International Adoption

The birth of a girl has never been a cause for celebration in China, and

stories of

peasant farmers drowning newborn girls in buckets of water have been

commonplace for

centuries. Now, however, as a direct result of the one-child policy, the

number of baby

girls being abandoned, aborted, or dumped on orphanage steps is

unprecedented.

Adopting Internationally

Adoption is procedure by which people legally assume the role of parents

for a

person who is not their biological child. Adopted children become full

members of

their adopted family and have the same legal status as biological children.

Although

the majority of people who adopt are married couples, many single people

also adopt.

Many people seek to adopt when they discover that they cannot give birth to

biological children. Others adopt children to add new members to a family

that

includes biological children. Many people adopt simply to give a home and

family to

children who might not otherwise have them. Likewise, children become

available for

adoption for a variety of reasons. Some children are orphans. Some

biological

parents make arrangements for their children to be adopted because they

cannot care

for them due to illness or personal problems. Other children are abandoned

by their

biological parents (Adoption, CD-ROM).

Adoption is a common practice throughout the world and throughout history.

However, laws regulating adoption vary from country to country. People

seeking to

adopt in a country other than the one in which they live, a process known as

international adoption, should familiarize themselves with the laws of that

country.

Similarly, although every province recognizes adoption, provincial laws

regarding

specific aspects of adoption vary.

INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION

A significant number of people seek to adopt children from other countries,

a

process known as international adoption. People seek to adopt abroad for

many

1

reasons. Many people want to adopt an infant or a very young child. Some

also

hope to adopt children who share their ethnic heritage. Such prospective

parents may

find a shortage of suitable children available for adoption in Canada.

Publicity

regarding the availability of infants in a particular country also

encourages some

people to seek to adopt there. Many people adopt abroad because of

anxieties

regarding d...

... middle of paper ...

...at all," the letter read.

"Our

investigations confirm that those reports are vicious fabrications made out

of ulterior

motives. The contemptible lie about China's welfare work in orphanages

cannot but

arouse the indignation of the Chinese people, especially the great number of

social

workers who are working hard for children's welfare."(Adoption, CD-ROM).

The day after the program was shown, questions were raised in the House of

Commons about China's one-child policy and its dying rooms. Predictably,

however, no

one has raised the subject of providing massive aid for a collapsed and

famine-ridden

China in the event of its population rising to, say, 2.4 billion if this

generation is allowed to

have two children per family.

"We don't want to criticize the one-child policy," says Dr. Blewett. "But

we want

to focus on the problems it is causing which can be solved." The documentary

features a

tour of a privately run, locally funded orphanage where the children are

happy, healthy,

and loved. "We were very keen to show what can be done with the right

attitude," says

Blewett. "No child should suffer the kind of neglect we filmed." (Hilditch,

World Wide

Press).