Thursday, March 6, 2008
Friday, February 29, 2008
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)
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)
Thursday, February 28, 2008
We're DTC!
We learned today that our dossier has arrived in China, so we're DTC (dossier to China) again!
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.
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.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Provincial approval
On November 30th, we received provincial approval of our Home Study (but we didn't know until December 5th when the letter was delivered). Yay - we're another step closer to our second child!
The latest word is that it could be approximately 3 years from log-in before we receive a referral. This is much better than the 6-year estimates I was reading about online, so 3 years doesn't sound so bad anymore. In fact, I'm starting to think it could result in a really nice age gap between the girls. After all, Claire would be in Kindergarten then, which would allow me and our new little one some time on our own. I think it would be nice for her to have me all to herself for at least part of the day, since Claire has us all to herself right now.
Here we are on December 8th, dreaming of Christmas.
The latest word is that it could be approximately 3 years from log-in before we receive a referral. This is much better than the 6-year estimates I was reading about online, so 3 years doesn't sound so bad anymore. In fact, I'm starting to think it could result in a really nice age gap between the girls. After all, Claire would be in Kindergarten then, which would allow me and our new little one some time on our own. I think it would be nice for her to have me all to herself for at least part of the day, since Claire has us all to herself right now.
Here we are on December 8th, dreaming of Christmas.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Another milestone
Our adoption agency just signed off on our Home Study, so it's now with the Alberta government for approval. Yay!
BTW, it usually doesn't take this long for a Home Study report to be prepared; however, since we can't be in logged-in in China until after February 5, 2008, we told our adoption agency that there was no rush. However, now I'm starting to think we should have got it done a little earlier because:
- the Alberta government will take anywhere from 4-6 weeks to approve it (which could take us to December 18);
- it then goes to our coordinator for translation which could take a month or more (roughly January 18);
- it then gets returned to our provincial government who submits it to China (roughly another week or two?); and
- China then logs it in when it can (which can take anywhere from days to a month - for Claire, we got logged in about three weeks after our dossier arrived in China.)
So, for all we know, we won't get logged in until March. It doesn't sound like much of a delay, but due to the number of applicants, the CCAA is sometimes taking months of real time to get through a month of applicants. As a result, a one month delay on the part of us getting logged in could mean a referral several months later than planned. Oh well. As we learned with Claire, the wait simply means that the baby you are meant to be with isn't ready for adoption yet.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Our family at the start of the process
Here we are, just the three of us, looking forward to being four. Or five, if we are blessed with twins!By the way, my hair is normally curly; it was just styled straight after a haircut. Claire had seen me with straight hair months ago but it didn't phase her. This time, it did. She totally didn't know who I was, and even when I spoke, she wasn't sure. She searched my eyes for clues and after several minutes, finally decided I was Mama after all!
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Getting started
Part of the process of international adoption is a home study with a social worker. We met with Maria, the same social worker we had for Claire's home study, for an update yesterday. It was a pretty quick thing this time, having already spent hours with Maria before.
Big sister Claire was an angel during the visit. I always wonder what our second baby's personality will be; will she be a sweet, active easy-going baby like Claire, or a wild little baby who will keep us more on our toes? However she is, I'm sure she'll fit right in with our family in her own way. As my mom always says, her seven children enriched the family with their own unique personalities. I'm sure we'll be enriched by our new addition as well.
Big sister Claire was an angel during the visit. I always wonder what our second baby's personality will be; will she be a sweet, active easy-going baby like Claire, or a wild little baby who will keep us more on our toes? However she is, I'm sure she'll fit right in with our family in her own way. As my mom always says, her seven children enriched the family with their own unique personalities. I'm sure we'll be enriched by our new addition as well.
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