Why are there so many children up for adoption in China?

Heather B

First off in China you need to have a license to have a child. It's expensive and the cost of the license and the fines for not having one are out of the reach of some of the poorer families

There are hefty fines for having more then one child. Again, out of the reach of some poorer families

If you are well-off in China and can afford the licenses and fines, there is no problem. The system has also caused people to steal and sell boys to wealthier chinese couples

It's horrible

spydermomma

Actually, this is changing pretty fast and there are fewer and fewer children available for international adoption all the time from China -- a good thing, I think, because the best thing for Chinese kids is to be raised in China --and I'm an adoptive mom of a child from China.

China is changing so fast. Many people in China are doing better economically overall, so they are more able to pay the fines to keep their kids. Also many people only want to have the one or two children they are "allowed" to have. And also adoption within China has been made easier, so many more Chinese children are being adopted domestically.

The "wait time" for adopting a non-special needs child from China is around 3 years right now, so there is more of a demand than a "supply."

The reasons children are/were available for adoption is complicated also. Part of it is that it only seems like "so many" because there are so many people in China. As a percentage of the population or of the children the number always was vanishingly small. Almost all the children were "available" due to the so-called "One Child Policy." This rule says that urban families can have only one child, and in rural areas some families can have one or 2, depending on various things. In many places these rules were very strict. There were and are forced abortions -- sometimes up until the 8th month. If an "over quota" child was born in a family, there is/was a fine that was often as much or more than a whole years' wages. And there were other punishments as well.

If you want to know the full picture, there is an excellent book called >Wanting a daughter, Needing a son< by Kay Ann Johnson. She is a sociologist and an adoptive mom, and she studied the attitudes towards all of this in China.

So the true answer is that there never were that many children up for adoption, and now there are even fewer. In China as everywhere, families want to raise their children.

EDITED:
Oh dear, so very much misinformation.

Children in China are not "put up for adoption" by their parents. There is not a way to "make an adoption plan" for your child, or to give them to an orphanage and try again. These children are abandoned. Usually at the orphanage or a police station or a public place where they will be quickly found. They can't just keep having girls and giving them up and trying till they get a boy. Not legal (and of course not moral).

Chinese people do not hate girls. They love children, and many families today want a boy and a girl, same as many parts of the world. Some would rather have a girl because they are seen as being more caring towards their parents.
The reason for the traditional preference for boys is complicated and long-standing. Much of it has to do with Confucianism and similar values that say (or are interpreted to say) that it is the duty of a son to beget a son so that the ancestors can be taken care of in the afterlife, and to carry on the family name and tradition. There was also a tradition where a woman moved to the family of her husband when she got married. It was then her duty to care for her in-laws as they grew older. So if you had only daughters, then there would be no one to take care of you when you got old, so you really did need to have a son or sons. To some extent this is still true, because there is no Social Security system and few pensions, so people still rely on their children to take care of them when they are old. In many cases daughters do this now as well as sons, but the traditional ways are hard to let go of.

And people in China do adopt. That has been very hard to do officially, though, because the rules about adoption were part of the family planning policy -- so you could only adopt if you did not have your "quota" of children -- and it was very bureaucratic and often pretty expensive. That is changing, though, and more and more people are adopting formally. But even before that there were a huge number of informal adoptions. People who had over quota children would give them to families that did not have children. Often life was hard for these kids, though, because they were "off the books" and so could not get even the basic schooling that other children got. But many families would go to long lengths to take care of these children.

I really do recommend reading >Wanting a Daughter, Needing a Son< by Kay Ann Johnson. Here is a good article about the book and the issue:
http://www.reason.com/news/show/123021.html

BraxOwl

Actually, the number of children available for adoption in China is decreasing, according to the Chinese government anyway. That is a good thing!

The reason so many have been available-mostly girls-is because of the so called "One Child Policy". China is so overpopulated, that several decades ago they instituted this policy. It does not actually limit the Chinese to one child as it implies-if they are of a minority sect, they can have more than one child and in many rural areas, if they have a daughter first they can have a second child in the hopes for a son.

The Chinese culture favors sons because daughters marry out of the family and into another family-the sons are the ones that take care of the parents in their old age and carry on the family name.

For this reason, many daughters (and some sons-usually with disabilities) are abandoned. They are then taken to an orphanage, and the lucky ones are adopted.

Some children are also abandoned because Chinese policy also makes it necessary for couples to "apply" to have a child. You are permitted a certain amount of time, and then you have to reapply. Their are heavy fines for giving birth without "permission".

Recently, having more than one child-and especially a girl-has come to be seen as a status symbol from some sources I have read.

vsuzyq96

China's overpopulation caused infanticide in earlier years, and so as a way to get rid of that Chinese adoptions came to pass. Chinese families are limited to only one child per family (it might have changed from 1 to 2) but because of honor and tradition many families prefer male children to carry on the family name (honor) so they give up their daughters to orphanages and keep trying until they have boys. Pathetic in my opinion. What will be funny is when all the girls are adopted to other countries and none of the boys can procreate because it's an all male country eventually Ha!

'-hlepeachother-sizzlefrap

In one sentence, a failed goverment policy for poulation control. A whole lot of little ones in need of homes.

Erin L

In order to deal with extreme overpopulation, China enacted a one child policy. The social system in China is that sons take care of their parents in their old age, girls marry and help their husbands take care of their in-laws. This makes it necessary for families to have a boy. Since families are only allowed one child, and since putting a child up for adoption is illegal, many girls are abandoned. Now, it gets trickier. China now allows families to pay a fee and have a second child. So, if a first child is a girl, a family will often keep her and pay a fee and have a second child in hopes that it will be a boy. It is actually becoming a status symbol to have a girl child. It shows that you are wealthy enough to pay the fee or wealthy enough to be set in your old age without a son to take car of you. Anyway, if a second child is a girl, they will often have to abandon it and try again for their "second" child to be a boy. Most abandoned, healthy girls are second girls. Nowdays, though, it isn't as common for girls to be abandoned as it is children with disabilities. China has concentrated on doing the adoption paperwork for more children with disabilites and fewer healthy girls lately. Although there are many abandoned healthy girls and children with disabilities, the paperwork for the children to be able to be adopted is only done for a fraction of them. Most birth mothers in China probably don't think of their children as being in the U.S, although they may hope for it.

Ashley- Advocate for Christ

1. There are many more people in China than there are in most other countries (over 1 billion). That's a lot more people having babies who can't take care of them.

2. The law in China states that each family can only have one child. So sometimes the "extra" children are abandoned because the family cannot afford to pay the fine for having another child.

Couples are allowed to have only one child by law, and
Boys are culturally preferred over girls, as boys are thought to be better able to provide for parents as the parents grow older. The comparison has been made that sons caring for their parents is Chinaâ€™s â€œSocial Securityâ€ system.

sarahhhhhhh

I think you will find there so many people needing to be adopted everywhere!

Because China is so overpopulated. I don't really know the full answer to that, I would actually like to know if there is a better reason then mine.

People in China are only allowed to have one child. Most people would prefer a son over a daughter because they want their family name to be carried on. So many people if they have a daughter, put her up for adoption and keep doing so until they get their son.

dalbax2

China is over populated, so a couple are only allowed 1 child. A girl is not as "valued" as a boy, as they can't do the work of a boy, and will not take care of the parents in their old age, supposedly. There are very high fines and punishments for couples who dare to have more than 1 child.. If you notice, most of the children up for adoption are girls.

katie the explorer

Because in China it is only acceptable to have one child in the household. Boys are seen as more useful than the girls, so many girls get put up for adoption.

If two or more children are in the household the family may be taxed more than families with only one child.

Happy Days 2 Come :D

One because China is very over-populated and two ppl in China dont like girls because they dont carry on the family name so they put the girls up for adoption.....keep in mind they can only have one child a couple but if they put it up for adoption they can have another.

marie_mcreynolds

i am sure that it is in china that you are only aloud one child per family. as there are so Meany people in that country

wolf

China is over populated and Chinse see daughters as a burden on the family. It's the son's job to take care of the parents when they reach old age. The girl will just marry her husband and live with him the rest of his life. So this is why there are so many girls in orphanages in China because girls are seen as breeding mares over there. That's their only purpose in China is to make more sons.

Crucio

In china people are only allowed 1 child, 2 children in some rural areas. The Chinese want boys which is why when they have a girl they will typical abandoned it somewhere, even more if they live somewhere they are only allowed 1 child. They want a male because they figure he will be able to help the parents out when they are older. A girl would typical marry and would be taking care of her husbands parents. They probably want their family name to continue on.

This is a reason the majority of the children adopted out of china are girls.

The policy was meant to help the population control but I really donâ€™t see how it is working. They are just putting the majority of their girls up for adoption. What if a couple has 5 girls, all these girls are placed for adoption, then they finale get their boy on their 6th pregnancy. How has the population been helped here? It hasnâ€™t the only true way to help it would be if they automatically sterilized after a woman has given birth , and the father as well.

I have often wondered what if a Chinese couple wanted to adopt children. The 1 or 2 child policy as far as i know is in regards to biological children, so say a couple had a son, then decided to adopt 2 daughters.

cowboy_fan

China has laws that only allow a family to have 1 child. The most useful gender for them is a boy. So, if they have a girl first, sadly, many usually kill her, abandon her, or give her up for adoption.

Mama2FourPrincesses

It's the population controls. One woman who abandoned her baby girl in a field attached a note to her blanket. It said, some people say that a boy is better than a girl, I don't have the strength to overcome that belief system.
So here in the US 6,000 Chinese children 95% of them girls, come home to families who love them dearly.

Darianna

That is due to the over population of China and that crazy dictator saying only one kid per family..

Then as if this is not horriable enough he said that to have a boy blesses the family.. SO most girls are placed for adoption..

On the other hand these babies are well taken care of and are in foster homes from the time they are born untill they are matched to a family. These kids bond with a parent like figure and tend to have less issues of attachment then others from group homes..

China is known as the "well oiled machine of adoption" and for a good reason too!!

I would adopt from china in a minuet!

mommaknowsbest

China has an actual law that families are only allowed 1 child each because they are so crowded population wise. There are more people than there is land. When families have more than 1 they put the child up for adoption. If they have a child and it is a girl, some families may put them up for adoption because in the Chinese culture it is boys who are considered prized and an honor, not girls. Remember, the eastern world does not think or operate as we do in the US.

Chelsey_Chick

they are mostly girls, ppl in china like boys better than girls so they are put up for adoption. girls are almost useless so ya :(

xsalt_nd_pepperx

Most of the children are girls, because China is a communist country that has a limit on how many girls can be born in a family (it might be none) and other families in China do not even want a girl.
I don't know if this is still in effect but there is also a limit on how many children a family can have.

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