Updated April 3, 2002

Citing the large increase in the number of adoption applications, and the resulting longer time frame needed to process those applications, the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has instituted a new quota system which went into effect on December 1, 2001.

The quota system has two components. The first is an overall quota for all adoption applications; the second is a severe reduction of the number of those applications, which can be submitted by single-parent adopters.

The overall quota applies to each agency that is certified to process Chinese adoptions. Effective 12/1/01, for calendar year 2002, each agency is limited to the number of applications that comprise the average of applications submitted during 1998, 1999, and 2000. The CCAA has stressed that this quota for 2002 is a "temporary one for the purpose of solving the problem of the pileup of documents in stock at the present stage...it is a readjustment of the method of work, and not a change of adoptive policy." The CCAA also noted that this quota will not be applied to special needs children, although applications for these children will be more carefully scrutinized than any others, because of the many factors involved.

The CCAA has also restricted the number of single-parent adopters for 2002, limiting those applications to not more than 5% of an agency's total number of submissions. Since current estimates put the number of single adopters at approximately 30% of the total, this represents a severe reduction. The CCAA criteria in this case seems to be philosophical rather than pragmatic, stating that this change "has proceeded completely from the consideration of the immediate interests of the adopted children as required by our working principle of Everything for the Children [CCAA italics]. Therefore, we have to choose the family environment best suited to the healthy growth of the adoptees.

At the end of 2002, the CCAA will presumably re-evaluate the situation to determine if these restrictions will continue.

China Center for Adoption Affairs Officials Defend New Quota Policies

Officials from the Children's Hope agency met with officials from the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) recently in an attempt to clarify the recent changes announced by the CCAA regarding quotas and the apparent preference for two-parent rather than single parent families. This information is a summary from a report of the meeting published in the agency newsletter.

The three CCAA officials who took part in the initial discussion were the co-directors, Mr. Guo and Mr. Zhang, and the vice-director of the "matching department," Ms. Tie Ling. These officials stressed that the CCAA deeply appreciates all of the families who want to adopt Chinese children. However, the agency receives more dossiers from adoptive families than there are available children, and that some difficult decisions have to be made.

At present, the CCAA is not equipped to handle more than 7,000 dossiers annually; they have built towards this figure, and they wish to maintain it. For this reason, the CCAA wants to choose "the best from the best" from the adoptive applicants. From a traditional Chinese viewpoint, the CCAA prefers that the child have a father and a mother. Even though single parents are still eligible to adopt, in view of the numbers of applications that can be processed this group will be receiving a lower percentage of the available children than in the past. Since the CCAA believes the size of the adopting family is also an important factor, they will no longer accept applications from families that still have five children in the home.

The Children's Hope representatives also met with Ms. Chu, the Director of the Dossier Approval Department. In regards to the single parent issue, Ms. Chu stated that the CCAA has always had a higher standard for single adoptive parents, and that this would continue to be the case in the future. The CCAA wants to ensure that single parents have "a higher education, better income, better jobs, and a strong support system." Ms. Chu added that the CCAA would be giving priority to married couples, in terms of faster referral times than singles could expect.

INS Fees Increase

The Immigration and Naturalization Service has announced several fee increases which became effective February 19, 2002. The following services are directly applicable to the international adoption process:

I-600 and I-600A, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative, is increased from $405 to $460;
N-643, Application for Certificate of Citizenship in Behalf of an Adopted Child, is increased from $125 to $145: and
the fingerprinting fee will increase from $25 to $50.

Cambodian Adoptions Suspended

On January 25, 2002, the Cambodian government formally notified the U.S. State Department that it has suspended the issuance of adoption documentation to American families. This notice follows a December 21, 2001 announcement by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service that the Agency would no longer process adoption petitions in Cambodia. These announcements came in response to reports of child trafficking and other adoption-related abuses that had been allegedly occurring in Cambodia.

INS Commissioner James Ziglar explained the suspension by stating that "INS' responsibility to determine that a child is truly an orphan must never be tainted by any action that results in the exploitation of innocent children by separating them from their biological families as a result of fraud, trafficking in human beings or other criminal activity."

In response to the situation, Commissioner Ziglar ordered a complete review of the Cambodian international adoption process. The INS also dispatched additional officials to Cambodia, as well as to Vietnam and Thailand, to review pending adoptions to ensure that the children involved are orphans. Ziglar also stated that the INS had alerted the Cambodian government to some of the problems uncovered in the course of their investigations.

Commissioner Ziglar added that "The suspension and review I am announcing today will bring order to a troublesome situation. I have extended an offer to families caught in the middle while ensuring that the INS is not encouraging or perpetuating the stealing, selling, or other exploitation of children. I would also like to take this opportunity to remind families considering adoption that there are many deserving children who are U.S. citizens that are in need of loving homes."