Adoption

Age & Civil Status Requirements

Chinese law differentiates between an abandoned child (with one or both parents living) and an orphan (both parents deceased). The law restricts adoption of healthy abandoned children with one or both parents living to childless person 35 years old or older, and only permits the adoption of one healthy child. There are exceptions if you are adopting a relative's child. Persons who are under 35 years old and/or who already have child(ren) are only permitted to adopt orphans (requiring proof that both biological parents are deceased) or handicapped children. Persons seeking to adopt orphans or handicapped children are permitted by Chinese law to adopt more than one such child. The Chinese law permits adoption by married couples and single persons. The CCAA also has advised that "adoption applications from homosexual families are not acceptable."

The Adoption Law of the People's Republic of China adopted by the 23rd meeting of the seventh National People's Congress Standing Committee on December 29, 1991 (effective April 1, 1992) provides that, with certain exceptions, children under the age of 14 in the following categories may be adopted:

• Orphans who lost their parents
• Abandoned children whose birth parents cannot be found
• Children whose birth parents are incapable of providing for them because of unusual hardship

Restriction on age of adopting parent(s) and restriction on adopting more than one child may be waived when:

• the children being adopted are blood relatives of the adopting parent(s), or
• the children being adopted are orphans, or
• the children are handicapped

All requests to adopt more than one child are given special consideration by the Chinese authorities and processed on a case-by-case basis. In cases involving the adoption of more than one child, Chinese authorities look carefully at the age of other child(ren) in the home, nature of handicap involved (if any), age and health of the adoptive parent(s), adoptive parent(s)' physical and emotional ability to care for two or more children, financial ability to raise more than one child.

Residency Requirements

The adoptive parent(s) must come to China to execute the required documents in person before the appropriate Chinese authorities to finalize the adoption. If the adoptive parent is married, he or she should adopt the child together with the spouse. In case of married couples, if only one adopting parent comes to China, Chinese law requires that the spouse traveling to China bring a power of attorney from his or her spouse which has been notarized and properly authenticated by the Chinese Embassy/Consulate Generals in the United States. In addition to documents required by the Chinese Government, the American Consulate in Guangzhou advises that if only one parent is coming to China to adopt a child with a physical or mental disability, a notarized statement from the absent parent indicating that they are aware of the child's disability and intends to finalize the adoption in the United States, is required under U.S. law.