The Chinese government says it is drafting plans for adoptions of quake orphans, and phones at local Civil Affairs Bureaus are ringing off the hook. One Western newspaper even estimated that there are more Chinese calling about adopting than there are orphans.
It remains to be seen what will happen. Do Chinese parents calling about adoption today still see it as offering to foster children, or do they truly understand adoption as making a child a permanent part of your family tree? Perhaps they do. Perhaps the restrictions on bearing children have left more people wanting to love more children than they are allowed to have.
Another important question is whether those interested in adopting quake orphans will be open to adopting one of the orphans who already wait in an institution? American agencies which facilitate international adoptions were swamped with calls after the tsunami in Asia in December 2004. I remember one administrator lamenting,
“I have to tell them that it will take months until we can determine if there are relatives in any of the camps. But I want to say, ‘can’t you be interested in this child here, who has been waiting for a family for three years?’”
I don’t know why someone wouldn’t be open to adopting any child in need, even if the impetus which made them think of adoption was a major disaster. I would like to think it is a matter of awareness and press attention rather than adoptive parents wanting acknowledgement for helping rescue disaster victims, or feeling that others will understand their decision to adopt better if they adopt a quake victim than if they adopt a child with an uncertain past. Perhaps they think these children will have fewer problems than children with unknown birth and birth family histories who have lived in institutions for a long time and never bonded with parents.
These earthquake orphans may not be as healthy as supposed. A psychologist says that adoptive parents will need more than passion and financial stability. He believes that all the earthquake orphans are mentally traumatized to some degree, and it will take parenting skills and responsibility to take on the task of helping mentally and emotionally fragile children adjust. Nearly a quarter of orphans from the Tangshan Quake had Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Chinese officials have sent 300 psychologists to areas affected by the current quake, believing that earlier intervention may prevent full-blown PTSD.
Meanwhile, will the quake have any effect on American adoptions from China? China is already tightening its requirements for foreign adoptions. As of May 1, China is no longer allowing single parents, those who are overweight, those who have depression, or those over age 50 to adopt. Will these restrictions be relaxed if many quake orphans need families? Perhaps. Or will this open the floodgates for Chinese wanting to adopt, so that China will decide to prove to the world that it can take care of all of its children through domestic adoption? Perhaps there will be more older children available for adoption. On the other hand, perhaps children now waiting who have special needs will be passed over in favor of supposedly “healthy” children.
One thing is certain. “Every decision concerning these orphans should be made on the perspective of these children instead of that of adults,” he adds. Zhang Kan, head of the Institute of Psychology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Please see these related blogs:
Mixed Feelings about Countries Closing
Feelings About Countries Closing to Outside Adoption, Part Two
Responses to the Closing of Countries to Outside Adoption