Cuts in Foreign Adoptions Causing Anxiety in USA

USA Today ran an article written by Wendy Koch in their August 13th edition about changes occuring in the world of foreign adoptions.....Cuts in Foreign Adoptions Causing Anxiety in USA. All over the internet, you will find all sorts of reasons and speculations about why it is taking 2 to 3 years to adopt a "healthy" or "non special needs" child from China. I think this article explains it well so take time to read it if you would like to understand better. You do need a great deal of patience to adopt a child from a foreign country, that's for sure! Here's an excerpt from the article:

The face of adoption is being changed by a combination of factors, including more aggressive efforts worldwide to stop illegal child trafficking. As part of those efforts, the U.S. government is more closely scrutinizing requests for U.S. visas for foreign children.

At the same time, several nations that have sent many orphans to the USA - namely China, Russia and South Korea - have begun encouraging more domestic adoptions, and limitig foreign ones, as their economies improve.

The following are some revealing statistics. The top 4 countries referenced are China, Russia, Guatemala and South Korea.

Fiscal Year.........Total Foreign Adoptees........From Top 4

2004....................... 22,884.............................. 78%
2005....................... 22, 728............................. 79%
2006....................... 20,679.............................. 76%
2007....................... 19,292.............................. 70%

Source: State Department