Why Such A Decline In International Adoptions?

Since 2004, international adoptions have declined by almost 74%.  In 2015 only 5,648 children were adopted by American families from countries outside the U.S.  This is in stark contrast to 2004, when 22,990 children were adopted by American families.  Why such a change?  Here are a few reasons.

The China one child policy was changed in 2004.  Prior to that year, Chinese citizens were only allowed to have one child per family.  This meant that the orphanages were loaded with Chinese female babies.  Most Chinese families wanted a son.  After the one child policy was dropped, Chinese families kept their little girls.  What they didn't want, however, were special needs children, and so this is what China has had available for adoption over the past dozen years.  Also, in 2008, The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Respect of Intercountry Adoption was signed.  The purpose was to facilitate more ethical adoption, and put in place, more regulations to protect parties on both sides of the adoption process from fraud and scams.

Before the Hague Convention doctrine was signed, adoption was quick and easy.  But people wanting to make a lot of money got into the act, and fraud and deception became common.  Often parents were paid a large sum of money (by their standards) to give their child up.  They were often told that they would go to America for several years, and then be returned to them.  This never happened.  There was a messy incident involving two Russian children adopted in the U.S. which caused Russia to tighten their requirements on adoption.  It is virtually impossible to adopt a Russian child at this time.

China has taken steps to make adoption by American families extremely difficult.  They will not adopt a Chinese child to an obese man or woman, to one with facial deformaties, anyone who has taken antidepressants in the past two years, to a blind person, or a single parent.  As a result, many Chinese babies linger in orphanages.

As world tensions rise, it seems that adoption becomes more difficult.  There are so many babies worldwide looking for a forever home, it makes sense that agencies would make it easier, not harder, to adopt.  We still adopt more children than any other country, but we need to do more.  Children raised in a loving home, with one or two parents, have a chance for a successful life, whereas those raised in an institution have much to overcome.  Let's reduce the wait time for adoption, yet keep high standards for the adoption process.