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Quake Orphans To Remain In China

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The Associated Press

Published: May 23, 2008

MIANYANG, China - The children's faces stare in somber black-and-white photos from newspapers and scribbled posters at relief camps, seeking their parents. Many will never find them.

As the first estimate of orphans - more than 4,000 - emerged Thursday from last week's deadly earthquake, thousands of Chinese are rushing to offer their homes.

"My husband and I would really like to adopt an earthquake orphan (0-3 years old)," Wang Liqin wrote on popular Web site Tianya.com in a forum that was already three pages long.

The high interest is another sign of China's tremendous post-quake outpouring of sympathy, buoyed by rising prosperity. And it's a surprising turnabout in a country in which government red-tape, poverty and traditional attitudes long combined to discourage adoption.

The new enthusiasm also means that Americans and other foreigners wanting to adopt may not have a chance. Officials estimate that the number of Chinese wanting to adopt the earthquake's orphans may outnumber the orphans themselves.

"Every day, my ministry receives hundreds of calls," Jiang Li, China's vice minister of Civil Affairs, said this week. At the Civil Affairs department in Sichuan province, the heart of the disaster area, calls reached 2,000 a day, the state-run media said.

Some Chinese said they want to adopt because they're unable to have a child of their own. Some see a chance to have a rare second child despite China's strict one-child policy. And some, like Wang, whose own baby didn't survive childbirth this year, understand loss and want to help.

"We've received many inquiries about adoptions, but at present it's simply too early since we're still in the rescue and recovery stage," said Wang Jun of the Chinese Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, a government-backed group that was put in charge of orphan issues in the city of Deyang, just outside the earthquake zone.

China put in place stricter guidelines for overseas adoptions last year to favor wealthier, married couples. It helped slow the number of Chinese children adopted in the United States to 5,453 last year, down from a peak of 7,906 in 2005.

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