China's halt in adoptions causes frustration
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Dozens of Hawai'i families are in limbo over their hopes to adopt children from China, where fears over SARS has prompted the government to suspend adoptions by foreign parents.
Meanwhile, three Hawai'i families will come home from China tomorrow, each with a new daughter, because their travel was authorized before Thursday's suspension announcement by the China Center of Adoption Affairs.
That government agency cited the crisis with severe acute respiratory syndrome in its decision to stop assigning orphans to families outside of China and to stop issuing travel authorizations to adoptive parents.
"What that indicates is the complete lack of confidence that this will open up any time soon," said Kristine Altwies Nicholson, president of Hawaii International Child Inc., one of two Hawai'i agencies that handle adoptions of children from China.
The suspension has left at least 11 families here frustrated because their adoptions had progressed to a point where the end had been in sight. Eight of them had children assigned but no travel clearance; in three cases the assignments were imminent but now are postponed.
Hawaii International Child is handling six of those 11 cases, plus 55 newer applications on file in various stages of review, Nicholson said. The second Hawai'i agency, Child & Family Service, is handling five cases, all families with a child assigned but no travel papers.
Chinese adoptions had slowed to a trickle the previous year because of China's quotas on foreign adoptions, said Dan Watanabe, Child & Family Service spokesman; those quotas were lifted but the agency hasn't yet sought new applicants.
Watanabe and Nicholson underscored that only the end stages of the adoption process have been postponed; adoption agencies nationwide still accept new applications.
"They still are identifying children, still doing home studies of prospective families," Watanabe said. "The process is continuing. When (China authorities) change the procedures, we'll have families ready to go ahead and make that next step."
Nicholson said the three families with travel documents were urged to consult with their doctors, but none of the physicians told their patients not to go to China. Hawaii International Child Inc. cannot give medical advice, she said.
"We did tell them to suck on ice before they left for the airport, and we said it only half as a joke," she said. "Anyone with a fever would be quarantined, and they wouldn't be able to come home."
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
