China lifts moratorium on foreign adoptions

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China lifts moratorium on foreign adoptions

06/25/03

Roger Mezger
Plain Dealer Reporter


China yesterday lifted a 6-week-old moratorium on foreign adoptions after the
World Health Organization declared SARS to be under control in Beijing.

"This is really very good news," said Karen Ristow, who coordinates adoptions
of Chinese children for Family Adoption Consultants in Macedonia.


China shut off adoptions May 15 as the capital and other areas struggled to
control an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome that began building in
March. China, Hong Kong and Taiwan saw the worst of the global epidemic,
together accounting for nearly 7,800 cases and more than 700 deaths.

The WHO yesterday canceled its advisory against nonessential travel to Beijing,
after reporting no new SARS cases in the last 20 days.

Only Toronto and Taiwan have seen new cases during that time, according to the
WHO, but neither is under a travel advisory.

China's adoption office wasted no time resuming business as usual. It posted a
notice on its Web site saying that adoption confirmation letters and travel
authorizations that had been on hold since mid-May were going in the mail. The
notice apologized for the inconvenience.

Children's Hope International, a large adoption agency that serves Ohio from
its St. Louis office, has more than 600 clients seeking Chinese children,
spokesman Cory Barron said. About 30 to 50 of them, including two from Ohio,
were in the final stages of paperwork when China stopped the process.

"For those families, it was like, 'Oh, no! It was our turn,' " Barron said.

The letters from China should start arriving by early next week, he said.

Ristow of Family Adoption said the moratorium delayed the final approval
letters that four of her clients were expecting and kept four others from
receiving an early indication whether they had been matched with children.

Luckily, she said, none of the families was ready to go to China to complete
the adoptions, so no travel plans were suddenly changed.

"That's the hardest part for the adoptive family," she said.

Americans adopt about 5,000 children a year from China. The two-year process,
which can cost $20,000, ends with a mandatory two-week visit to China,
including a stay in the province where SARS first emerged last fall.

[Linda Fortney]

One of our friends got her refferal in April. She has been on tenterhooks
during the moratorium waiting for her travel date.

She doesn't have the date yet, but expects to have it very soon. We spend
most of our time with her pulling her off the ceiling,

Linda