Why Americans Are Adopting Fewer Kids from China

This recent article in TIME attempts to explain. One reason, of course, are the new laws restricting international adoptions:

But the new laws are only part of the reason that fewer Chinese children are being adopted by families in the U.S. While the Chinese government does not release domestic adoption figures, U.S.-based adoption agencies say more Chinese children are being adopted in China. "You have this cultural shift along with the economic shift, where more and more people cannot only afford to adopt a child, but culturally it's more accepted," says Cory Barron, foundation director at Children's Hope International. Historically, adoption was neither socially acceptable nor a viable economic option for many families in China. But orphanages were getting crowded, prompting the government to open up to international adoptions in 1992. Josh Zhong, founder and director of Chinese Children Adoption International in Colorado, remembers what it was like in China just 10 years ago. "You would see hundreds of thousands of children," he says. "Orphanages begging you to come in, saying, 'Please help us. These children need to go home.' " A slow shift in gender perception may also be playing a role. While girls still make up 95% of children at orphanages, Zhong says that, too, has shifted. "People's attitude toward having girls is changing dramatically," Zhong says. "I have friends [in China] who have girls, and they are just so excited."

Read the full article here.

Meet the Author - Mei Ling

Join the FCC & CHSFS and meet Mei-Ling Hopgood and hear her discuss her new book, Lucky Girl.
Mei-Ling will discuss her story, show a short slide show of her family, question and answer session and book signing. Hear first hand what it was like to grow up as an Asian adoptee in America and her surprise reunion. An uplifting story of one woman’s journey that both an adoptee and adopted parents will enjoy.
Lucky Girl is about one woman's surprise reunion and relationship with the complicated Chinese family that gave her up for adoption when she was a baby. Spanning cultures and continents, Mei-Ling Hopgood's memoir brings home a tale of joy and regret, hilarity, deep sadness, and great discovery, as she untangles the unlikely strands that formed her destiny. To see a trailer on the book go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzuqKAGkz6g

Register now at http://www.FCCMIDWEST.COM

Event info:
Saturday May 9th from 3-5pm
$5 per person/$8 per couple/ $10 per family.
(Refreshments provided).location:
CHSFS: 1605 Eustis St, St Paul, MN 55108


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