When the new China adoption regulations go into effective, Tracy Smith of St. Paul, Minn. is one of the parents who will be shut out.

Smith adopted her daughter from China in August 2006 as a single mom. Single-parent adoptions were already difficult. An agency had to estimate the total number of China adoptions they would be processing, and 8 percent of those could be single parents. With the changes taking effect on May 1, single women and men won't be allowed to adopt from China.

Smith says that she originally picked China to adopt from because the process was straightforward, and she wanted a daughter. She does think of adopting a second child, preferably from China so her children can have similar cultural backgrounds, but the new regulations may make that impossible. She has two strikes against her, she says: she's a single mom, and she is borderline on the weight restriction.

She hopes to be able to adopt a second child in the next five or six years. While she recognizes that anything can happen, she's not hopeful that China's regulations will change by the time she's ready to begin the process. On the other hand, she realizes how lucky she is to have adopted when she did. "Had I waited two years, I would not have a daughter now," she says.