Why China....

Lots of people ask why we chose China. There are many reasons, but here's some of the main ones:

1. To control China's fast growing population, there is currently a "one child" policy that is still enforced in many provinces. Many families prefer to have a boy because it is culturally the boy's responsibility to work to help the family and boys will look after their parents in their old age. Girls will usually marry and will help to look after her husband's family. While many people assume that some babies are not wanted simply because they are girls, this is certainly not true. In many cases, the family already has one or more children and face paying unaffordably high fines, losing their jobs, or perhaps worse for having a second or third child. Because it is illegal to give a child up for adoption, there are approximately 1.5 million girls abandoned in China. These are children whose birth mothers love them very much, but clearly could see a better life for their daughters in one of China's many orphanages, or with adoptive families. Often, they are abandoned in very public places such as a police station, hospital, public park or shopping mall, usually with the mother watching from a distance to make sure they are safe and found quickly.

2. Children and infants adopted from China are generally very healthy. The prenatal use of drugs and alcohol is almost non existant. Fortunately, it's just not part of the culture in most areas of the country.

3. The process of adopting from China may be a little longer than some countries, but it's a very clean process with a child as the end result. Other countries have adoption processes that can be terminated by birth mothers at the 11th hour, or in some cases, after the child has been placed with and bonded to a new family.

There are many other reason's, but overall, we felt a real tug from China right from the start and we know with absolute certainty that this is right choice for us (and for our daughter!).