his wife are currently in the process to adopt twin boys (!) from Taiwan and I think he mentioned that China currently had a long wait. DD was was 8 months old when she was referred to us and close to 11 months old when we went to China to bring her home. BTW, DH and I are American born Chinese and that was one of the reasons why we chose to adopt from China. If your friend would like to contact me, I would be happy to answer any questions she may have. I could go on and on talking about adopting DD but don't want to bore everyone !

I knew two couples in the usa who adopted girls from china 4 or 5 years ago. I think in both cases it took over a year for the paperwork, but the babies were quite young. Neither couple were of chinese origin and all were in their late 30's/early 40's. They were all very happy with the process and the girls they adopted. Sorry I don't have any more details.
I have travelled around China and they are very strict about the one child policy, so I would imagine that there is still a large surplus of female babies available for adoption.

V. large surplus of female babies and an awful lot of special needs babies too! If these babies are lucky they end up in an orphanage, some are not so lucky though. Their policy on late-term abortions and female contraception is also awful! I do hope that the Games will focus the world's attention on China and force them to change some of their outdated policies!

Thanks so much. I'll pass all this info along - any more out there please keep it coming