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Home › Articles › Traditional Adoption › The Ideal Family

The Ideal Family

Changes in China Adoptions

By Sue Marquette Poremba

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  • Good health also means good mental health. Prospective parents who have been treated for or use medication for mental illness, including depression and anxiety, may be blocked from adoption unless they can prove the condition has been resolved for at least two years. Rochon feels the mental health issue is ambiguous, however, because China's view on mental health is not the same as the United States or other western countries. (She adds that agencies are approaching this issue cautiously and suggesting that if parents have a concern about this, they consider other adoption options.)
  • Prospective parents should not have physical deformities.
  • Prospective parents must have a BMI (body mass index) under 40 (40 is considered morbidly obese).
  • There should be no criminal record. Even a DUI within 10 years can block an adoption. Nor can there be any record of drug use or alcoholism.
  • According to Roberta Evantash, China program coordinator at Adoptions from the Heart, prospective parents need to have a minimum of a high school diploma and families must have fewer than 5 children under the age of 18.
  • Ironically, despite the strict health and weight requirements, smokers are welcome to apply.
    • Grandfathered In
    Prospective parents who had their dossiers submitted before May 1 are grandfathered into the old regulations. After that, no one is sure what the future will hold for adoptions in China. "We don't know how rigid they'll be," Evantash says. "Only time will tell."

    Rochon says the new regulations are written in such a way that might leave room for change. Some parents might be so anxious to adopt from China that they might consider not revealing all of their history, specifically items like taking anti-depressants. Rochon says parents should think twice about withholding anything, saying that it mightcome back to haunt them later in the process.

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