[Joint House and Senate Hearing, 107 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
CHINA'S CHILDREN: ADOPTION, ORPHANAGES, AND CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
=======================================================================
ROUNDTABLE
before the
CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
OCTOBER 21, 2002
__________
Printed for the use of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China
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CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS
Senate House
MAX BAUCUS, Montana, Chairman DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska, Co-
CARL LEVIN, Michigan Chairman
DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California JIM LEACH, Iowa
BYRON DORGAN, North Dakota DAVID DREIER, California
EVAN BAYH, Indiana FRANK WOLF, Virginia
CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska JOE PITTS, Pennsylvania
BOB SMITH, New Hampshire SANDER LEVIN, Michigan
SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio
TIM HUTCHINSON, Arkansas SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
JIM DAVIS, Florida
EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS
PAULA DOBRIANSKY, Department of State
GRANT ALDONAS, Department of Commerce
D. CAMERON FINDLAY, Department of Labor
LORNE CRANER, Department of State
JAMES KELLY, Department of State
Ira Wolf, Staff Director
John Foarde, Deputy Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
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Page
STATEMENTS
Robertson, Nancy, president and CEO, the Grace Children's
Foundation, New York, NY....................................... 1
Johnson, M.D., Dana, International Adoption Clinic, University of
Minnesota, MN.................................................. 5
Cox, Susan Soon-Keum, vice president, Holt International
Children's Services, Eugene, OR................................ 9
APPENDIX
Prepared Statements
Robertson, Nancy................................................. 30
Johnson, M.D., Dana.............................................. 34
Cox, Susan Soon-Keum............................................. 39
Submission for the Record
Youtz, David, president, Families With Children From China of
Greater New York............................................... 43
CHINA'S CHILDREN:
ADOPTION, ORPHANAGES, AND
CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
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MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2002
Congressional-Executive
Commission on China,
Washington, DC.
The roundtable was convened, pursuant to notice, at 2:30
p.m., in room SD-215, Dirksen Senate Office building, Ira Wolf
(staff
director) presiding.
Also present: John Foarde, deputy staff director; Jennifer
Goedke, Office of Representative Marcy Kaptur; Susan Weld,
general counsel; and Tiffany McCollum, U.S. Department of
Commerce.
Mr. Wolf. I would like to welcome everyone to this
roundtable of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
We have three excellent representatives of various groups to
describe their own experiences on this important issue of
adoption and orphanages in China.
Today we have Nancy Robertson from the Grace Children's
Foundation, Dr. Dana Johnson from the University of Minnesota,
and Susan Cox from Holt International Children's Services.
Let me just turn this over for a minute to John Foarde, the
deputy staff director of the Commission, because he is the
member of our staff who worked to put today's roundtable
together.
Mr. Foarde. Thank you, Ira.
Nancy, Susan, Dana, thank you so much for coming and
sharing your views with us today. I am also particularly
pleased that we have a very useful statement from an
organization called Families With Children in China,
represented by David Youtz, here today, and a number of other
friends that are here to listen and learn about children's
issues, particularly adoption, orphanages, and children with
disabilities.
I will turn this back to Ira. Thanks.
Mr. Wolf. Nancy, why don't we start with you?
Please, go ahead.
STATEMENT OF NANCY ROBERTSON, PRESIDENT AND CEO, THE GRACE
CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION, NEW YORK, NY
Ms. Robertson. Thank you. My name is Nancy Robertson and I
am representing the Grade Children's Foundation [TGCF]. We are
based in New York City. I am delighted to be here today.
Thank you Ira Wolf and John Foarde and thanks to the
Congressional-Executive Commission on China for including me in
this timely roundtable discussion on China's children,
adoption, orphanages, and children with disabilities.
I am honored to speak on behalf of the Grace Children's
Foundation, an organization that has as its priority the
educational,
medical, and humanitarian needs of the children in Chinese
orphanages.
Although some of the focus of today's events revolves
around the issues of human rights and legal reforms within the
People's Republic of China [PRC], my input will not serve to
advocate for, or pontificate on, these topics.
My presence and peripheral involvement in the political and
social changes taking place in China revolves around one
specific clientele, one specific special interest group:
abandoned children in Chinese orphanages and foster homes.
The story of the Grace Children's Foundation really began
on Christmas Eve, 1994. My husband Brooks and I arrived in Hong
Kong earlier that day, just as the sun was rising, and flew on
to Shanghai. We had begun the incredible journey to adoption
and our daughter, Grace.
Christmas carols were blasting in the background when we
arrived at the hotel and I was so excited I could barely
contain myself. Brooks was steeling himself until the right
moment, guarding me from any possible disappointment.
We went to China without an agency, which at that time was
permitted, pretty much by the seat of our pants. We arrived at
the hotel and we were informed that we should unpack and
freshen up and that our daughter would be there in 2 hours. I
smiled to myself as we rode up to the room in the elevator. All
the while, I was thinking this is it, we are finally here.
Then I panicked like I never have before. I told Brooks
that I had changed my mind. He looked at me and said, ``What do
you mean? '' I had been the driving force. Although he was very
eager, it was I who pushed everything along. I became terrified
at the last minute, I imagine, much like a woman about to give
birth. All right. That was great, but I want to go home now.
I shut myself in the bath and contemplated what I had done.
What if I ruined my marriage? This all sounded good, but what
would be the reality? What if I did not like her as much as I
thought? What if she did not like me? I dressed. The phone rang
and the messenger said, ``Hello, Mrs. Robertson. Your baby is
in the lobby.'' I said, ``Send her up.''
Send her up? What was this, room service? I panicked
further and propelled Brooks to the front door, pushing him
through the crack saying, I cannot do this. You go and explain
that I cannot do this. Then I shut the door.
Then I got hold of myself. I squared my shoulders, opened
the door, and walked out into the corridor. There I saw Brooks
holding the most beautiful person I have ever seen. He walked
toward me and handed her to me and I said, ``I love you,
Grace.'' From that moment until this, I cannot imagine my life
without her. On that Christmas Eve I saw in her eyes all of the
children.
Inside the People's Republic of China there are thousands
of children living in orphanages and foster homes. The
overwhelming majority of these children are girls. Few possess
more than the most basic clothing and many of them struggle
with treatable medical problems.
Without formal schooling or the crucial anchor of family,
these orphan children face a lifetime of struggle for even the
most basic employment. These are the children who wait.
The Grace Children's Foundation, through its programs and
relationships, has been allowed passage through what has
traditionally been a wall of privacy in the orphanages.
In 1994, Nancy and Brooks Robertson adopted their daughter
Grace in Shanghai. Like other adoptive parents, they were moved
by the plight of the orphan children who remained behind, most
of whom have little chance of ever being adopted.
The Robertsons and like-minded parents held discussions
through 1996 about the creation of an organization with a
mission to improve the conditions under which these children
live.
The parents' group formed an organization that was
incorporated in January 1997 as the Grace Children's
Foundation. Since its founding the Grace Children's Foundation
has been singularly dedicated to bettering the lives of the
children who wait.
The Foundation acknowledges that the Chinese Government and
its people have a plan to alleviate the dire circumstances of
the children. It is China's plan and they are the architects.
The Grace Children's Foundation and others are some of the
builders on the team.
The Grace Children's Foundation works in cooperation with
representatives of Chinese orphanages and other governmental
and quasi-governmental organizations who welcome the concepts
and provided access into the orphanages.
This professional credibility has allowed TGCF to work with
the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the China Charity Federation
which, since April 2000, has joined with the Grace Children's
Foundation to assist in all three areas of the Foundation's
work.
In 2002, TGCF received permanent status as a publicly
supported charity. This type of cooperation, fostered by a
focus on children, leads to better relations between the United
States and China. If our two nations can cooperate on meeting
pressing human needs, we can build on that and cooperate in
other areas.
Over the past 5 years the Grace Children's Foundation, with
the support of individuals, foundations, corporate sponsors,
medical facilities, educational institutions, and merchant
donors has created pilot programs to support the orphans of
China.
The Grace Children's Foundation's health initiative has
brought 10 orphans to the United States for life-altering
surgeries. The children and their caregivers were provided
transportation through an ongoing partnership with Northwest
Airlines and its Friend of China Program.
The first five children from the Luoyang and Beijing
Children's Welfare Institutes were brought to the United States
in April 2000 to the University of Virginia Medical Center
where they received craniofacial surgery.
In January 2001, TGCF and Medical City Dallas Hospital and
the North Texas Hospital for Children made possible the
treatment of five more children from Shanghai Children's
Welfare Institute by surgeon Jeffrey Fearon, M.D., who has
since become the chair of our Medical Advisory Board for the
Foundation. All 10 of these surgeries resulted in permanent and
dramatic improvement.
In August 2001, TGCF began its work with Orbis
International to link the orphan children to adequate
ophthalmic care in China. The Foundation is preparing for four
more children from the Tianjin, Chengdu, and Luoyang Children's
Welfare Institutes to receive highly specialized treatment in
orthopedics, ophthalmic, and craniofacial care at Children's
Hospital of New York Presbyterian, St. Luke's Roosevelt
Hospital, and NYU Hospital for Joint Disease in November 2001.
All of the above medical staffing--the children who have
come to the United States have benefited from the services of
15 physicians and dozens of adjunct medical personnel--surgery
facilities, housing, food and transportation were donated to
the Grace Children's Foundation.
One of the children coming to New York this year is a
little 5-year-old girl from Tianjin. She has been waiting a
lifetime to have an operation for severe scoliosis. TGCF is
preparing for her medical care and foster care. We await her
arrival with much enthusiasm.
Of the 10 children who were taken care of in United States
hospitals 7 have been adopted, and the other 3 are now in
foster or specialized care in China.
One of the children who came to the United States for
surgery now lives in Richmond, VA with her adopted family, and
recently visited New York. She is now 5 years old and lives
with her
mother, father, sisters, and brother. She helped to unveil the
aircraft at the launch of Northwest's Friend of China Program
when we left from Shanghai on our first medical mission to UVA
in Charlottesville.
When I carried her up the stairs to the aircraft, I
whispered in her ear that she would never be lonely again. I
know that her life is good and she has brought so much joy and
happiness to everyone who knows her.
TGCF is currently collaborating with American-based Chindex
International, Inc. and its newly formed foundation, American
Education and Health Foundation, in Beijing. The combined
effort has yielded a rotating medical service to serve the
orphan children directly in China at United Beijing Family
Hospital, which is owned by Chindex.
American medical personnel from across the United States
who have been touched by the plight of the orphan children have
pledged their support to travel to China on a rotating basis
with services in orthopedics, internal medicine, craniofacial,
cardiac care, etc.
With core medical staff residing in China, the children's
care is ongoing rather than episodic. AEHF believes, as we do,
that ``. . . improving the health of people in other countries
makes humanitarian, strategic, and moral sense.''
We are also grateful to Jennifer Weippert, who has joined
Grace Children's Foundation with her ``The Red Thread''
project. The proceeds from Red Thread's beautiful gift baskets
directly benefit the children coming to the United States for
surgery.
I am not going to speak about our Education Initiative in
any detail for time's sake, as we are still working out the
details at the moment and we are looking toward a collaboration
with Half the Sky Foundation to expand their base, which is
infant and toddler. So, we are looking toward going K through
8.
Brown University student Yaniv Gelnik, who is here today,
has just returned from a month in China, where Brown
University's Medical School and Education Department are
solidly behind both of these programs.
In an ongoing effort through its Humanitarian Aid
Initiative, the Grace Children's Foundation, with sponsorship
from United Cargo, has sent hundreds of thousands of dollars
worth of donated clothing, shoes, bedding, wool, and fleece
accessories, and other necessities to the orphan children in
China.
We won an award for an 8-minute film, ``Children Who
Wait,'' last year. I was honored to carry the Olympic torch,
sponsored by Chevrolet and Coca-Cola, on December 23, 2001,
representing the Foundation's work.
The reason I mention this is that Coca-Cola has just
generously arranged for an Olympic torch to be passed at the
end of this year from The Grace Children's Foundation and all
the children, actually, to the Minister of Civil Affairs, Doje
Cering, in Beijing in a ceremony to thank the Ministry for the
outstanding work they have done on behalf of the adopted
children from the United States and the children who wait.
The Grace Children's Foundation is well situated to help
China's orphans immediately and into the future in a way that
bridges the complex divide that often separates China and the
West.
The positive, though unintended, diplomacy these children
have generated is remarkable. In what other venue between our
two countries do we continuously work with a feeling of hope
and accomplishment? No one who has had the privilege of meeting
or working on behalf of these orphan children has remained
untouched by their spirit and poise.
The children have unwittingly become Ambassadors--bridges,
actually--between our two great nations. The hope they
represent, the cooperation between representatives of our two
countries that they have engendered, the mutually acknowledged
respect for the life they embody, they continue to serve as
catalysts for understanding, compassion, and respect between
our countries.
I have been truly honored to stand with these children and
see the love, beauty, and inextinguishable courage to work
hand-in-hand with those responsible for their care and well-
being, to realize that true diplomacy and hope can be borne out
of such meager
beginnings.
Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Robertson appears in the
appendix.]
Mr. Wolf. Thanks very much.
Dr. Johnson.
STATEMENT OF DANA JOHNSON, M.D., INTERNATIONAL
ADOPTION CLINIC, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA HOSPITAL, MINNEAPOLIS,
MN
Dr. Johnson. My name is Dana Johnson, and I am delighted to
be here today representing the International Adoption Clinic at
the University of Minnesota, which is the first, and is now the
largest, medical facility devoted to the health and
developmental needs of international adoptees.
For thousands of Americans, the distance, and sometimes
abstruse debate on human rights in China, has taken literal
human form in an abandoned Chinese child placed for adoption in
their family.
Since the promulgation of the 1991 adoption law which first
permitted international adoption, over 28,000 Chinese children,
overwhelmingly girls, have been placed in American families.
This surge in Chinese adoptions can be accounted for, in
part, by the increasing availability of Chinese children during
an era where principal referring countries such as Korea have
limited the number of children available for placement.
However, a variety of factors has fueled this growth,
including the historic preference of Americans for adopting
girls, availability of children at an earlier age than many
other countries, acceptability of single parents, and an
intense interest in Chinese culture by many adoptive families.
Over the past decade, adoption paperwork, fees, and in-
country processing have been standardized, with few surprises
awaiting families when they arrive in China. Another fact that
stands in stark contrast to adoptions in other countries is
that there is little evidence of corruption in the adoption
process.
Officials at the China Center for Adoption Affairs take
their work very seriously and diligently attempt to match the
characteristics of the adoptive family with those of a
potential child. They have been anxious to improve the process
of child placement,
welcomed input from adoption professionals, and have taken
suggestions to heart.
Since 1998, my staff and I have spent significant time in
eight social welfare institutions in China and have spoken to
adoptive families who have visited dozens more. My overall
impression is that directors and caregivers are extremely
committed to the children and their care. Facilities are
continuing to improve and there is a clear desire to do as much
as possible to provide an optimal outcome.
The medical conditions afflicting Chinese adoptees are
those seen in international adoptees worldwide. Latent or
active tuberculosis infection, hepatitis B, and intestinal
cutaneous parasites are the most common infectious diseases.
Hepatitis C and syphilis are quite uncommon, and HIV infection
has yet to be reported in an American Chinese adoptee.
As in most countries, the most common medical problems are
deficiencies in micronutrients such as iron, iodine, calcium,
phosphorus, and vitamin D. Chinese adoptees also share with
many international adoptees a significant risk for being under-
immunized against common childhood infectious diseases.
One problem that does occur more commonly in Chinese
adoptees is a higher risk of having an elevated blood lead
level. Each year, I review 2,000 adoption referrals and see 300
children for post-
arrival examinations from around the world.
From this perspective, I strongly feel that officials in
China attempt to place children who are healthy as possible.
This impression is so strong that I have recommended adoption
from China to family members. I have a niece, Sydney Ling-Ling
Johnson, and also have close friends who have adopted from
China.
The glowing reports on international adoption must be muted
in the case of domestic adoption in China. In researching this
area, I have relied heavily on the work of Dr. Kay Johnson, who
is a
professor of Asian Studies and Politics at Hampshire College in
Amherst, MA, and the adoptive parent of a Chinese child.
Abandoned, disabled children of both sexes have been the
traditional inhabitants of orphanages in China. However, in
times of adversity, the Chinese preference for male children
shifts the gender balance of abandonment clearly toward infant
girls.
Most contemporary Chinese view the ideal family as a boy
and a girl. However, traditions of property transfer,
continuation of the filial line, and care during old age,
essentially ensure that the rate of abandonment for healthy
girls will dramatically increase during times of misfortune.
Until the early 1990s when international adoption began
directly infusing financial support, social welfare
institutions in China were chronically under-funded. The influx
of abandoned girls forced orphanage directors to balance the
marginal existence of the majority of children in their care
with the costly medical needs of a small number of children who
were critically ill.
Under these circumstances, they are forced to practice
triage, as do orphanages around the world. Unfortunately, the
placement of abandoned girls in adoptive families in China
remains subservient to the goals of population control.
Despite the limitations imposed by the law, Dr. Johnson's
work has identified a very strong desire of Chinese couples and
singles to adopt healthy infant girls to complete their ideal
family.
Such adoptions are generally not through official channels,
and may total between 300,000 to 500,000 per year. These
adoptions are more common in rural areas and involve girls more
than boys.
The major problem encountered by Chinese families adopting
outside the legal framework is official recognition of their
child, which ensures access to such entitlements as education
and health care.
As noted by Dr. Johnson, the plight of these unregistered
children is ironic, since China has insisted on guaranteeing
that Chinese children adopted abroad have full citizenship and
fully equal treatment in their adoptive families.
A disproportionate percentage of children who reside within
social welfare institutions are those abandoned because of
primary medical disabilities. While many of these children have
conditions that are easily treated within a sophisticated
medical system, they pose enormous problems for families who
have neither access, nor financial resources, to pay for this
care.
Therefore, even though the one child policy exempts
children with disabilities, Chinese families with handicapped
children face powerful forces that encourage abandonment.
I have participated in a number of training courses in
China and observed significant progress in pediatric
rehabilitation over the past 6 years.
A driving force behind this change is Deng Pufang, the
eldest son of the former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. During
the Cultural Revolution, he was persecuted so vigorously that
he sustained a severe spinal injury and since then has been
wheelchair-bound.
Due in large part to the prominence of his family and his
position as the president of the Chinese Federation for the
Disabled, it is common to see ramps, handicapped restroom
facilities, and redesigned streets and sidewalks that have
eliminated curbing at crosswalks.
Secondary disabilities may prove even more daunting for
institutionalized children. Less obvious than a cleft lip or
club foot, these problems have been brought about by a lack of
a nurturing environment during the early formative years of
life.
Secondary disabilities affect both normal and disabled
children within the orphanages and may include irreversible
deterioration in growth, cognitive, language, and social
skills, as well as emotion regulation.
I am pleased to serve on the board of an organization that
is attempting to directly prevent the development of secondary
disabilities within social welfare institutions.
Half the Sky Foundation, named for the Chinese adage,
``Women hold up half the sky,'' is an organization committed to
helping the children who remain in China's orphanages do more
than merely survive. Their mission is to enrich the lives and
enhance the prospects for these forgotten children by providing
infant nurture and early childhood education centers inside
orphanage walls.
To fulfill this mission, Half the Sky, in cooperation with
the China Population Welfare Foundation and the China Social
Work Association, creates and operates two programs: Baby
Sisters Infant Nurture Centers and Little Sisters Preschools.
The Baby Sisters Infant Nurture Centers employ Half the
Sky-trained nannies from the local community to cuddle, love,
and provide orphan babies the physical and emotional
stimulation essential to the normal development of brain and
physiological well-being.
In Little Sisters Preschool, Half the Sky-trained teachers
use a unique and progressive curriculum that blends principles
of the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education with
contemporary Chinese teaching methods. By the end of 2002, Half
the Sky will be offering services to over 1,200 children in
eight institutions.
From my perspective, few countries have made as much
headway over such a short period of time in improving
conditions for institutionalized children and providing an
array of interventions for those who are disabled.
International adoption benefits not only those who are
placed, but also those who remain, by improving conditions
within orphanages. The adoption process itself goes as smoothly
as it does anywhere in the world, and outcomes from the
perspective of adoptive parents and adoption professionals are
overwhelmingly positively.
Finally, the increase in officially recognized domestic
adoptions, following revision of the adoption law in 1999,
offers hope that domestic adoption will be supported and that
those homeless children welcomed into Chinese families outside
the letter of the law will enjoy the full rights and privileges
guaranteed in China's own
Constitution.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Johnson appears in the
appendix.]
Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much.
Susan.
STATEMENT OF SUSAN SOON-KEUM COX, VICE PRESIDENT, HOLT
INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S SERVICES, EUGENE, OR
Ms. Cox. Good afternoon. I want to thank you for the
opportunity to be here today. My name is Susan Soon-Keum Cox. I
am vice president of Public Policy and External Affairs for
Holt International Children's Services. We are located in
Eugene, OR, and we helped to pioneer intercountry adoption from
Korea in 1956.
I am also a founding member of an organization called The
Advisory Council on Intercountry Adoption. It is a
collaboration of organizations that are interested in and
concerned about issues of intercountry adoption.
I am going to speak today about what I see as a variety of
parallels with Chinese adoptions and Korean adoptions. I think
there are many things within our history that can be learned.
In the beginning, in 1956, when adoptions began from Korea,
there was no road map. There was no previous history. There was
no way to know how adoptions were going to really affect the
lives of the children, except that for the children who were
orphaned as a result of the war, intercountry adoption was
their only hope for survival.
I was adopted in 1956, and I was the 167th child to come
through the process. Since that time, more than 200,000
children have been adopted worldwide. Of those children,
150,000 are Korean, and 100,000 of those children have come to
the United States.
So for those people in the 1950s who worried about such
questions as: Could these children mainstream? Would this be a
process that would work? I think that we have proven that
intercountry adoption can, in fact, be a viable opportunity for
children to have a family.
However, intercountry adoption should never be the first
line of defense for children. It should be a viable solution
when children are not able to stay with a birth family, when
they cannot be reunited with a birth family, or when domestic
adoption is not possible. Those priorities really do need to be
given attention.
Everything about adoption has changed since my parents
adopted me in 1956, with a couple of exceptions. One, is that
it continues to be highly sensitive as an issue, both in the
sending and receiving countries.
It is also a perfectly acceptable opportunity for children
to have a family. However, what we know now, but we did not
know in the beginning, was that you cannot completely separate
a child from his or her culture and heritage.
In the 1950s, the most important criterion was that
children somehow be acclimated to the country and culture of
their adopted family and nationality. But what we have learned
is that those things happen by osmosis.
The greater opportunity and the greater challenge, is to
help children stay connected to their country and heritage.
That is one of the things about Chinese adoption that has been
so positive.
From the beginning, families who have adopted children from
China embraced the culture and ethnicity of their adopted
children, and they themselves adopted that for their own
family, not only for the child that they were adopting, but for
the rest of their family as well.
One of the things that I think is important to acknowledge,
is that as China emerges into the global consciousness, there
really are lessons to be learned from the Korean experience.
Both countries share an impressive record of achievement in
positioning themselves in the world marketplace, and they also
share a shadowy history and reputation regarding a variety of
human rights issues.
I think that overseas adoption is a social practice that is
highly visible, and it is sometimes controversial on both sides
of the ocean. Nearly 30,000 children, primarily girls, have
been adopted from China.
Compared to the overall population of China, this is an
inconsequential demographic. However, it is also misguided and
a loss of an important opportunity to minimize the impact of
that population on the social and cultural future of China, as
well as the
social and cultural context of the families in the United
States who adopt them.
I believe that intercountry adoption, from the beginning,
has been a bridge between cultures, countries, and people, and
no other population of adoptive families have promoted that to
the same
degree as families adopting from China.
Adoptions from China began at the same time that people in
households around the country were also accessing the Internet
and staying connected to each other through virtual
communities. This had a dramatic impact on the way adoptive
families related to themselves, to each other, to the children
they were adopting, and to the agencies who were facilitating
their adoption.
As those children have come home, the results have provided
enormous opportunities for those children who were adopted in
provinces throughout China to also stay connected with each
other.
While intercountry adoption is a bridge, it is very
important that we are careful that it does not become hostage
to political agendas. It is easy for that to happen.
Frankly, one of my concerns about U.S. implementation of
The Hague Convention, with the central authority and the
accrediting authority both being at the State Department, is
that in some ways this could become a political agenda as part
of foreign policy. It is very, very important that the adoption
community remain focused on making sure that that does not
happen.
A couple of examples of how this is possible would be, in
Romania, when they were trying very hard to receive MFN [most-
favored-nation] status. There were a number of congressional
offices that were relating the number of children being placed
for intercountry adoption in the United States with Romania's
application for most favored nation tariff status.
The European Union has restricted intercountry adoption
from Romania for political reasons. Consistently, we need to be
careful that that does not happen as a matter of practice.
Other agendas that affect intercountry adoption, and
particularly from China, are those who feel so strongly as
anti-abortion activists and the role that forced abortion has
had within China with
respect to the one-child-per-family policy.
The ongoing false stories about adoption as a way to obtain
body parts to be used for children in this country continues to
be a part of adoption around the country, around the world.
That is a reality that I think has to be addressed. It is
another indication of how highly sensitized we need to be about
adoption.
Another lesson that Korea certainly learned about
intercountry adoption was how ambushed they felt in 1988 when
they hosted the Olympics. I do not believe that anyone there
expected that Korean adoptions would become so highly front and
center in the news media.
Everyone from the ``Today'' show to The Progressive
magazine talked about the largest export from Korea not being
Hyundais but babies. In anticipation of hosting the Olympics in
the future, I think it is imperative that China both prepare
for, and expect, that kind of scrutiny for themselves.
The other things that have had a very positive influence on
adoption activity or child welfare policy in Korea has been the
emergence of domestic adoption. While that is not a traditional
way for families to come together in Korea, as families in
Korea have
observed international adoptions, it has helped them to better
understand that relationships of families who come together
through adoption are as pure and true as those who come
together by birth.
It is also necessary that we recognize that centuries of
tradition cannot be overcome or changed in a couple of
generations. We must be patient and acknowledge baby steps
forward rather than huge leaps, where sometimes you fall down
and you go backward.
From the beginning of adoptions from China, there have been
stories about what will happen to these children when they want
to go back to China and look for their beginnings, the question
of adoptees, not only international adoptees but every child
who wants to know, ``where did I come from.'' For international
and interracial adoptees, you have the added nuances of, ``who
do I look like,'' and ``who am I really? ''
Being the bridge between two cultures and nationalities is
very often a challenge, and it has been assumed that, because
so many of the children who have been adopted from China were
abandoned, that the opportunity for search and reunion in their
future does not exist. I predict that there will be a variety
of ways that that happens.
It was the very same thing that was thought about Korean
adoptions, that children were abandoned, there was no way to
know, where did they come from and who were they connected to.
But as someone who has that history myself, I can also tell
you that, as late as 40 years later, you can find a birth
family. That was my experience, although I did not believe it
was possible for me when I was growing up.
Another thing that is important to remember, is that even
if an adoptee cannot be reconnected to his or her birth family,
the wonderful thing is that you can always stay connected to,
and be reunited with, your birth culture and heritage. That is
a legacy that families from China and the adoption community
have worked very hard to preserve.
In conclusion, I would just like to say that at the heart
and
center of all the activity and attention that is given to
adoption are the adoptees themselves and their life
experiences. Chinese-American adoptees will be greatly
influenced by the collective energy and tension that has been a
part of how adoption from China has developed and emerged.
By the time China hosts the Olympic Games, many of the
adoptees will be old enough to have, and voice, their own
opinion about their birth country and their adoption.
It is not possible to predict precisely what those thoughts
will be. But if the Korean experience is any indication, they
will be a voice that the world should be prepared to hear.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Cox appears in the
appendix.]
Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much.
Is there a difference between China and other developing
countries relating to conditions in orphanages and conditions
for abandoned children, or is the situation in China, basically
the same as in many Third World countries?
Dr. Johnson. Well, let me answer this by saying that the
answer to your question is yes and no. Yes, in the sense that
whenever you have institutional care for children it imposes a
certain level of disability on kids, irrespective of where they
are.
Just a lack of consistent caregivers is an important issue.
Unless you have a home environment, wherever you are going to
have an orphanage you are going to find those same problems.
However, the conditions in orphanages relate directly to
the economic status of the country, so in China you are going
to see a wide variation in how things are going. If you get out
into the rural orphanages where there is not very much money in
the provinces that have not participated in these huge economic
turnarounds, then you are going to find situations where the
kids are not being taken care of very well. If you go to the
orphanages in the big cities, the situation is much, much
different.
I think the other thing that makes a huge difference in how
kids are cared for within institutional care settings is the
attitude of the caregivers. The first time I was in Romania in
1993, things were very gray, life was tough, and the caregivers
who would come in to take care of the children had enough
problems at home dealing with their own families and their own
economic situation that they really did not have very much left
to give to the kids.
That has not been my experience over in China where people
are economically better off than they have been for a long
time. They are happy. The Chinese orphanages, in general, have
a higher caregiver-to-child ratio. The people are able to give
much more to the kids in the orphanages there.
Ms. Cox. I would just add that I have had the experience of
visiting orphanages in a variety of countries, and what Dana
says could not be more true with regard to resources. But it is
also hugely affected by whoever is the director of the
orphanage. How they feel about the children, how they feel
about the importance of care has a huge impact on the way those
children are treated.
Typically, orphans in any culture are not considered very
worthy. Unfortunately, that is reflected very often in the kind
of resources that are given to any institution. Private
institutions are likely to have better support.
Mr. Wolf. One of the issues that the Commission has focused
on in this first year has been religious freedom in China. One
of the subjects raised has been the role of religion in
society, especially in China where the government-provided
social safety net has
rapidly disappeared.
Many people are trying to encourage the Chinese to allow
more freedom of religious practice and freedom for religious
groups to help provide those social services. What is the
linkage, if any, between orphanages in China and religious
organizations, or is there no linkage at all? Are orphanages
run by churches, by mosques, by Buddhist temples?
Ms. Cox. I think, traditionally, humanitarian efforts have
been established by religious organizations and churches
throughout the world, and that certainly has not been as much
of a possibility in China. But I also think, with regard to
religious freedom, it is so important that you do not connect
that priority or that policy with children's issues. When you
do that, it becomes very tenuous.
I believe personally, when you talk about adoption and
abortion in the same sentence, that you so polarize the
conversation that you are not really able to make much progress
in any direction. I feel the same way with regard to religious
freedoms.
Mr. Wolf. Who runs the orphanages that you have visited and
you have worked with? Who owns the property? Who pays the
salary of the workers?
Dr. Johnson. As far as I understand, the Social Welfare
Department does that. It is a government-sponsored program.
Many of them wound up being within orphanages that were
originally opened by religious organizations, but I have not
been in any that are being run by religious organizations,
although there are a number of NGOs, as well as organizations
in this country that have provided support, principally in the
area of rehabilitation, to
orphanages.
Mr. Wolf. All right. Thanks.
John Foarde.
Mr. Foarde. Thank you.
My first question is for you, Nancy Robertson. Are there
other NGOs like The Grace Children's Foundation from other
countries that are doing the same sort of work in China?
Ms. Robertson. Are there other agencies such as ours from
other countries?
Mr. Foarde. From other countries.
Ms. Robertson. Yes, there are. There are a number of them
emerging from Great Britain. I think Good Rock is one. I am
familiar more with organizations from the United States that
are doing incredible work in China, much like our work, more
than I am of those from outside. But I think Great Britain is
probably the leader behind the United States.
Mr. Foarde. So at least from the United Kingdom.
Ms. Robertson. Yes.
Mr. Foarde. Are these organizations also working in the
same sorts of areas that you are, for example, your health
initiative or your training initiative? Are they doing the same
sorts of things or are they doing different things?
Ms. Robertson. I have read a number of pieces of literature
recently from organizations which are humanitarian in their
scope and we use the same words over and over again. Yes, we
are trying to do the same thing.
Mr. Foarde. Dana Johnson, how much improvement would you
say that there has been since the inauguration of the China
Center for Adoptions Affairs [CCAA] in the mid-1990s as opposed
to the situation before CCAA was established?
Dr. Johnson. I think, with the development of the China
Center on Adoption Affairs and under the direction of people
that have brought it into maturity, certainly the process of
adoption is much better understood, there is more certainty
about what is going to happen.
I think that the one problem that still faces families who
are adopting from the United States is the waiting period, and
that is just because adoption from China is very, very popular.
It would always be nice to have a bigger staff at the China
Center for Adoption Affairs. But I think, on the whole, things
have gone extremely well since the Center was set up.
Mr. Foarde. I heard both you and Susan say that the
procedures and the hoops that you have to jump through to
complete an intercountry adoption from China have improved a
lot in 10 years.
One of the things that this Commission does is makes
recommendations to the U.S. Congress about possible legislative
solutions to problems. I am wondering if you are seeing any
problems on the United States end of intercountry adoption with
China that there might be a need for Congress to act on. For
example, Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS]
regulations, or fees and procedures, or anything of that sort.
I would welcome your
comments on that.
Ms. Robertson. I would like to make a comment on that. As
those of us who undertook the experience of adoption, many of
us have gone on to help other families, in friendship, to do
this. I have been privileged to help many--several hundreds,
actually--to
create this journey.
The one major obstacle on this end is the INS, that is the
extraordinary process, in terms of the wait period to be
cleared, and oftentimes, the fingerprint process alone. I have
actually spoken with the INS and gone to the INS in New York,
where they have been terrific about listening. They have a
great dialog with families with children from China. They are
always open and willing to receive our suggestions.
But there are definite, very clear devices that could be
put in place to help expedite the process from our own end and
set an example of knocking out big chunks of bureaucracy that
are simply not necessary.
Again, I think a great stride was the citizenship issue,
which is now retroactive. When my daughter, Grace, was adopted
in 1994, we had to apply for her citizenship and it was a
complete fiasco. It took me three tries to get the amount of
the check correct in sending it in. It was really a mess. Now
it is much better, but there definitely could be improvements.
But I would like to say something about what you are
asking, in terms of the system, before this last question. I
think that the adoption system in China is far and away
superior to any other system in the world, including our own.
It is very straightforward, it is very detailed, but it works.
It is an extraordinary system.
Whenever I counsel any friend or family member who might
want to take this journey, I always say to them before they
begin, to trust the system that you are about to walk into,
because this is going to be your friend until you get your
child. The system must provide proper protection for you.
Mr. Wolf. Jennifer.
Ms. Cox. I would like to comment on the automatic
citizenship. While that seemed like a wonderful breakthrough,
what has not happened is that INS has not created a mechanism
or procedure for that to really kick in.
So, while officially once a child arrives from another
country he or she should be able to count on automatic
citizenship, he or she still has to apply for a passport or
some other procedure, and it has been over a year. So, that is
certainly something we would like to see happen.
And another process is the Hague Convention. While we have
certainly been on that journey for a long time, it has been
almost a year since the regulations have been in the drafting
process at the State Department.
There certainly has been wonderful opportunity for public
input, but, we have been waiting since last spring, when we
first felt that the draft regulations would be available to the
public for final review. So, anything that you could do to urge
that along would be important. Thank you.
Mr. Foarde. Let us come back to the Hague question in the
next round. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Jennifer Goedke works for Congresswoman Marcy
Kaptur.
Ms. Goedke. I want to thank you all for being here, and
also for doing this work. I am sure it is heartbreaking
sometimes, but hopefully, more often, very rewarding.
I have a few questions just to get some facts down. Of
children that are placed in orphanages in China, what
percentage are adopted domestically, what percentage would be
international, and what percentage never make it out of the
orphanage? I know it is probably difficult to get concrete
numbers, but if you have a best guess.
Dr. Johnson. Well, the numbers are sometimes hard to
obtain, particularly for domestic adoptions, since so many of
them are
unofficial. In the year 2000, there were, I believe, 8,000
official adoptions that came out of institutions.
Those included both domestic and international adoption,
because the law was revised to make it a little bit easier for
domestic adopters to adopt children out of institutional care
settings.
The total number of official adoptions in that year was
about 53,000. So, the majority of kids did not come out of
institutional care settings, where probably official
recognition of adoptions had kind of skirted the law before
that.
If you look at the number of unofficial domestic adoptions
in China, it may be up to 300,000 a year. Again, the families
face the sometimes daunting obstacles within the government to
get those children officially recognized as their kids.
Ms. Goedke. I think you had also mentioned, Dr. Johnson,
about the foster program within China. Could you give us a
little bit more detail on that? Is it mostly state-run? Is
there more done
unofficially?
Dr. Johnson. Well, I cannot tell you with absolute
authority what is going on with the foster care programs. The
ones that I am aware of are set up by the individual
institutions and sometimes by the adoption agencies who are
operating there.
Sometimes kids wind up in foster care. In foster care,
there are a wide variety of situations where the child is in
the institution during the week, but goes home with a caregiver
on the weekend, or some children who are in permanent foster
care, like we would look at here.
So, there are a wide variety of experiences. Many times it
is done unofficially, with a caregiver falling in love with a
particular child and taking that child home, or it is done more
officially as a way of expanding the number of kids that each
institutional care setting can take care of.
The parents who are involved in foster care tend to look at
that as kind of permanent placement, unless that child is
destined for international adoption. Many times--again, these
are kind of anecdotal experiences--the kids that wind up in
foster care are truly the kids who need to be there. They have
been in the institution for a long period of time, they may
have various handicapping
disorders, etc.
So, I see a lot on the very basic, interpersonal level of
caregivers and kids, a lot of interest in getting them into
other kinds of care settings besides the institution, but how
that plays out in official policy and official programs, I
cannot tell you.
Ms. Cox. I can describe that. Holt has established several
foster care programs because we believe that children do better
in families than they do in orphanages, no matter how high the
quality of care. It also has the impact of helping people
understand about new child care practices. It often helps to
elevate the nutrition of a particular family.
What is often a resisting factor in countries is that
orphanages do not really want to have their children go into
foster care because they believe that will limit their
capacity. So, it is an ongoing struggle, but once foster care
begins, it really does help to promote a variety of good child
welfare practices.
Ms. Goedke. I think in Dr. Johnson's testimony he said that
no child who has been adopted into the United States has been
tested positive for AIDS or HIV. What percentage of the
children that are in state institutions or others, are there
either permanently or long term with diseases like this, or
with other long-term disabilities that may never be adopted
either domestically or internationally?
Dr. Johnson. I do not think anyone has any numbers on the
number of children who are within institutional care settings
that are positive for HIV. There certainly will be some, but
all kids are screened. As far as I know, none have been placed
with families that are HIV positive.
In terms of other disabilities, a very large percentage of
kids in institutional care settings have disabilities. Two-
thirds of the kids who are there long term may have significant
disabilities.
Ms. Goedke. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Susan Weld is the general counsel for the
Commission.
Ms. Weld. I am interested in what goes on on the unofficial
level in different parts of China. The children who are called
``black'' children because they have been born out of quota and
just shopped around to somebody else in the village or in the
neighborhood. What becomes of them? What does it mean? Is there
any way to get them registered? Is there any effort to allow
those who have lived in some long-term basis in a family to be
registered with that family and make themselves proper citizens
of China?
Dr. Johnson. Well, according to Dr. Kay Johnson's
publications, when she did the survey she found about two-
thirds of the families were able to gain official recognition
for their kids.
They did that either by getting the good will of the
officials in their areas, or paying small fines. About a third
of them had to pay extraordinarily high fines, up to 1 to 2
years of income, and some were forced to pay the fine and
accept sterilization as well. In some situations that she
mentioned, even after doing that, the kids still did not
receive official recognition.
Now, the one thing that gives me some hope that this is
going to change is, first of all, the adoption law change in
1999, which was not as liberal as was originally desired. It
still imposes some restraint on families adopting kids outside
of institutional care
settings.
But the fact that so many kids were recognized above and
beyond the number who had been recognized in the decade before,
I think, shows at least some unofficial official recognition
that this kind of thing needs to be done.
Ms. Weld. One of the cases I dealt with back when I was
practicing law, was a family had found a foundling in a
province in the south, and they themselves had relatives in
this country and wished that foundling to be adopted into this
country.
But there was no legal way, apparently, that one could have
an unidentified child in China and have it adopted. Is that
still the case under the regulations of CCAA, or whatever
exists? Do any of you know?
Ms. Cox. I believe they are identified adoptions, but they
still have to go through CCAA.
Ms. Robertson. They do not encourage you. I had a very
interesting thing happen. That is, we were told that a
particular child that someone had fallen in love with--had
actually met on one of our medical missions to the United
States--that they were to ask for the child in this way: we
would like a 5-year-old boy. He could come from Luoyang, and he
could have a club foot. They got the child.
It was very formal. It is not wrong or right, it is simply
the way that China's Government is asking us to conduct this.
They want control of these children. They are their children
and we must
comply.
It is appropriate to behave with decorum. The family did
this, and they adopted the child. So, pre-identification is
frowned upon, but it is acceptable.
Ms. Weld. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Actually, I would like to follow up on that
question. Do you know if the Chinese Government has a set of
standards to make decisions on which children will be allowed
to be adopted?
Ms. Robertson. Do you mean the children in the
institutions?
Mr. Wolf. Yes.
Ms. Robertson. Well, there are state-run institutions and
there are non-state-run institutions. There are children in
different parts of China who are considered unadoptable,
minority children who are not necessarily in the pool for
adoption.
Mr. Wolf. Well, I guess I mean within that pool, are 3-
year-olds more likely----
Ms. Robertson. I think that is more about your age. I think
it is more about a parent's age. There are not strict cutoffs,
and both of these panelists could tell you more specifically
about regulation within the adoption community. But, again, I
do not think it is a really steadfast kind of approach. I think
many families who adopt from the United States usually prefer
babies.
After a certain point, when a child is no longer a baby,
but rather an infant, its chances of being adopted are greatly
diminished. What we are doing in the case of The Grace
Children's Foundation is concentrating on those children who
more than likely will not be adopted.
It is unrealistic to think that any great number of older
children will come from China adopted. It is just simply not
going to happen. There are vast numbers of children there. So,
our purpose is to try to help these children find a way in
their own communities and become valuable citizens. It is very
unstructured in that way. There is so much not up to us--them
or us--involved in this process.
Mr. Wolf. I do not know if you have an answer. We are
demanding, the Chinese are supplying. Are there rules as to how
the
supply works?
Ms. Cox. There are very clear policies that vary from
province to province. Very often, what happens is that an
agency--and there are many, many of them--licensed to place
children from China has a relationship with a particular
province, institution, or
orphanage and so they work to get child information, to learn
about children who are free for adoption.
Those children then go through the process at the CCAA, but
their initial information is developed by the facilitators from
the United States or people who are actually in China working
on adoptions.
Mr. Wolf. All right. Have any of you noticed over the years
changes in the environment as there were political ups and
downs in the United States-China bilateral relationship?
Ms. Cox. Do you remember the 1999 bombing of the Chinese
Embassy in Belgrade? That had huge implications with regard to
the people in China and how fearful they were of what that
would mean for adoptive families waiting for their kids.
Obviously, the adoptive families had the same concerns.
There were many, many letters that went by e-mail and fax,
trying to ride this fine balance of not being unsupportive of
our own government, but also being sensitive to the incident
that had happened.
We sometimes forget that what is written in e-mails and
chat rooms go all around the world. It is not as if it is only
seen by people within our borders.
Certainly during the Olympics in Sydney when there were a
couple of commercials that were done with regard to an adoptive
family coming off the plane with an Asian child--it could have
been China, Korea, Vietnam. It was an Asian child, but not
easily identifiable--one woman said to another woman, ``You are
going to be a wonderful mother.'' The other person responded,
``Yes, I know. You will be, too.''
The chatter all over the Internet was, ``oh, my goodness,
this is terrible. People in China will think that all adoptions
are gay adoptions and they will shut the process down.'' Well,
predictably, there was a reaction to that, but, in fact, we
brought it on ourselves.
When there was the human rights story about the ``dying
rooms,'' every time there is something that happens outside the
context of adoption, adoption will still be affected. That will
only increase in the future.
Mr. Wolf. What about you, Dr. Johnson? Have you seen in
your visits and your work, when there is a political downturn,
any change in the way you are received, or your ability or your
colleagues' ability to do your work?
Dr. Johnson. No. We go to places where it is a person-to-
person type of contact, and stay out of the official realm of
government. We have seen no change in how we relate to people
there.
Mr. Wolf. John.
Mr. Foarde. Susan, I want to come back to the whole
question of the Hague Convention, but this time sort of looking
at the Chinese official attitude toward it.
Before I do that, it is probably useful, for some people in
the audience who do not know what we are talking about, and
perhaps for the record as well, to say that we are referring to
the Hague Convention on Cooperation With Respect to
Intercountry Adoption.
This is one of a great many Hague conventions that are
supervised generally by the Hague Conference on Private
International Law in the Netherlands. This particular
convention is one that the United States finally became a party
to, and we finally got legislation to implement. You mentioned
a moment ago some of the problems, for example, the delays in
doing the regulations for our own participation in the Hague
Convention.
But I would ask you now to talk about the attitude of CCAA,
and the Chinese Government, generally, in ratifying the Hague
Convention. I guess they have signed it, but ratifying the
Hague, and what it would entail, if you think that it would
improve intercountry adoption between, say, the United States
as a party to the Hague Convention and China, if it were to be
a party.
Ms. Cox. Everyone is waiting to see what happens with the
United States and what the regulations look like.
I believe that it would absolutely be to the benefit of
people in China to go ahead with the ratification process as
well because they consistently ask, at an unofficial level,
when you visit with people from CCAA, can you give us a list of
who are the good
adoption providers and those who are not, and there are
hundreds of agencies licensed to do adoption in China.
Certainly, they have the ability to say ``we are only going to
work with these agencies who we believe provide the best
service,'' or whatever criteria they select.
They simply find it difficult or impossible to really close
that door very much. The Hague Convention itself will provide
criteria that will help limit the number of agencies that are
able to do intercountry adoption. For that reason alone, China
would benefit from that.
Also, because the numbers from China are so large--they are
consistently within the top three in terms of the number of
placements a year--it would help to bring them into a global
context where the process is elevated and monitored.
I think everyone is waiting to see what Korea will do. They
truly are the 800-pound gorilla with regard to how many numbers
of placements there have been. Then, certainly, the United
States. We are by far the largest receiving country. All of
those issues will be improved if the Hague Convention could
move forward.
Mr. Foarde. Do you see in the Chinese officials that you
talk to a real interest in membership in the Hague, and any
sort of forward thought about what legal or regulatory changes
will need to be made to be an effective partner in the Hague
Convention?
Ms. Cox. There are both unofficial and official
conversations and dialog that take place. I was in The Hague in
1999 when a representative of the Chinese Embassy, in a big
flourish, came and signed the intent to ratify. It was greeted
overwhelmingly as a positive step forward.
But the most important thing that they already have in
place is a strong central authority. In fact, it is something
that the United States really does not have yet. So, I do not
know that there will be that many changes. Dana talked earlier
about how they have done a really stellar job of the adoption
process from the beginning.
When you consider Romania, that started out with huge
numbers and what has happened there, when you look at Cambodia,
how fast the numbers grew and how that is now at a standstill,
China really did do it right from the very beginning. They
established a system which is very closely mirroring what Korea
has done. There is a strong system of checks and balances that
promote private/public partnerships and transparency. So, the
process in China really is very good and it could only be
improved by being a party to the Hague Convention.
Mr. Foarde. You alluded a little earlier to the importance
of a central authority, which is sort of part of the Hague
Convention scheme for each member country.
Ms. Cox. Correct.
Mr. Foarde. But I am interested, in the short time we have
left, if you can say anything about the relationship with CCAA
as a
central authority.
Ms. Robertson. John, could you just tell everyone what CCAA
is?
Mr. Foarde. The China Center for Adoption Affairs.
Ms. Robertson. I know. But the people in the room here do
not know what CCAA is.
Mr. Foarde. Right. The China Center for Adoption Affairs.
Ms. Robertson. Right. That oversees all adoptions.
Right.
Mr. Foarde. So how does CCAA get along with the provinces
and provincial authorities? That is my real question.
Ms. Cox. I think that there has been tension in the past
between, is this going to be with the Ministry of Justice, is
this going to be at the Ministry of Civil Affairs. But what I
understand, this time it is a pretty solid system that is
working well.
Provinces have an opportunity to direct their own programs
locally, but then it is all under the umbrella of the central
authority. I believe it is a system that works quite well, as
evidenced by the numbers of adoptions that take place each
year.
Unfortunately, the United States does not have a similar
body. If there is a problem, if there is corruption, if there
is simply a question, for example, about INS regulations, there
is no one to go to in the United States to determine who is a
good provider and who is not. Very often, the people that you
call are the Better Business Bureau, because there simply is no
one else. So, the central authority is a concept that other
countries have that we have yet to adopt.
Mr. Foarde. Very useful. Thanks.
Mr. Wolf. Jennifer.
Ms. Goedke. I just have one more question. Ms. Cox, you
were saying that adoption should not be the first line of
defense. A lot of times we look at this as solving a problem
instead of addressing this as a problem itself.
Knowing that there will never be one law or one magical
wand that will be waved to change the situation, what do you
think are some of the either cultural causes of the high number
of children who are in orphanages or looking to be adopted? Is
it cultural, is it regulation? What is the main cause?
Ms. Cox. I think the number of children in orphanages is
directly related to poverty and the inability of parents to
care for their children. A similar circumstance in the United
States would be the number of children in foster care and the
inability of their parents, for whatever reason, to care for
them.
For many children, especially those in institutions, the
other priorities really are not viable. Intercountry adoption
is likely to be the only possibility for them to have a family.
However, it is absolutely critical that there be a
dedication to help reunite children with birth families, to
promote domestic adoption in that country, and to realize, at
least in the beginning, that those adoptions may well be in
secret.
In addition to all of the moral and ethical reasons to make
this be true, it is also the fact that no adoptive parent wants
to look at his or her child when they ask them the question,
``why was I adopted,'' and not be able to say, ``because if it
were not for adoption you would not have had a family.'' I
think that is the fundamental truth that every adopted child
wants to know in their heart.
Ms. Goedke. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Susan.
Ms. Weld. I have a couple of more questions. One problem
with HIV is that it kills off parents and leaves children
without support. One of the areas where that has been happening
is Henan Province where the disease has been spread by
unsanitary blood selling operations. Is the Chinese Government
trying to make provisions for those children? I have also read
that there is a disinclination to take in such children because
of the fear of the disease. So, that is one question.
Dr. Johnson said that many of the children adopted into the
United States so far check out as completely healthy--they do
not have HIV. But is there a possibility that international
adoption can solve the problem of children who do have HIV, or
is it just something that nobody is prepared to address or to
step up to the plate for?
Dr. Johnson. That is a hard question to answer. I would say
that, first of all, the reason we do not have any children who
have HIV coming to this country, is that they are screened out
beforehand. So, they are sitting around in the orphanages.
Now, if you screen out a child during infancy who is HIV-
positive, they only have about a 30 percent chance of actually
having the disease. So, there are a number of children who are
marked and will remain within institutional care because they
tested positive at first.
I think that there is a chance for families, especially if
good testing is available over there that documents that they
are free of the virus, that those children can be adopted
within the special needs programs. Whether or not they are
going to be adopted because of fears domestically, I do not
know.
Now, people are committed to adopt orphans, irrespective of
how many children you have. So that, at least, is favorable to
the individuals who are orphaned. But whether or not they will
actually accept them is another question.
Ms. Weld. There is some question about the test they use
for HIV in China. Apparently they use a test that has a high
number of false positives.
Dr. Johnson. Yes.
Ms. Weld. But they go with that answer instead of repeating
the testing to refine the answer to only get the true
positives, so I suppose there might be a lot of children who
are screened out of the international adoption process wrongly,
from the point of view of a family that only wants a very
healthy child. Do you know what I mean?
Dr. Johnson. Yes. There certainly will be children who will
screen positive who do not have the disease.
Ms. Weld. My last question is on a different topic. I
noticed in your statement that you talk about the Amity
Foundation's work dealing with orphans. I would like to know
more about the Amity Foundation. I know it does work in HIV
also.
Are they going to start doing the care, do you happen to
know, of these HIV-positive orphans? Also, what is their
participation in the orphanage system? They are not an NGO,
really. They are a government-sponsored NGO. What is the Amity
Foundation?
Ms. Cox. I think they are an NGO.
Mr. Youtz. I could speak to that.
Ms. Cox. This is our FCC representative.
Mr. Youtz. Thank you. My name is David Youtz. I am the
president of the New York chapter of Families of Children from
China, which is the nationwide network of families.
You asked about Amity. Amity is an organization that we in
the New York chapter have worked with very closely. It is an
NGO. I think, to a pretty remarkable extent, in China it
operates as a fairly independent nonprofit organization.
It has a religious link in its founding. I believe it is
sort of a nonprofit joint venture--it is rather unique--between
the International Council of Churches and some entity within
the social services
network in China.
I am not exactly sure of their governmental background.
They are based in Nanjing. They are quite a large organization.
They have a fairly national reach, although it is centered
around the Yangtze River greater basin. We have now been
working with them in FCC's various different charitable
activities for about 6 years.
We found them absolutely scrupulous in their use of funds
and their remarkable activism in going out, repeatedly visiting
orphanages each year, checking very carefully to make sure that
all funds provided by American contributions are used in
exactly the way they are supposed to be.
We tend to be overwhelmed with the tiny receipts that come
back that account for each and every expenditure of 10 yuan.
So, we have been remarkably impressed with them.
During this last year when a lot of the headlines have been
coming out about the AIDS crisis in parts of Henan Province, we
have actually spoken with the Amity Foundation and asked them
if they could check into these exact same questions.
We, of course, have been concerned about the children who
are being orphaned, and the sort of family level of the crisis.
Amity does a range of things in addition to the orphanage work
that we work with. They do have a separate section that works
with AIDS and other similar health issues.
So, I think at this moment we are waiting for our contacts
in the families and orphanage care area of Amity to come back
and report to us and see if there are things that we could do
to aid children.
Ms. Weld. Thank you very much.
Mr. Wolf. Do you have any estimates for the total number of
children in orphanages in China?
Ms. Robertson. There are many estimates, but they are only
estimates.
Mr. Wolf. But nothing that is particularly----
Ms. Robertson. They range from 50,000 official to 4.5
million. I believe there are 1,000 state-run orphanages, are
there not? Does anyone know that for sure? I believe that is an
official statistic, and there are many privately run
orphanages.
Mr. Wolf. What happens to a child in an orphanage when a
child turns 18? Are there any generalizations that can be made?
Ms. Cox. The first issue is the child surviving childhood.
When that does happen, typical of orphanages and institutions
around the world they age out at 18, and really are on their
own. For the most part, they have not been educated. They do
not have any support, they do not have any resources.
They are going to be the same people who become victims of
abuse, who are likely to commit crimes. We certainly can
consider children of any country to be their greatest natural
resource, but without investment they also can become their
greatest liability.
Mr. Wolf. Any other comments?
Mr. Youtz. I would just add one point there. Our
organization has increasingly been working to try to provide
money for the education of kids in orphanages. We have just had
a big push in the last half a year to provide school fees.
As you may know, nominally, education is free for kids
through high school. But the actual fact is, fees prevent a
large number of kids from actually attending schools. The fees
tend to be paid by a family.
That burden, for children who do not have a family, falls
on the institution. Our understanding is that many institutions
in China run out of enough funds to provide kids school fees by
the time they are about equivalent of fourth or fifth grade.
The reality is that many of the kids growing up are only
going to the local public schools up until that age, maybe the
age of 12 or 13, which means effectively they will then just
spend the rest of their time within the institution until they
are 18, at which point they will go out as relatively
uneducated members of the workforce and will be very hindered
in their opportunities.
We have been trying to find as many ways as we can to get
funding to come into the institutions earmarked for the
continuing school fees of kids through high school, and I
believe we are even funding a small number of kids now entering
into college.
It is a start. I mean, I think what our organization can do
is really a drop in the bucket. There are a very large number
of kids here. But we have been working so far with specific
institutions and trying to widen the number of institutions and
the amount of funding we can get there.
Ms. Cox. If I could add, another problem for children who
grow up in institutions is that they have no legal identity,
and so they do not have the resources to go out into the world
like everyone else that is required to get a job, and so on.
And when you are frantically trying to just take care of
children every day, child welfare workers certainly do not have
time to be going through the legal process to get them an
official identity. So, that, again, is a problem that will go
with them throughout their life, or not go with them.
Mr. Wolf. John.
Mr. Foarde. This question is for Dana Johnson. I am
interested in what sort of training that caregivers get in the
orphanages that you are familiar with, and how that training
may have changed in the last decade or decade and a half.
Dr. Johnson. Well, I do not think, in general, caregivers
are given very much training other than what they come with in
terms of child care. Expecting them to be early childhood
educators, which would be lovely, just exceeds their level of
knowledge
tremendously.
I think what many organizations have done, Nancy's and Half
the Sky, both of them, is to train the caregivers and put
people in there that were focused on the developmental issues
of these children instead of medical, or just kind of
housekeeping issues for these kids.
The grandma programs, which have been used in orphanages
around the world, really make a huge difference in terms of the
early infant development, and then the preschool makes a huge
difference for that age group, too. But trying to get
caregivers who are really overwhelmed with the basic issues of
life, trying to get them focused on development is very
difficult.
You really do have to bring additional people in to do that
kind of thing. But that is something that is true worldwide. We
face that in all of the programs in Romania that we are
involved in, too.
Mr. Foarde. Nancy, you started your organization from
scratch and you are running it out of your front room. What
sort of strategies have you used to build the relationships
with the Chinese Government, particularly at the national
level, and at the provincial and local level where you do those
sorts of things? What has been successful and what has not
worked?
Ms. Robertson. I am so blessed. We are so blessed in this
organization. Every door we have knocked on has opened. I think
it is simply, as my colleagues have mentioned earlier and David
just concurred, it is so personal, it is so one-on-one.
In a country with over a billion people, we keep running
into these relationships that are significant. Over and over
again, by simply being ourselves and respecting the culture and
traditions where we all operate, we get an extraordinary
exchange of respect and gratitude from the Chinese people and
the government.
Specifically with the Ministry of Civil Affairs has been
our strongest foray into these kinds of relationships. One
other gentleman in the room has recently hosted a government
minister at his home here in McLean, VA, this summer. It is
very personal. They are so open to friendship.
I personally have never been disappointed. We also have a
relationship with the China Charity Federation, which oversees
the well-being of the children. When we send these clothes or
humanitarian aid on United Airlines, they are responsible for
getting these things to the orphanages and the children. Even a
new pair of shoes makes a difference in the life of a child.
So, we just keep going forward day after day. This Olympic
torch. I am thrilled to be able to bring this. The children
will present the torch and I am hoping that Jenny Bowen is
going to be where we are at the same time, because there will
be children over there, actually adopted children, working in
the orphanages to build and help to create these systems of
caregiving for the nannies, at the same time we hope to, plan
to, pass this.
We are going to include children in the orphanages, and we
are going to let the children do this and try to begin a
tradition in China by passing this Olympic torch.
So, again, I do not mean to be evasive in my answer to you.
My answer is, we have been extraordinarily fortunate. Every
place that we have gone, we have been well received. I believe
that it is so important right now for us to pay attention to
this opportunity that we have through adoption and through
working in China. It works. This is one place between our two
great nations that works.
We have gone through our bumps, just as we have mentioned
about the ``dying rooms'' and last year when we had the
airplanes collide off Hainan Island, and in 1999 when the
Chinese Embassy was bombed, and so on, and so forth. But we
always seem to come out with our heads held high. There is no
street fighting here. We go back to the children. We go to the
children. They seem to be the ones that bolster all of our
efforts.
Mr. Foarde. That is very useful. Thanks.
Mr. Wolf. Susan.
Ms. Weld. Well, I am not sure I have any more questions.
One very quick one. There was some mention of a minority child
not being permitted--I am sorry.
Ms. Robertson. I mentioned a minority child, yes.
Ms. Weld. What does that mean? Does that mean, if there
were a child in an orphanage in a minority part of China, they
are not eligible for----
Ms. Robertson. Well, the case is usually that there is a
whole orphanage of minority children. It may not be just one
child, it may be a whole section of children that are being
taken care of privately by private donations, tourists, etc.
These children are not
considered Han Chinese.
Ms. Weld. Did you mean to say that those are not available
for adoption?
Ms. Robertson. That is what I understand, yes. They are
not.
Ms. Cox. Are you asking if, as a matter of policy, are
minority children available for adoption?
Ms. Weld. Yes. I am just wondering why there would be such
a rule.
Mr. Youtz. I am not aware of there being such a rule. To my
knowledge, kids would be available as a matter of national
policy. But what Nancy might be referring to is that there are
some orphanages or institutions that do not seem to have become
a part of this national pool of kids that are being considered
by the China Center for International Adoption.
Mr. Wolf. I am sorry. Why do you not introduce yourself?
Mr. Gelnik. My name is Yaniv Gelnik. I am a student at
Brown University. I spent some time in a few of these
orphanages over the summer. One of them was a minority
orphanage. The way they explained it to me, is the ethnic
children, the minority children are not allowed to be adopted.
In many cases, the reason was because they were orphans,
not abandoned children, so they had family, just not parents.
Those families would get first rights when the child turns 15,
so they do not want to let any children out for adoption for
that reason. But in many cases it is simply because they are
not Han, and so they are outside the system.
I visited an orphanage only for ethnic children, because
the government would not set up an orphanage for them.
I think an organization called The Mothers International
Foundation here in Washington, DC, has worked with local,
private citizens in Hunan to set up this amazing place for the
ethnic children. So, they are really outside the system because
they are not Han.
I can also speak to some of the other questions you asked
earlier, specifically, the one about the religious
institutions. I did spend some time in a religious orphanage
and learned how that works.
The one that I was in, I think, was evangelical. They raise
all of their funding here in the United States. They send out
newsletters and they try to get a lot of different members of
different churches around the United States to support them.
They have an all right relationship with the local
officials. The officials sort of know what they are doing.
It is really not a very stable sort of orphanage, but it is
the best funded of those that I visited.
Ms. Weld. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much for participating today. This
has been very useful. I just want to comment that one of the
responsibilities for the Commission is to make recommendations
to the Congress and to the executive branch on human rights and
rule of law developments.
As you leave here, if you think of some ways and some
specifics, such as the INS issue, the citizenship issue, if you
think there are ways that the Commission may be able to help,
please send us a letter and we will try to factor that in.
Thank you all very much, including the audience, for your
participation. We appreciate it.
[Whereupon, at 4:02 p.m. the roundtable was concluded.]
A P P E N D I X
=======================================================================
Prepared Statements
------
Prepared Statement of Nancy Robertson
october 21, 2002
Thank you, Ira Wolf and John Foarde, Senator Baucus and Congressman
Bereuter and thanks to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China
for including me in this timely roundtable discussion on China's
children: adoption, orphanages and children with disabilities.
I am honored to speak on behalf of The Grace Children's Foundation,
an organization that has as its priority the educational, medical and
humanitarian needs of the children in Chinese orphanages.
Although some of the focus of today's events revolves around the
issues of human rights and legal reforms within the People's Republic
of China, my input will not serve to advocate for or pontificate on
those topics. My presence and peripheral involvement in the political
and social changes taking place in China revolve around one specific
clientele, one specific special interest group: abandoned children in
Chinese orphanages and foster homes.
The story of The Grace Children's Foundation really began on
Christmas Eve, 1994. My husband Brooks and I arrived in Hong Kong
earlier that day just as the sun was rising and flew on to Shanghai. We
had begun the incredible journey to adoption and to our daughter,
Grace.
Christmas carols were blasting in the background when we arrived at
the hotel and I was so excited I could barely contain myself. Brooks
was steeling himself until the right moment, guarding me from any
possible disappointment. We went to China without an agency, pretty
much by the seat of our pants. We arrived at the hotel and were
informed that we should unpack and freshen up and that our daughter
would be there in 2 hours. I smiled to myself as we rode up to our room
in the elevator, all the while thinking, ``This is it, we are finally
here!''
Then I panicked like I never have before. I told Brooks that I had
changed my mind. He looked at me and said ``What do you mean?'' I had
been the driving force. Although he was very eager, it was I who pushed
everything along. I became terrified at the last minute, I imagine much
like a woman about to give birth saying, ``O.K. that was great but I
want to go home now.''
I shut myself in the bath and contemplated what I had done. What if
I had ruined my marriage? This all sounded good but what would be the
reality? What if I didn't like her as much as I thought? What if she
didn't like me? I dressed and the phone rang and the messenger said
``Hello, Mrs. Robertson, your baby is in the lobby.'' I said ``Send her
up.''
Send her up? What was this, room service? I panicked further and
propelled Brooks to the front door, pushing him through the crack
saying ``I cannot do this. You go and explain that I cannot do this.''
And I shut the door. Then, I got hold of myself. I squared my shoulders
and opened the door and walked out in the corridor. There I saw Brooks
holding the most beautiful person I had ever seen. He walked toward me
and handed her to me. I said, ``I love you Grace.'' From that moment
until this I cannot imagine my life without her. On that Christmas Eve
I saw in her eyes, all of the children.
why we exist
Inside the People's Republic of China there are thousands of
children living in orphanages and foster homes. The overwhelming
majority of these children are girls. Few possess more than the most
basic clothing and many of them struggle with treatable medical
problems.
Without formal schooling or the crucial anchor of family these
orphan children face a lifetime of struggle for even the most basic
employment. These are the children who wait. The Grace Children's
Foundation, through its programs and relationships has been allowed
passage through what had been traditionally a wall of privacy in the
orphanages.
organization history
In 1994 Nancy and Brooks Robertson adopted their daughter Grace in
Shanghai. Like other adoptive parents, they were moved by the plight of
the orphans who remain behind, most of whom have little chance of ever
being adopted. The Robertsons and like-minded parents held discussions
through 1996 about the creation of an
organization with the mission to improve the conditions under which
these children live. The parents' group formed an organization that was
incorporated in January 1997 as The Grace Children's Foundation (TGCF).
Since its founding, The Grace Children's Foundation has been
singularly dedicated to bettering the lives of the ``children who
wait.'' The Foundation acknowledges that the Chinese government and its
people have a plan to alleviate the dire circumstances of the children.
It is China's plan and they are the architects. The Grace Children's
Foundation and others are some of the builders on the team.
The Grace Children's Foundation works in co-operation with
representatives of Chinese orphanages and other governmental and semi-
governmental organizations who welcomed the concepts and provided
access into the orphanages. This professional credibility has allowed
TGCF to work with the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the China Charity
Federation (CCF) which since April 2000 has joined with TGCF to assist
in all three areas of the Foundation's work. In 2002, TGCF received
permanent status as a publicly supported charity.
This type of cooperation fostered by a focus on children leads to
better relations between the United States and China. If our two
nations can cooperate on meeting pressing human needs, we can build on
that and cooperate in other areas.
past program accomplishments
Over the past 5 years, The Grace Children's Foundation, with the
support of individuals, foundations corporate sponsors, medical
facilities, educational institutions and merchant donors, has created
pilot programs to support the orphans of China.
The Grace Children's Foundation Health Initiative has brought 10
orphans to the U.S. for life altering surgeries. The children and their
caregivers were provided transportation through an ongoing partnership
with Northwest Airlines and its Friend of China program. The first five
children from Louyang and Beijing Children's Welfare Institutes were
brought to the United States in April 2000 to the University of
Virginia Medical Center where they received craniofacial surgery. In
January 2001, TGCF and Medical City Dallas Hospital and the North Texas
Hospital for Children made possible the treatment of five more children
from Shanghai Children's Welfare Institute by surgeon Jeffrey Fearon,
M.D. (who has since become the Chair of the Medical Advisory Board for
the Foundation). All 10 of these
surgeries resulted in permanent and dramatic improvement.
In August 2001, TGCF began work with Orbis International to link
the orphan children to adequate ophthalmic care in China. The
Foundation is preparing for four more children from Tianjin, Chengdu
and Louyang Children's Welfare Institutes to receive highly specialized
treatment in orthopedics, ophthalmic and craniofacial care at
Children's Hospital of New York Presbyterian, St. Luke's Roosevelt
Hospital and NYU Hospital for Joint Disease in November 2002. All of
the above medical staffing (the children who have come to the United
States have benefited from the services of 15 physicians and dozens of
adjunct medical personnel) surgery, facilities, housing, food and
transportation were donated to TGCF.
One of the children coming to New York this year is a little 5 year
old girl from Tianjin. She has been waiting a lifetime to have an
operation for severe scoliosis. TGCF is preparing for her medical care
and foster care. We await her arrival with much enthusiasm!
Of the 10 children who were taken care of in U.S. hospitals 7 have
been adopted and the other 3 are now in foster or specialized care in
China.
One of the children who came to the United States for surgery now
lives in Richmond with her adopted family, recently visited New York.
She is now 5 years old and lives with her mother, father and sisters
and brother. She helped to unveil the aircraft at the launch of
Northwest's Friend of China program when we left from Shanghai on our
first medical mission to UVA in Charlottesville. When I carried her up
the stairs to the aircraft, I whispered in her ear that she would never
be lonely again. I know that her life is good and she has brought so
much joy and happiness to everyone who knows her.
TGCF is currently collaborating with American based Chindex
International, Inc. and its newly formed foundation American Education
and Health Foundation (AEHF) in Beijing. The combined efforts has
yielded a rotating medical service to serve the orphan children
directly in China at United Beijing Family Hospital which is owned by
Chindex. American medical personnel from across the United States who
have been touched by the plight of the orphan children, have pledged
their support to travel to China on a rotating basis with services in
orthopedics, internal medicine, craniofacial, cardiac care etc. With
core medical staff residing in China, the children's care is ongoing
rather than episodic.
AEHF believes, as we do, that ``. . . improving the health of
people in other countries makes humanitarian, strategic and moral
sense.''
We are also grateful to Jennifer Weippert who has joined TGCF with
her The Red Thread Project. The proceeds from Red Thread's beautiful
gift baskets directly benefit the children coming to the United States
for surgery.
The Grace Children's Foundation's Education Initiative is supported
by the Department of Education at Brown University. Dr. Cynthia Garcia
Coll, Chair, Department of Education and Jin Li, Assistant Professor,
Department of Education, Brown University are acting as advisors on the
design and implementation of a curriculum K-8 with an emphasis on
special needs education. Sally Deitz, Ph.D., (in special education) co-
author of Learning Activities for Infants and Toddlers: An Easy Guide
for Everyday Use and Chair of the Education Advisory Board for TGCF, is
heading the Education Initiative. Dr. Deitz is an experienced trainer
for Children's Resources International (CRI) whose curriculum 0-8 has
been widely used for the newly and independent states of the former
Soviet Union. This curriculum includes a component on inclusion of
children with disabilities and is being considered for adaptation by
TGCF. Dr. Elizabeth Irwin, Ed.D. of Queens College will assist Dr.
Deitz in planning, adapting and training.
During the summer of 2002, Brown University student Yaniv Gelnik
obtained the Andrea Rosenthal and Mimi Sherman Grants. Mr. Gelnik
traveled to China for a month's educational assessment of orphanages in
Langfeng, Tianjin, Chengdu and Lijiang, where he studied the approach
to teaching and learning in the orphanages.
Education is the key to liberating the children to a place where
they can flourish. We are working to help provide this essential tool
that will give the children a chance to elevate themselves beyond
survival. We believe it's their chance for a life with dignity.
In an ongoing effort through its Humanitarian Aid Initiative, The
Grace Children's Foundation with its sponsorship from United Cargo has
sent hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of donated clothing, shoes,
bedding, wool and fleece accessories and other necessities to the
orphan children in China. In October of 2002 TGCF began shipping
$400,000 worth of in kind donations. Kathy Korge Albergate, Senior Vice
President, Interstar Marketing and Public Relations, heads the
Humanitarian Advisory Board.
The Grace Children's Foundation has won a Telly Award for an 8-
minute film ``Children Who Wait.''
I was honored to carry the Olympic Torch sponsored by Chevrolet and
Coca-Cola on December 23, 2001 representing the Foundation's work.
Coca-Cola has generously arranged for an Olympic Torch to be passed
at the end of this year from The Grace Children's Foundation to the
Minister of Civil Affairs, Douji Cairang,in Beijing in a ceremony to
thank the Ministry for the outstanding work they have done on behalf of
the adopted children from the United States and the children who wait.
the future
The Grace Children's Foundation is well situated to help China's
orphans immediately and into the future in a way that bridges the
complex divide that often separates China and the West. Through its
constructive work with the orphan children and the concerned Chinese
agencies, the Foundation can add substantially to the well-being of the
orphan population while serving to forge new understandings and
cooperation in a shared humanitarian endeavor. Individuals and
corporations who support the efforts of the Foundation stand to gain
unique rewards in China-the satisfaction of helping children in need,
and the appreciation of a grateful nation.
The positive though unintended diplomacy these children have
generated is remarkable. In what other venue between our two countries
do we continuously work with a feeling of hope and accomplishment? No
one who has had the privilege of meeting or working on behalf of these
orphan children has remained untouched by their spirit and poise.
The children have unwittingly become Ambassadors, bridges actually,
between our two great nations. The hope they represent, the cooperation
between representatives of our two countries that they have engendered,
the mutually acknowledged respect for life they embody . . . they
continue to serve as catalysts for understanding, compassion and
respect between our countries. I have been truly honored to stand with
these children, see their love, beauty and inextinguishable courage . .
. to work hand in hand with those responsible for their care and well
being . . . to realize that true diplomacy and hope can be born out of
such meager beginnings. When I am overworked, perplexed, frustrated at
the pace of our undertakings, I recall the words of a friend who said
to me when you are feeling overwhelmed, ``Go to the children.'' I do
and in their eyes I see the hope for our two countries, indeed for
humanity itself. These children, the 35 million orphans worldwide, all
of our children . . . they are the future.
Again, thanks to the Commission for inviting me here to share some
thoughts on China's children and the wonderful spirit of cooperation
between our counties that they represent.
Please visit our website at www.gracechildren.org where you will
see photos and information associated with TGCF.
acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge my husband, Brooks Robertson, my
mother, Joanne Lepp, my sisters, Kathleen J. Lee and Robin Small and my
brother, Bradford Chapman Lepp and thank them for their loving support.
My father, Joseph R. Lepp, ret. U.S.M.C., who passed away the year
before we traveled to China whose message to me was ``Do the best you
can, Nan, for the true test of a man or woman's character is not in
their final achievement in life, not whether they succeed or fail, but
rather the means they employ to achieve their goals . . . honesty,
kindness, love and consideration for those who have less than you and
understanding of those who have more, so do the best you can, we will
always be near to help.'' I would also like to acknowledge my beloved
grandmother, Adelaide Dioguardi and my uncle and aunt, Jack and Mary
Regan.
Thank you to all of the individuals and friends including Brian and
Renee Luwis, Jay and Julie Lindsey, Ed and Barbara Salvesen, Chi Ming
Kan, John and Claudia Sherwood Servidio, Christine Fahey, Eric
Mortensen, Msgr. Thomas P. Leonard, Yo-Yo Ma, Vance and Pamela Aloupis,
Victor and Kathryn Creech, Joanne Roberts, Alan and Sherry Renne,
Robert and Gail Kantor, Joan Frost, Scott and Margaret Roche Ballin,
Claire Gruppo, Ben and Pat Reid, Michael and Rebecca Young Lesh, John
Foarde, Don and Marieve Young, Nicholas J. Howson, Keith Hand, Julie
Shuchman and Mitchell Levenberg, Xia Yi, Kathy Korge Albergate,
Jennifer Crawley, Jennifer Fearon, and Suzi Hilles who have contributed
their time, expertise and financial support to this endeavor. Without
these people, none of what we have accomplished at The Grace Children's
Foundation would have been possible. And most important of all . . . I
am grateful to the children.
I would like to commend the medical institutions and Jeffrey
Fearon, M.D., for opening the doors wide to let the children come in. I
would like to acknowledge Northwest Airlines and the NWA family, and
John Watkins, our champion there. United Airlines and Connie Bello,
Rich Pannulo and Anthony Serraro are also true friends of the
Foundation. Even in this time of economic struggle, both airlines have
found room in their aircrafts for the children and supplies for the
benefit of the orphans.
I would like to acknowledge organizations, such as the Philip
Hayden Foundation, Families With Children from China, Amity
International, Half the Sky Foundation and many more which have as
their mission, to serve the children. In addition I commend the
adoption agencies and social workers whose work is detailed and must be
filled with stories of joy and compassion.
I would like to commend the agencies responsible for the adoption
procedures in China, the China Center for Adoption Affairs and the
Ministry of Civil Affairs responsible for the well being of the
children. I commend the caregivers in the orphanages and foster homes
in China. I would like to thank Yan Ming Fu for his personal message of
friendship and support in a dark hour in September 2001. Thank you Wu
Yijing for always helping me to convey my thoughts when I am in China.
And Grace Kathleen Ayres Robertson who has given me the greatest
honor I will ever know, to be her mother.
`` The Grace Children's Foundation is a New York based 501(c)(3)
organization which seeks to improve the lives of China's orphans
through directed health, education and humanitarian aid programs in
cooperation with Chinese officials responsible for their care.''
* The Foundation solicits funding and goods and services, both
domestically and internationally, from corporations, foundations and
individuals. The Grace Children's Foundation is not an adoption agency
and does not make cash donations to China's orphanages or the Chinese
government.
______
Prepared Statement of Dana Johnson, M.D.
october 21, 2002
Abandoned Chinese Children: International and Domestic Adoption,
Institutional Care and Rehabilitation of Disabled Children
international adoption
For thousands of Americans, the distant and sometimes abstruse
debate on human rights in China has taken literal human form in an
abandoned Chinese infant placed for adoption in their family. Since the
promulgation of the 1991 adoption law, which first permitted
international adoption, over 28,000 Chinese children, overwhelmingly
girls, have been placed in American families. Only Russia has placed
more children in the United States during the same time period. The
desire to adopt Chinese children, 80 percent of who are placed within
U.S. families, continues to grow and waiting periods of one to 2 years
for a referral are not
uncommon.
This surge in Chinese adoptions can be accounted for, in part, by
the increasing availability of Chinese children during an era when
principal referring countries such as Korea have limited the number of
children available for placement. However, a variety of factors has
fueled this growth including the historic preference of Americans for
adopting girls, availability of children at an earlier age than many
other countries and acceptability of single parents. For most of this
time period, China had the requirement that adoptive parents be above
35 years of age, a limit that included most potential adoptive parents
in the U.S. Many families also have an intense interest in Chinese
culture and a desire not only to adopt a child from China but also to
make Chinese traditions an integral part of their family's life.
Over the past decade, adoption paperwork, fees and in-country
processing have been standardized, with few surprises awaiting families
when they arrive in China. Another fact that stands in stark contrast
to adoptions in other countries is that there is little evidence of
corruption in the adoption process. While many families have viewed the
actual adoption trip to other nations as an ordeal to be survived,
virtually every family adopting from China with whom I have spoken
treasured their trip and found the populace welcoming and officials
courteous and efficient.
Officials at the China Center for Adoption Affairs take their work
very seriously and diligently attempt to match the characteristics of
the adoptive family with those of a potential child. They have been
anxious to improve the process of child placement, welcomed input from
adoption professionals and have taken suggestions to heart. Medical
information has improved as the program has matured. For example,
regarding hepatitis B, a serious infection often acquired at birth,
children once were tested at two months of age, a point in time where
false-negative tests are probable due to the biology of that disease.
Consequently, some children who tested negative at this early age were
found to be positive when they reached their adoptive homes. Eager to
improve the process, most testing has been moved to 6 months of age, a
time when the results are quite valid.
Since 1998 my staff and I have spent significant time in eight
Social Welfare Institutions in China and have spoken to adoptive
parents who have visited dozens more. Most were large facilities in
major cities, so I cannot comment on the conditions in smaller, rural
orphanages. There was no difficulty gaining access to these orphanages
and the staffs were open and friendly. My overall impression is that
directors and caregivers are extremely committed to the children in
their care, facilities are continuing to improve and there is a clear
desire to do as much as possible to provide an optimal outcome. While
some institutions still had few caregivers per child, many were staffed
at a ratio of three to five children per caregiver. One Social Welfare
Institute, which was also a rehabilitation facility for severely
disabled children, had a one-to-one caregiver ratio during daytime
hours. Turnover of healthy children into adoptive families appears to
be rapid. One of the problems we have faced trying to evaluate our
early intervention projects is that most of the children we tested were
placed for adoption so rapidly that we could not reevaluate them
following program initiation.
Most children are in good health when placed with their adoptive
parents. Illnesses are primarily limited to respiratory infections and
gastrointestinal problems, the most common illnesses in this infant-
toddler age group. In rare circumstances where children are very ill,
parents accessed the better quality pediatric programs and received
good care. In the handful of cases I am aware of where the child died
while the family was in China, officials were very willing to place
another child with the family.
In one study of adopted Chinese children, unsuspected diagnoses
were present in 18 percent of children and included hearing loss,
disturbances in vision, orthopedic problems and congenital anomalies.
(1) This percentage is similar to that seen in international adoptees
from other parts of the world. I am not aware of attempts to knowingly
portray a child who had a serious illness as being healthy and suspect
that most of these situations arise because of limited diagnostic
capabilities. For children in the special needs program, most
conditions are accurately diagnosed and generally correctable once the
child arrives in the United States.
The medical conditions afflicting Chinese adoptees are those seen
in international adoptees worldwide. (2-5) Latent or active
tuberculosis infection (3.5-10 percent), hepatitis B (3.5-6 percent)
and intestinal (7.1-9 percent) and cutaneous parasites are the most
common infectious diseases. Hepatitis C and syphilis are quite uncommon
(< 1 percent) and HIV infection has yet to be reported in an American
Chinese adoptee. As in most countries, the most common medical problems
are deficiencies in micronutrients (3) such as iron (14-35 percent),
iodine (10 percent), and calcium/phosphorous/vitamin D (14 percent).
Chinese adoptees also share with many international adoptees a
significant risk of being under-immunized against common childhood
infectious diseases, (6-8) as well as a propensity for chronic cough
and respiratory infections due to exposure to significant air
pollution. The one problem that does occur more commonly in Chinese
adoptees is a higher risk (up to 14 percent) of having elevated blood
lead levels (=10 micrograms/deciliter). (9)
Preadoption risk factors that influence long-term prognosis such as
prenatal malnutrition, prematurity and fetal alcohol exposure probably
play a smaller role in overall outcome in Chinese adoptees than in
children from other countries. Prenatal care and nutrition are
generally as good and the use of alcohol by pregnant women in China is
felt to be very uncommon.
The overall well being of Chinese adoptees appears to be strongly
influenced by the length of institutionalization. Orphanages are well
known to be the worst possible environment for normal child
development. Linear growth failure is common, with children losing 1
month of growth for every 3 month in institutional care--a phenomenon
termed psychosocial growth failure. Delays in one or more domains (e.g.
gross and fine motor, social-emotional, language and activities of
daily living) were present in 75 percent of children at the time of
arrival.
Each year I review 2,000 adoption referrals and see 300 children
for post-arrival examinations from around the world. From this
perspective, I strongly feel that
officials in China attempt to place children who are as healthy as
possible. The adoption process is well organized, and long-term issues
related to early childhood institutionalization are less common than
other countries due to a younger average age at placement (12 months).
Fees derived from international adoption have clearly helped improve
conditions for children who remain within Social Welfare Institutions,
and there is increasing use of foster care. Finally, parents are
overwhelmingly satisfied with their experience. This impression is
strong enough for me to have
recommended adoption from China to family members and close friends.
domestic adoption
The glowing reports on international adoption must be muted in the
case of domestic adoption in China. In researching this area, I have
relied heavily on the work of Kay Johnson, Ph.D., Professor of Asian
Studies and Politics at Hampshire College in Amherst Massachusetts and
adoptive parent of a Chinese child. (10-14) Abandoned disabled children
of both sexes have been the traditional inhabitants of orphanages in
China, as they have been in every country in the world where
sophisticated medical care is unavailable. The situation was similar in
the United States 40-50 years ago. However, in times of adversity, the
Chinese preference for male children shifts the gender balance of
abandonment clearly toward infant girls. Most contemporary Chinese view
the ideal family as a boy and a girl. However, traditions of property
transfer and the continuation of the filial line necessitate a male
heir. In rural China where the majority of abandoned Chinese girls
originate, old age pensions are unavailable. The practice of a daughter
leaving her birth family to tend to her husband's parents therefore
makes a male child the only means of ``social security'' for elderly
parents. These traditions essentially ensure that the rate of
abandonment for healthy girls will dramatically increase during times
of misfortune, as was observed during the famine years following the
Great Leap Forward or during rigorous enforcement of population control
measures. The number of children abandoned each year in China is
unknown, but estimates range between 100,000 and 160,000.
Until the early 1990s when international adoption began directly
infusing financial support, Social Welfare Institutions in China were
chronically underfunded. Worldwide, there is no more politically
voiceless or more vulnerable group than parentless children. The influx
of abandoned girls forced orphanage directors to balance the marginal
existence of the majority of children in their care with the costly
medical needs of a small number of critically ill infants. Under these
circumstances, they were forced to practice triage, as do orphanages
around the world. Mortality at some facilities reached 50 percent, a
figure similar to that reported in the early decades of this century in
orphanages in the United States and Western Europe. That said, there is
almost certainly a gender bias in how children are selected for
treatment. In one particular orphanage in Wuhan, Dr. Johnson relates
three instances where the desire for a boy was so strong that potential
adoptive families assumed the financial burden of caring for a
seriously ill, abandoned male infant despite the fact that the children
were close to death.
Unfortunately, the placement of abandoned girls in adoptive
families in China remains subservient to the goals of population
control. In fact, the 1991 law which gave permission to adopt to
childless couples above 35 years of age was designed to limit hiding an
over-quota girl within a friend's or relative's family. Despite the
limitations imposed by the law, Dr. Johnson's work has identified a
very strong desire of Chinese couples and singles to adopt healthy
girls to complete their ideal family. Such adoptions are generally not
through official channels and may total from 300,00-500,000 per year.
These adoptions are more common in rural areas and involve girls more
than boys. Transfer of children into the adoptive family is complete
and the arrangements usually do not involve relatives or close friends.
Her work dispels common misconceptions that Chinese families do not
adopt children from outside of family lines and do not adopt girls.
More importantly, her research identifies a group of domestic adoptive
parents willing to assume the care of normal, abandoned children,
permitting Social Welfare Institutions to concentrate their
efforts on those who are disabled. However, domestic adoption has not
been promoted or supported to the same extent as international
adoption, presumably
because those abandoned have been viewed as being over-quota births
first and
children second.
The major problem encountered by Chinese families adopting outside
the framework is official recognition of their child, which ensures
access to such entitlements as education and healthcare. Within the
group of Chinese adoptive families described by Dr. Johnson, two-thirds
were able to legally register their adopted child by appealing to the
good will of officials or paying a modest fine. However, a number were
burdened with huge fines or suffered forced sterilization. Under some
circumstances, even after enduring these sanctions, children were not
officially registered. As noted by Dr. Johnson, the plight of these
unregistered ``black children'' is ironic since China has insisted on
guaranteeing that Chinese children adopted abroad have full citizenship
and fully equal treatment in their adoptive families.
primary disabilities
A disproportionate percentage of children who reside within Social
Welfare Institutions are those abandoned because of primary medical
disabilities. While many of these children have conditions that are
easily treated within a sophisticated medical system, they pose
enormous problems for families who have neither access nor financial
resources to pay for this care. Therefore, even though the one-child
policy exempts children with disabilities, Chinese families with
handicapped children face powerful forces that encourage abandonment.
I have participated in a number of training courses in China and
observed significant progress in pediatric rehabilitation over the past
6 years. Until recently, the disabled in China suffered the same
segregation from the able population as individuals with disabilities
in Western society. With the exception of the blind, for which the
profession of masseuse was traditionally reserved, the focus was on the
family attending to the needs of the disabled rather than promoting
self-sufficiency. However, the past two decades have witnessed the
establishment of centers of excellence in rehabilitation medicine as
well as architectural adaptations that permit disabled individuals to
participate more fully in society.
A driving force behind this change is Deng Pufang the eldest son of
the former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. During the Cultural
Revolution, he was persecuted so vigorously that he sustained a severe
cervical spine injury and since then has been wheelchair bound. Due in
large part to the prominence of his family and his position as the
President of the Chinese Federation for the Disabled, it is common to
see ramps, handicapped restroom facilities, and redesigned streets and
sidewalks that have eliminated curbing at crosswalks.
Coded tiles incorporated into sidewalks and audible signals at
intersections help the blind navigate more independently and safely.
These accommodations are not limited to the major cities. In 1999, I
participated in a rehabilitation course in a remote location in Inner
Mongolia where new street and sidewalk construction
incorporated these changes.
Access to and expertise in Western rehabilitation medicine is
generally localized to large cities with sophisticated medical
infrastructures. However, some treatments for chronic disabilities,
including acupuncture, massage and natural compounds from the
pharmacopoeia of traditional Chinese medicine, are generally available
throughout China. Training programs are needed to develop the required
expertise that will permit application of both new and traditional
treatments to the benefit of disabled children.
Many communities have developed rehabilitation programs associated
with Social Welfare Institutions. One facility that I visited, the
Nanjing Social Welfare Institute, was specifically designed for the
rehabilitation of severely handicapped orphans. However, many children
from the community participate in the excellent therapy and vocational
training programs available through the center. Another
impressive program, the Children's Rehabilitation Center in Qingdao,
was designed primarily for children with hearing, vision and cognitive
impairment living in the community. Universal access of families to
such services is a critical step in reducing the number of abandoned
disabled children.
secondary disabilities
Secondary disabilities may prove even more daunting for
institutionalized children. Less obvious than a cleft lip or clubfoot,
these problems are brought about by lack of a nurturing environment
during the early formative years of life. Secondary disabilities affect
both normal and disabled children within orphanages, and may include
irreversible deterioration in growth, cognitive, language and social
skills, and emotion regulation. (15) In the case of children who remain
within Social Welfare Institutions, particularly those with
disabilities, the key needs involve a comprehensive package of medical,
cognitive and social rehabilitation designed to teach skills that will
permit their integration into Chinese society as independent adults.
I am pleased to serve on the board of an organization that is
attempting to directly prevent the development of secondary
disabilities within Social Welfare Institutions. Half the Sky
Foundation (named for the Chinese adage ``Women hold up half the sky'')
was created in 1998 by adoptive families who desired to maintain a tie
to China, the country that was their daughters' first home. (16) The
organization is committed to helping the children who remain in China's
orphanages do more than merely survive. The mission is to enrich the
lives and enhance the prospects for these forgotten children by
providing infant nurture and early childhood education centers inside
orphanage walls.
To fulfill this mission, Half the Sky, in cooperation with the
China Population Welfare Foundation and the China Social Work
Association, both Beijing NGOs, creates and operates two programs: Baby
Sisters Infant Nurture Centers and Little Sisters Preschools. The Baby
Sisters Infant Nurture Centers employ HTS-trained ``Nannies'' from the
local community to cuddle, love and provide orphaned babies the
physical and emotional stimulation essential to the normal development
of the brain and psychological well-being.
In the Little Sisters Preschools, HTS-trained teachers use a unique
and progressive curriculum that blends principles of the Reggio Emilia
approach to early childhood education with contemporary Chinese
teaching methods. The program is
designed not only to prepare the children to succeed in Chinese
schools, but also to help develop the ``whole child''--to help her
attain the positive sense of self so often missing in institutionalized
children.
By the end of 2002, HTS will be offering services to over 1200
children in eight institutions: Hefei and Chuzhou in Anhui Province;
Changzhou in Jiangsu Province; Chengdu in Sichuan Province; Chongqing
Municipality, Shanghai Municipality: and two institutions in Guangdong
Province. On Children's Day, June 1, 2002, HTS, CPWF, and CSWA in
cooperation with the Ministry of Civil Affairs opened a
national model center and training facility at the Shanghai Children's
Home, facilitating outreach to institutions across China.
Half the Sky's long-term plan calls for establishing and
maintaining programs in at least two children's welfare institutions in
each Chinese province where there are substantial numbers of children
living in institutions. Each center will serve as a provincial model
and will offer regional training workshops and a base for the
network of caregivers to exchange ideas and experience. The rapid
expansion of HTS programs would not have happened without exceptional
support and cooperation from the directors of each facility and local
and provincial officials. I view this teamwork as further proof of a
sincere desire to improve conditions for abandoned
children as rapidly as possible.
conclusion
On March 7, 1996, I participated in a congressional briefing
sponsored by Senator Paul Simon that was organized in response to the
Human Rights Watch report on alleged abuse and neglect in the Shanghai
Children's Welfare Institution. The meeting began with a statement by
Dr. Ewing Carroll, Executive Secretary of the Asia/Pacific Region of
the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church.
Acknowledging the size and complexity of Chinese society, he stated
that everything we would hear during the briefing would be true
``somewhere'' in China. In this spirit, I acknowledge that the
situation may well be different ``somewhere'' in China, but my personal
experience has been thoroughly positive. From my perspective, few
countries have made as much headway over such a short period of time in
improving conditions for institutionalized children and providing an
ever-increasing array of interventions for those who are disabled.
International adoption benefits not only those who are placed but also
those who remain by improving conditions within orphanages. The
adoption process itself goes as smoothly as it does anywhere in the
world and outcomes, from the perspective of adoptive parents and
adoption professionals, are overwhelmingly positive.
Despite great progress on many fronts, problems within this realm
of children's issues do exist. Population control policy has been
undeniably linked with increased abandonment of healthy infant girls
since the late 1980s and a marked expansion of the population within
Social Welfare Institutions. While some of these abandoned children
succumb, probably many more are adopted by Chinese families in
violation of adoption laws designed principally to prevent over-quota
births rather than to ensure the well being of children. Consequently,
hundreds of thousands of children, principally girls, exist in
situations where they are deprived of entitlements such as education
and health care due to their parent's inability to gain official
governmental recognition of their adoption. As noted by Dr. Johnson,
adoption laws should be further modified so that they serve first the
needs of children, and domestic adoption should be promoted and
supported as vigorously as international placement.
In 1999, the adoption law in China was changed, lowering the legal
age of adoption to 30 and permitting adoption of orphans from within
state welfare institutions by families who already had children as long
they could obtain certification of compliance with birth planning
regulations from local authorities. During the year
following liberalization of the law, the number of officially
registered adoptions in China increased from approximately 6,000-8,000/
year to 52,000. While the number of children adopted from orphanages
increased, a larger portion of this number probably represented
registration of foundlings adopted outside of orphanages as well as
official recognition of ``black children'' adopted outside of legal
channels. In these events I see progress and gain hope that domestic
adoption will be supported, and that those homeless children welcomed
into Chinese families outside the letter of the law will enjoy the full
rights and privileges guaranteed in China's own
constitution.
bibliography
1. Miller LC, Hendrie NW. Health of children adopted from China.
Pediatrics 105:E1, 2000.
2. Johnson DE, Traister M, Iverson S, Dole K, Hostetter MK, Miller
LC. Health status of US adopted Chinese orphans. Pediatr Res 39:135A,
1996.
3. Johnson DE, Traister M. Micronutrient deficiencies, growth
failure and developmental delays are more prevalent than infectious
diseases in U.S. adopted Chinese orphans. Pediatr Res 45:126A, 1999.
4. Hostetter MK. Infectious diseases in internationally adopted
children: findings in children from China, Russia and Eastern Europe.
Advances in Pediatric Infectious Diseases 14:147-61, 1999.
5. Saiman L, Aronson J, Zhou J, Gomez-Duarte C, San Gabriel P,
Alonso M, Maloney S, Schulte J. Prevalence of infectious diseases among
internationally adopted children. Pediatrics 108:608-612, 2001.
6. Hostetter MK, Johnson DE. Immunization status of adoptees from
China, Russia, and Eastern Europe. Pediatric Res 43:147A, 1998.
7. Schulte JM, Maloney S, Aronson J, San Gabriel P, Zhou J, Saiman
L. Evaluating acceptability and completeness of overseas immunization
records of internationally adopted children. Pediatrics 109:E22, 2002.
8. Schulpen TW, van Venter AH, Rumke HC, van Loon AM. Immunization
status of children adopted from China. Lancet Dec 22-29:358(9299):2131-
2132, 2001.
9. Elevated blood lead levels among internationally adopted
children--United States 1999. MMW 49:49:97-100, 2000.
10. Johnson, K. 1993 Chinese orphanages: saving China's abandoned
girls. Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 30:61-87, 1993.
11. Johnson K. The politics of the revival of infant abandonment in
China. Population and Development Review 22:77-98, 1996.
12. Johnson K, Banghan H, Liyao W. Infant abandonment and adoption
in China. Population and Development Review 24:469-510, 1998.
13. Johnson K. Politics of international and domestic adoption in
China. Law and Society Review in press.
14. Johnson K. Chaobao: The plight of Chinese adoptive parents in
the era of the one child policy. Submitted for publication.
15. Rojewski JW, Shapiro MS, Shapiro M. Parental assessment of
behavior in Chinese adoptees during early childhood. Child Psychiatry
and Human Development 31:79-96, 2000.
16. Half the Sky Foundation http://www.halfthesky.org
______
Prepared Statement of Susan Soon-Keum Cox
monday, october 21, 2002
My name is Susan Soon-keum Cox. I am Vice President of Public
Policy and External Affairs for Holt International Children's Services
in Eugene, OR. Holt is an international adoption and child welfare
agency that pioneered adoption from Korea in 1956. Holt has placed
children for adoption from more than 20 countries and has had adoption
and child welfare programs in China since 1993.
I have worked in adoption since 1976 and visited child welfare
programs in several countries in Asia, Latin America and Eastern
Europe. Since 1983 I have worked with hundreds of international
adoptees as director of Heritage Camps and Motherland and Family Tours
to Korea and, in 1993 and 1999, I participated at the Hague Convention
on Private International Law in Respect to Intercountry Adoption. My
involvement at The Hague was primarily as an adoption advocate and
professional, however I also bring the perspective of my life
experience as a Korean adoptee.
In the last 25 years I have witnessed enormous changes and
transitions to the institution of intercountry adoption. I am pleased
for the opportunity to be here today and express my observations of the
impact of child welfare and international adoption on China.
Approximately 20,000 children are adopted from abroad each year by
U.S. families. Since the early 1990s adoptions from China represent an
increasing percentage of the children adopted internationally. In 2002,
more than 4,000 children were adopted from China. These children also
demonstrate a changing demographic profile of adoptive families, of
attitudes about intercountry adoption, and adoption practice and
culture. Most significantly, these adoptions represent a unique profile
of international adoptees and the impact they will have upon the
institution of
intercountry adoption, and the broader cultural context of their birth
and adopted countries.
As China emerges into the global consciousness, there are lessons
to be learned from the Korean experience. Both countries share an
impressive record of achievement in positioning themselves in the world
market place, and a shadowy history and reputation regarding to a
variety of human rights issues. China and Korea also share a common
history of international adoption as a governmentally sanctioned
practice that is viable, effective and humane as a means for a child to
have a family. It is a social practice that is also highly visible and
sometimes controversial on both sides of the ocean.
Nearly 30,000 Chinese children (primarily girls) have been adopted
abroad. Compared to the overall population of China, that might seem an
inconsequential demographic. However, it would be misguided and the
loss of an important opportunity to minimize the impact of that
population on the social and cultural future of China, as well as the
social and cultural context of the families in the United States who
adopt them.
Adoptions from China began at the same time that the virtual
community was becoming a part of the daily life of many Americans. This
directly and dramatically impact the adoption process. It influenced
the connection of adoptive families to the agency facilitating the
adoption, the children they were adopting, and most of all, the
connection of adoptive parents to each other. While families adopting
from China certainly did not invent international adoption, they did to
a large degree pioneer virtual communities for themselves. They
replaced the earlier practice of parent support groups in one another's
living rooms with more accessible opportunities for support and
education not limited by boundaries of geography or time zones.
China contributed to the 'new profile' of adoptive families by
establishing policies that permitted older and single parent adoptions.
While most countries limited the age of parents adopting infants to 40
or 45, the early adoptions from China required a minimum age of 40 with
no upper age limit. Single parents were not restricted and were able to
adopt young infants. Immediately adoptions from China became the most
appealing opportunity for hopeful adoptive parents, particularly those
over age forty and single women. China also established a firm
requirement that families travel to China to bring home their adopted
children. From the beginning this was considered by adoptive parents to
be a positive and treasured opportunity rather than a barrier or
challenge to be overcome.
Predictably, going to China to bring their children home has had a
compelling and lasting impact upon adoptive families. Touched not only
by the children they adopt, but also for the thousands of children left
behind, adopted families stay connected to one another, not only for
themselves, but also for the children they are parenting and the
children they remember in China.
Adoption from Korea began in 1956 and more than 100,000 children
from Korea have been adopted by families in the United States. However,
it was not until the late 1970s that the issues of race, culture and
identity of these adoptees were considered a priority by the adoption
community. This was the beginning of heritage and culture camps and
motherland trips back to Korea. It took longer for the Korean American
community to become involved. Mostly uncomfortable with both the public
and private implication of intercountry adoption, Korean Americans
avoided participating. In the 1980s that began to change as Korean
adoptees grew up and immersed themselves in their birth culture
including becoming part of Asian groups in schools across the country.
Korean American students began to reach out to and include Korean
adoptees in their activities and it paved the way for the more
established adult Korean American community to come forward as well.
In contrast, from the beginning, adoptions from China included
outreach to local Chinese American communities throughout the country.
Adoptive parents sought out cultural resources, established
relationships and formalized programs and opportunities for their
children. Many of these programs included the children of the Chinese
American families and together with Chinese adoptees they learned to
embrace the culture and heritage of their birth countries.
In the 1980s there was a GAO report on international adoption. In
addition to highlighting varying aspects of the adoption process, the
report illuminated the passionate response of adoptive families
regarding their adoption experience and their deep commitment to
ensuring that international adoption continued as a viable option. When
the Hague Convention was first introduced at the end of the 1980s,
those outside of the adoption community were startled at the degree of
interest and emotional response of adoptive families. Throughout the
next decade adoptive families have not faltered in their monitoring and
questioning of the Hague process.
From the beginning, China instituted an international adoption
process that is similar to the successful process that has endured in
Korea for more than 40 years. By establishing a centralized procedure
for adoption with oversight by the China Center for Adoption Affairs
(CCAA), there is a system of checks and balances that ensures a
consistent measure of accountability and equity. This has not been the
foundation of international adoption in many other countries with newly
developed adoption programs, and is largely responsible for the success
of adoptions from China. This careful, thoughtful system has allowed
impressive numbers of children to be adopted with few disruptions.
On numerous occasions, government officials and staff from the CCAA
have come to the United States to visited adoption agencies, medical
programs, state adoption and foster care programs, and local child
welfare officials. They have also visited adoptive families around the
country and observed the parent group supported programs, celebrations
and projects for Chinese adoptees. It is clear that CCAA officials and
others in China have been reassured by how well the adopted children
are thriving in there adopted families and communities.
When adoptions first began from China, there were firm, rigid
restrictions on access by outsiders to orphanages and institutions.
There is still reluctance to allow outsiders unlimited access to many
institutions, but increasingly China has welcomed child welfare and
medical experts, as well as humanitarian and development specialists to
assist in improving social welfare conditions in China.
China has understandably been cautious and at times reticent
regarding their international adoption program. Like other sending
countries, including the United States, China is sensitive to how this
social practice on behalf of their homeless children is seen by the
rest of the world. Media interest in Chinese adoptions has been
consistent and varied. While many of the stories are positive
commentaries about a particular adoptive family, other stories have
critically exposed the complexities of the one child policy, child
abandonment, and inadequate care in orphanages.
No country willingly accepts criticism of how they care for their
children, nor do they easily allow children to leave the country of
their birth to be adopted by families of another. Intercountry adoption
should never be considered the first line of defense, or the answer to
the social safety net provided by solid child welfare
programs. However, it is an immediate and often the single solution to
abandoned children in orphanages with no other option in their future.
China has shown an understanding and acceptance of this reality.
When China established and allowed intercountry adoption for
thousands of children in the past decade, it has also used the
resources created by adoption to
elevate the lives of children remaining in China. This is uneasy and
uncomfortable for China, or any sending country to acknowledge.
However, the evidence of the quality of care in institutions in China
clearly demonstrates that resources have been re-invested to improve
care for children in China. Foster care, early childhood development
and education, programs for children with disabilities, child care
training, medical services and numerous other programs to benefit
children are increasing in China's child welfare system.
Worldwide, children in orphanages are not given high priority and
considered of little value to their society. Resources for there care
are inadequate and advocacy on their behalf rare. Often they simply do
not survive desperate childhoods. The children who do survive are
seldom educated or prepared to care for themselves or a family.
As China continues to seek prominence in a global context, they
cannot avoid increasing scrutiny. Circumstances that seem far removed
from adoption or child welfare will still have implications on
adoption. As China positions itself in the world market place and
prepares to host the Olympics, it is predictable that the media and
others will continue to focus on social issues, including adoption and
the role it has in China. This will likely make China uneasy. But China
should remember that they are not alone in explaining or defending the
practice of international adoption. The thousands of families who have
adopted children from China are outspoken and passionate advocates. It
does not mean that they look aside at all that still remains to be done
to improve social welfare programs in China, but they see it through
the lens of compassion and determination to help them succeed.
Like Korea, the cultural and social context of China will be
affected by the impact of international adoption. Because white
families adopting Asian children are clearly obvious and visible, they
cannot be hidden. Policy makers in China or the United States also
cannot ignore them. An example of the ability and determination of
adoptive families to mobilize was evidenced when the United States
increased vaccination and immunization requirements for individuals
immigrating to the United States. While it was sound public policy for
adults, the requirements for infants and children was disaster. The
unintended consequences of this legislation was immediately clear to
the adoption community and agencies came together to urge needed
changes. However, it was the organized and strategic call to action of
adoptive families who had adopted, or hoped to adopt, from China that
was pivotal in securing the required alteration in policy for children.
In addition to the adoptive families, the collective influence of
other individuals and organizations deeply invested in what happens in
China is impressive. Organizations that are not considered part of the
traditional adoption community have
become involved, such as university researchers, the medical and
education community, and the news media. An industry dedicated to the
Chinese adoption experience has developed and flourishes. Resources on
Chinese culture, history, language and contemporary China are
considerable. Books for children at all ages of development and for
adoptive parents are published constantly, many by adoptive families
themselves. Culture camps, holiday festivals and local events are
bountiful and updated directories of local and regional organizations
and available in communities around the country.
Chinese adoptions have become a part of the normal cultural
mainstream in the United States. International adoptive families have
had minor exposure in public service announcements and some commercial
advertising in the past (Eastman Kodak produced a commercial about a
Korean adoptee in the 1970s). However, increasingly international
adoption, and primarily Chinese adoption, is featured in commercial
advertising, not about adoption or Asia, but ads for J.C. Penney,
Nordstrom, Morgan Stanley, and others. These marketing promotions
demonstrate the clout and viability of international adoption as
mainstream culture.
At the heart of all this activity and attention are the adoptees
themselves. Their life experience as Chinese adoptees will be greatly
influenced by the collective energy and attention that has been a part
of how adoption from China developed and emerged. By the time China
hosts the Olympic Games, many adoptees will be old enough to have, and
voice, their own opinions about their birth country and their adoption.
It is not possible to predict precisely what those thoughts will be,
but if the Korean experience is any indication, they will be a voice
the world should be prepared to hear.
Submission for the Record
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Prepared Statement of David Youtz, President, Families With Children
From China of Greater New York
october 21, 2002
Families with Children from China (FCC) is a non-profit
organization dedicated to supporting families who are planning to
adopt, are in the process of adopting, or have adopted children from
China. There are 90 chapters across the United States representing
thousands of adoptive families. The Greater New York Chapter alone
includes nearly 2000 families. Since we were founded in the early
1990s, we have continuously had the opportunity to work with and
observe Chinese orphanages. We believe it is important to include in
today's discussion the voices of the adoptive community.
China emerged in the mid-1990s as one of the largest sources of
international adoptions for Americans. The number of Chinese children
adopted into American families is now about 5,000 per year. Across the
United States close to 30,000
children have been adopted from China by American families since 1990.
China has been a frequent choice because its adoption process has been
stable and predictable, infants and children coming from Chinese
orphanages have been healthy, and Chinese officials have been open to
adoptions by single parents and older parents.
Beginning in 1993, China conducted a major overhaul and
consolidation of its adoption policies and processes and set a new,
national system in place. Our community has been impressed with the
work of the national coordinating agency, the Chinese Center for
Adoption Affairs. Graft and irregularities in dealings with foreign
adoptions have been extremely rare. The relevant Chinese authorities
have been conscientious about consistently and fairly applying the
rules. The adoption paperwork requirements and costs have been on a par
with, if not better than international practices. China has exhibited
none of the problems seen recently with adoptions in Vietnam and
Cambodia. FCC families' experiences with China adoption have been
overwhelmingly positive.
The circumstances of adoption in China are in some ways unique. The
large majority of children in Chinese orphanages are girls. This
situation has been caused, by a number of social, demographic, and
economic factors. These include a combination of widespread poverty in
certain rural provinces, (particularly those inland regions remote from
the booming economies of the coastal areas), and the traditional
Chinese value of the primacy of bearing sons. The lack of social
security assistance in China further fuels the tradition that male
heirs, and not daughters, are obliged to provide financial and other
care for their elderly parents. Finally, China stepped up its
population control efforts at the beginning of the 1980s and
established the ``one-child policy.'' This policy, from its inception,
has been irregularly enforced (strongly enforced in urban areas, and
more loosely in rural areas), and is now being revised to reflect the
reality that many families have skirted the one-child rule in attempts
to bear a son.
FCC families are well aware, having visited orphanage sites in
China during the last decade, that there were numerous problems in
Chinese orphanages in the early 1990s. These ranged from poor
conditions, overcrowding, and lack of resources, to poor management of
the institutions. We believe China has made great strides in addressing
these problems. They have been very successful at bringing new
resources to orphanages. At many of the institutions we have visited,
the quality of care, physical infrastructure, toys and equipment, and
other conditions have
dramatically improved. We have also been impressed that orphanages,
working together with foreign and domestic groups, are now embracing
foster care as an
alternative to long-term institutional care for infants and children.
We have been pleased to see significant growth in the number of local
Chinese families participating in foster care programs, and the
beginning of growth in domestic adoption by Chinese families. This
latter development is new for mainland China, which does not have a
tradition of adoption outside the extended family; this is, we believe,
the direct result of a fruitful, collaborative relationship between the
foreign adoptive communities and China.
While FCC is primarily an organization that serves American
adoptive families, we care deeply about the children who remain in
Chinese orphanages. Many of us parents felt compelled to find an
effective way to do something to elevate conditions for these unadopted
children. Increasingly today the children who are not being adopted are
those with significant special needs or those who have passed beyond
the prime ages for adoption--the same category of children who have
been difficult to place in American domestic adoptions.
Since 1996, FCC has been providing support to China's orphanages
and helping to improve conditions for children growing up in
institutional care. Over the past 6 years, for example, FCC of Greater
New York has raised more than $850,000 to fund orphanage assistance
projects in China. Over $800,000 has already been
distributed to China to fund projects providing direct services to
children in more than 40 orphanages in nine provinces. Most of the
funds FCC distributes support continuing programs to increase the level
of care the children receive.
Working primarily in partnership with a China-based non-
governmental organization, the Amity Foundation, FCC sponsors orphanage
children for medical treatment and corrective surgery and pays tuition
fees for hundreds of children to attend community schools. Two
important programs provide professional care within the
orphanages, supplementing the work of the regular orphanage staff. The
``Grandmas Project'' recruits retired teachers and medical personnel to
provide nurturing care to babies and special needs children. In a
program developed by FCC, intensive-care nursing teams care for babies
and infants at risk and provide therapeutic intervention to special
needs children. FCC currently sponsors Grandmas projects in 17
orphanages, and teams of 4 to 6 Chinese nurses in 5 orphanages.
The development of long-term foster care has been perhaps the most
significant advancement in the care of the neediest children, older and
special needs children who are not likely to be adopted. Through
seminars by organizations such as the Amity Foundation, orphanage
directors are recognizing the benefits of loving foster homes over
long-term institutional care for these children. FCC has worked with
the Amity Foundation to develop quality foster care programs, providing
a model of family care within the community with resources to address
medical and educational needs, and to promote the advantages of child-
centered family care to orphanage directors and provincial officials.
The benefits to the children in foster care placements are apparent in
the gains in their health and in their physical and emotional
development. FCC has also partnered with the Holt Foundation, another
organization promoting the advantages of foster care, in providing
funds to begin two foster care projects developed by Holt.
In site visits to the orphanages with projects we sponsor, we have
seen significant advancements in the conditions and in the level of
care. To those who visited
orphanages in the first years of significant numbers of adoptions from
China, the observed improvements have been most dramatic. Government
and business-
community resources have been devoted to erecting new orphanage
buildings and renovating others, replacing the dismal facilities many
of us saw when we adopted our children. Government officials and
orphanage directors have been receptive to efforts by a broad range of
charitable organizations to improve services to the children, allowing
access to the orphanages and training of orphanage staff.
Clearly the needs remain great and much more needs to be done. The
trends of greater government attention to the population of orphanage
children and to facility improvements, and receptivity to the
assistance provided by international organizations as well as emerging
charitable groups within China are hopeful signs of
continuing positive developments in the care for China's orphaned and
abandoned children.
conclusion
Adoption of children from China into American families is one of
the most successful examples of cooperation between our two countries.
Despite frequent ups and downs in the relationship between Washington
and Beijing, the adoption process has moved ahead with quiet and life-
changing effectiveness. The adoption process and conditions in
orphanages are one area where China has made impressive and enduring
progress, which should be recognized and applauded. China's openness to
assistance and its commitment to improvement in these areas
demonstrates that China can change in directions that Americans are
pleased to see. This suggests to our community that open lines of
communication and constructive engagement with China works--to the
mutual good of people in both countries. Families with Children from
China urges that both governments do all that they can to allow this
overwhelmingly positive story to continue to flourish.
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