Why the Wait?

Having watched the time from DTC (Dossier-to-China) to referral ebb and flow over the eight years since my first adoption, I have not paid too much attention to waiting families' questions regarding when they will get "the call." But lately, I have been getting quite a few e-mails from families asking my opinion as to why the wait times are increasing. What follows is my opinion as to why wait times have been increasing since last fall.

First, it is important to keep the recent fluctuations in wait times in perspective. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Ralph Stirling, we can all see how long families have had to wait in the past.1 What is interesting to note is that the last time families had to wait this long for their referrals was late 2002, when referral wait times were coming down from a peak wait time of over 14 months reached earlier that year. The referral "moving average" hasn't reached that peak yet, so I guess the good news is that things have been worse.

But there are some very important forces at work this time that spell longer wait times, at least in the near term. A lot was made about the controversy over whether Hunan was closed to adoptions following the baby-trafficking story in November 2005. It is interesting to note that the finding ads in Hunan, the first step made by the Civil Affairs offices in each city to place a child in the international adoption pool, stopped completely in December 2005. The CCAA announced the completion of its investigation into the Hunan episode in March 2006, and finding ads again appeared in mid-April.

Hunan, along with Jiangxi and Guangdong Provinces, contributes a majority of the children adopted internationally. It seems likely that although a small number of Hunan referrals have been received in the past few months (all of which had finding ads published prior to December 2005, and thus "in-process" when the story broke) that we will not see significant numbers of Hunan referrals over the Summer. Given the number of children usually assigned from Hunan, this can be a significant factor in the lengthening wait times.

The CCAA has answered questions concerning the increasing wait times with an explanation of the declining number of children being abandoned in China. This is also certainly true, and also will have an effect on the wait times. In fact, as my next blog essay on the availability of adoptable children in China will show, over the long term the decline in abandonments will have a much more significant impact on China's international adoption program than the increasing wait times we have most recently been experiencing.
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1. All graphs created by Ralph Stirling, and are used with his permission.

Haunting Faces on a Page

As one scans the finding ads published for the children being placed for adoption, one sees a sea of infant faces. The vast majority of the ads published are for infant girls under one year of age, sometimes just a few weeks old. It is easy to scan over the many faces quickly without giving them much of a thought.

It is the older children that make you pause -- that force your eyes to stop and look at the photo printed on the page. These children bring the questions to mind: Why was she abandoned at such a relatively old age? What must she be going through? Will she find a home? The images linger in your mind, and haunt you with unanswered questions.

But the most unsettling of all are images of another kind – not the children found on the street or in front of the orphanage, but the ads for children for whom the Police are seeking families. "Zhao Yi, a girl, one and a half years old, was sent back to Kunming on 8/1/04 from Guangdong Province. She is a kidnapped baby." These are the ads of abducted children, sometimes found great distances away, and who desperately are trying to find their way home.

Baby abduction and trafficking are big problems in China. One estimate is that over 1,000 children are kidnapped each year in China, but this is no doubt a very conservative estimate (http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/china). A small percentage are found and rescued by police, but the majority are never heard from again. A large percentage of those that are rescued are never reunited with their families, and end up in area orphanages to be adopted to strangers.

On October 28, 2003 police in Xinxiang City in Henan Province retrieve seventeen children, ranging in ages from a few months old to four years old. Initially cared for at the Xinxiang orphanage, police track the origins of the children to Guiyang in Guizhou Province. Through interviews with the traffickers, police learn that one of the children, a two year old boy, had been sold to a family for 12,000 rmb. Another one-year old boy had been sold for 13,000 rmb. A one-year old girl had brought 5,000 rmb, as had an infant girl. A four-year old boy had traded hands for 15,000 rmb.

Fifteen of the children were brought to the Guiyang orphanage, arriving on December 29, 2003. The orphanage had prepared beds and clothes for the children. Police posted finding ads in area newspapers, but no one came forward. Their future is unknown, and if unclaimed they will be processed for adoption by the Guiyang orphanage (Guizhou City Daily, 12/31/03, p. 30).

On August 20, 2003 an off-duty policewoman alerted Security on train K207 traveling from Chengdu to Qingdao (Shangdong). Security Police learn of 11 babies in compartment #18 of the train, the oldest was over a year, youngest under a week. At 3:12 am the train arrives at Huaifeng (Shangdong), and 50 police raid the train, having only 6 minutes to arrest and retrieve the children. The children are sent to the Huaifeng City orphanage.

Six days later, on the same train, a Security person was alerted to two women transporting kidnapped babies in cabin 13 – one boy and a girl 2 months old. Two more are discovered in the next compartment (14). A total of eighteen children were eventually discovered (Ibid., 9/14/04, p. 13).

In a single six-month period, the "Guizhou City Daily" newspaper reported six trafficking stories involving over 100 children from Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Guizhou, Henan and Fujian Provinces. Most of the stories were printed in an attempt to locate families. Not all of the children had been kidnapped, but many had been. In most cases the children ended up in orphanages, their families unable to be located.

The Chinese Underworld

In a small Buddhist temple in Hu County, near Xi’An City in Shaanxi Province is found a graphic depiction of the Chinese concept of the underworld. Bearing similarities to the Egyptian Court of Osiris, it graphically pictures the fate of the wicked before they are reincarnated into another life.

The main figure of this mural is the god of death, and the ruler of hell, Yan Luo. With his black face and evil look, he stands in priestly robes waiting for the soul of the deceased to be brought before him for judgement. Yan Luo has two assistants, “Ox-Head” and “Horse-Face”, who meet the soul as soon as it enters the underworld. They escort the wicked soul to Yan Luo for judgment. The scene is very similar to the Egyptian portrayal of Osiris and his cohorts, Anubis and Thoth.

In the Chinese classic “Journey to the West,” “Ox-Head” and “Horse-Face” are sent to capture the Monkey King, Su Wu Kong. The Monkey King overpowers the two demons, and scares them away, allowing the Monkey King to journey into the court of Yan Luo. There, the Monkey King erases his name and those of his people from the records, granting him and his monkeys immortality.

According to tradition, Yan Luo was originally assigned to the First Court of Hell. He proved too sympathetic and lenient, and as a result too many souls were crossing the Golden Bridge to Heaven. As a result, Yan Luo was reassigned by the Jade Emperor to the Fifth Court of Hell, named the Hell of Wailing, Gouging and Boiling (the number of levels of Hades various, and can number up to eighteen in some legends). Over time Yan Luo developed a relish for meting out punishment.

How a person dies is said to impact how he is brought into Hades, and how long he will remain there. If the person dies a natural death, his soul immediately is brought to the guards of hell, where he is chained and marched into Hades. After seven days, however, the soul is allowed to return to the mortal world to visit his family and loved ones. In the mean time, the soul’s family has prepared food offerings of fruit, meat, and rice, and burns “Hell” money, all in an attempt to distract the guards in order to allow the soul more time to be with his family.











If a person dies accidentally, the soul is confused and will wander for several days. After seven days, he will learn that he has died, and return to his family. At this point, having waited at the soul’s residence, the guards of hell will escort the deceased into the next plane of existence to be judged.

If a person dies a brutal or unjust death, or if he commits suicide, his soul is consigned to spend eternity in a state of rage and anger. No guards will come for such a soul, and it is required to relive its last moments again and again throughout eternity. The place where the death occurred is considered haunted by the living. To cleanse such a location, often a Buddhist or Taoist monk will be called in to perform an exorcism, but it is considered a risky undertaking, since the soul is often angry and viscious.

Upon death, most souls arrive by escort into the halls of Hades. There they will meet the thousands of other souls who have also recently died, as well as witness the punishment being carried out on the souls of those condemned as wicked. The soul will be brought before the Mirror of Retribution, and in its clear and polished face the life of the deceased will be replayed. No transgression will be hidden. If the person lived a righteous and caring life, they will be allowed to progress to Paradise to dwell in happiness. The vast majority, however, are found guilty of selfishness, greed, and other transgressions, and will be assigned another level of Hades for judgment and punishment.

After suffering the punishment for his sins, the soul is ultimately brought to Xue Luan Wang, the being in charge of Reincarnating the soul back to the mortal sphere. The soul will move up or down the spiritual ladder, depending on their actions in mortality. The wicked may return as an animal or insect, while the obedient will return as a human. The soul will be given a drink of broth by Mong Po, which will cause all recollections and memories to be wiped away from the soul’s mind, and Mong Po will then escort the soul to the Wheel of Reincarnation to be reborn into mortality.

Yan Luo is the supreme ruler of the Chinese underworld (and of the Fifth Court of Hades), and the depictions on the wall show the end of those who act against the Buddhist strictures of kindness and morality.

Mirror, Mirror

Xin Yi is a bubbly, active five-year-old girl. Her short black hair and pudgy build bear a striking resemblance to her mother. I watch as she runs around, chasing butterflies, returning periodically to give her mom a hug, then flies off once again. She excels in school and, from all appearances, is a well-adjusted, happy girl.

Xin Yi was adopted in China by her family at two weeks old from the Huadu orphanage north of Guangzhou. Her family's story sheds a light on domestic adoption in China and illustrates the process many Chinese families go through to adopt a child.

The Huadu orphanage is a simple, two-story brick facility hidden behind a thick 10-foot wall next to one of Huadu's busiest streets. The facility currently cares for about 20 children, almost all special needs. They range in age from a few months to 16 years old. This orphanage adopts all its children domestically; it is not part of the international program. According to newspaper finding ads, in 2005 the Huadu orphanage adopted 29 children, 50% of whom were younger than a year old, the balance ranging from one year to 10 years old (for domestic adoptions, finding ads are placed when the child is adopted, not when they are found). There currently is a 12- to 18-month waiting list of families willing to adopt the most desirable children -- healthy baby infants. The orphanage adopts only to residents of Huadu because, according to Ms. Jiang, director of the orphanage, "There are not enough children to satisfy even those families."

That wasn't the case in 2001 when Jiang Lan came to this orphanage in January of that year with her husband and mother. A week before, her husband and his mother had visited the orphanage and surveyed the children available for adoption. As he looked down at an infant girl lying in her crib, she smiled. "This is my daughter," he spoke to his mother.

Jiang Lan and her husband had decided to adopt after having no biological children after three years of marriage. Orphanage directors I have spoken to indicate that nearly half of domestically adopting families are childless. The rest are families that have a grown child.

A week after Jiang Lan's visit with her husband, the orphanage allowed them to take Xin Yi home. "Take your time in deciding," they were told, "and bring her back if she is too much trouble." The orphanage went on to explain that they could keep her for a year before completing the adoption paperwork, a feature of Chinese adoptions that we might find peculiar. Two other families that adopted from a different orphanage confirmed that this was the case with them also, although all three families emphasized that at no time were they interested in taking the orphanage up on their offer to return the child to the orphanage.

Jiang Lan returned with her husband nearly a year later to complete the adoption. They brought with them an approval letter from their town's Family Planning office, stating that they had no other children. They also carried a letter from the town hospital confirming that they were healthy. Most other families also bring letters from their employers or other proof of income, as well as copies of the couple's identification cards. Jiang Lan and her husband made a 3,500 yuan ($425) "donation" to the Huadu orphanage, an amount in line with the orphanage's current 3,000 to 5,000 yuan fee.

Xin Yi does not know of her beginnings. We talk about the adoption only when she is out of hearing, and quickly shift topics when Xin Yi returns. Jiang Lan indicates that she will tell her "one day" when she is grown up. Additionally, no one outside of the immediate family knows of the adoption. When pressed why, Jiang Lan expressed concern that if Xin Yi's adoption became widely known, she would be picked on and belittled for being an orphan. Other adoptive families expressed concern that neighbors would look down on them for not being able to have biological children.

When asked if she ever thought about her daughter's birthmother, Jiang Lan states that she has no interest in ever meeting her. Other families feel the opposite, and indicated that if their child wanted, they would help one day in searching out the birth family.

Although Western couples often hear that the adoption process for Chinese couples is burdensome, when compared to that undergone by foreign adopting families it is remarkably simple. A trip to the Family Planning office to obtain the authorization letter is required, but costs little if anything. A health certification letter from an area hospital costs around 250 yuan per person. A proof of finances letter is obtained from the employer, but costs nothing. These three items, along with the couple's identification papers, are all that is required to approach the orphanage and begin the adoption process. The adoption process itself requires some simple paperwork, and the payment of the orphanage donation fee. The adoption is then registered with the local Civil Affair's office, which charges around 400 yuan for the "Adoption License", a small red book with a photograph of the the adopting parents and their new child. The simplicity of the domestic adoption process would make most Western families envious.

For the most part, families that adopt inside China keep the adoption a secret from most people outside the immediate family, and some indicate that they will keep it a secret even from their adopted child. All, however, clearly showed an abiding love and devotion to their adopted child, treating them as their own. Jiang Lan, in looking at her daughter running, softly said, "I never think of my daughter as adopted. For me, she is just like my own kid." In this respect, she and her fellow China adopters are just like their Western counterparts.