Only time will tell

How's this for strange timing? The very day we are DTC for our second child, reports are released that China may end its one-child policy.

If China does do so, I believe it is very possible that international adoption from China (at least the non-special needs program) could cease in the years to come. With our referral being several years away, we could definitely be out of luck. But for the families in China who would be able to remain together, for the birth parents who would not have to even consider not raising their child, nothing could be more wonderful.

Somehow, some way, I still believe we'll have another child. When, from where and how are yet to be determined but for now, we'll stay the course already chosen.

Here's the full article that appeared online on Reuters yesterday.

China may scrap one-child policy, official says

By Lucy Hornby

BEIJING (Reuters) - China, worried about an ageing population, is studying scrapping its controversial one-child policy but will not do away with family-planning policies altogether, a senior official said on Thursday.

With the world's biggest population straining scarce land, water and energy resources, China has enforced rules to restrict family size since the 1970s. Rules vary but usually limit families to one child, or two in the countryside.

"We want incrementally to have this change," Vice Minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission Zhao Baige told reporters in Beijing.

"I cannot answer at what time or how, but this has become a big issue among decision makers," Zhao said. She added that the current plan was to study the issue seriously and responsibly, but avoid sudden changes that might cause a spike in births.

"Minority groups already have two children, even three, and in the cities like Shanghai and Beijing, a lot of only children are already released (to have two), but the most important is those in the middle like in Henan... nearly a hundred million people, but strongly influenced by the classical way, they want a son, and they are already very fragile environmentally."

Teams studying the issue would have to consider the strain of China's huge population on its scarce resources, popular attitudes, and how much of a social net China can afford to provide without the traditional reliance on large families to care for the aged, she said.

Surveys show that 60 percent of Chinese younger than 30 want a maximum of two children, and only a "very small" number want more than three, Zhao said.

The average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime has decreased to 1.8 in China today, from 5.8 in the 1970s, and below the replacement rate of 2.1.

RELAXATION
In recent years, China has sought to soften its draconian and often controversial family control policies, which have included forced abortions and other punitive measures.

But local officials remain under intense pressure to keep numbers down, leading to skewed statistics and sometimes brutality.

The country is now relying more on education, especially about contraception, said Zhao, in charge of international cooperation, education and communication at the ministry.

China says its policies have prevented several hundred million births and boosted prosperity, but experts have warned of a looming social time-bomb from an ageing population and widening gender disparity stemming from a traditional preference for boys.

Normally, between 103 and 107 boys are born for every 100 girl infants, but in China, 118 boys are born for every 100 girls, Zhao said.

Experimental policies include trying to improve women's welfare and girls' access to schooling.

Still, the government has previously expressed concern that too many people are flouting the rules.

State media said in December that China's population would grow to 1.5 billion people by 2033, with birth rates set to soar over the next five years.

Officials have also cautioned that population controls are being unraveled by the increased mobility of China's 150 million-odd migrant workers, who travel from poor rural areas to work in more affluent eastern cities.

China has vowed to slap heavier fines on wealthy citizens who flout family planning laws, in response to the emergence of an upper class willing to pay standard fines to have more children.
(Editing by Sugita Katyal and Jerry Norton)

We're DTC!

We learned today that our dossier has arrived in China, so we're DTC (dossier to China) again!

Our dossier was sent out on Monday, February 25, and it arrived in Beijing today, on February 28, at 3:10 p.m. The package was signed for by C. Hop. We learned of being DTC just a short while ago, at 2:50 p.m. Canadian time.

Hopefully we'll get logged in soon. For Claire's adoption, it took about three weeks for our dossier to be logged in and another three months before we learned of our log-in date. For some reason, it seems that Alberta dossiers have a longer wait to get logged in once they arrive in China than other provinces.

In any event, we'll be settling in for an extremely long paper-pregnancy. So far, China has sent out referrals for families who were logged in before December 27, 2005 (although it is expected that in a few days, referrals for early January 2006 will begin arriving). Considering that we were logged in with Claire on September 5, 2005, the Chinese government hasn't made a lot of progress through their massive backlog of applicants. But looking on the bright side, the process can't get any slower, can it? ;)

For the moment, we're just happy to reach this significant milestone. Today is a beautiful winter day, with sunny skies and an unusually warm temperature of four degrees. It definitely makes for a memorable day.