A New Life

Here is a picture of Eliza, my cousin that I told all of you about at Christmas! Isn’t she so cute! A darling gift from God.

In America you see so many Chinese babies. But why do you mostly see girls? You wonder this question when you see a beautiful Asian little baby with a blond or red haired American woman. In America we hear that all of these girls are abandoned but why would a mom do that? Why do people choose China to adopt a child and what is the reason behind that one child law? These are the questions I started asking when my uncle and aunt began the process of adopting a little baby girl from China. I hope to find out why Chinese parents prefer to keep boys rather than girls and the rules about having only one child and thereasons why so many girls are the ones making the journey to America from China.

The adoption of Chinese babies by Americans has been happening for
approximately twenty-five years. Four hundred babies a month start their new
life in America. Chinese adoption is popular for several different reasons.
More than six million couples in America are not able to have a baby and are
looking for babies to adopt. The process in America is very costly. In
America the average adoption cost around $30,000 to $35,000 dollars. An
adoption in China cost around $20,000. People prefer China because the babies
are abandoned and little information is known about the parents in China. The
mothers and fathers in America are known and often change their mind and take
the babies away from the adoptive parents. Some adoptive parents say that they
choose China because the babies have fewer health problems than in other
countries such as Russia and South America. People in China do not drink as
part of their culture like they do in other countries. The Chinese orphans
seem to be healthier. The Chinese adoption process does not have an age
requirement or the fact that a person is single.
When you adopt a baby from China , it takes about one to two years to get
a baby. You have a lot of papers to sign and a lot of interviews with the
government and social workers to make sure you are ready to adopt a child. You
have to spend two weeks in a hotel in China after you adopt the baby before you
can come home. There is a ceremony where you swear your love and
responsibility for the baby. Ninety-eight percent of the babies adopted from
China are girls because of the one child law in China.
China is a country that has a massive population. Because of that issue
they have a one child law. The law states that in China you can only have one
child. It was established by Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping, in 1979 to limit
population growth in communist China. The one child law is responsible for
reducing the population of 1.3 billion people by as much as 300 million people
over its first twenty years.
Each couple in China is given a piece of paper called a Shengyu Zheng
which gives them permission to have one child. It is what China calls their
blessing for mothers. It is giving them the right to have a child in communist
China. The couple signs an agreement to honor the birth quota which gives them
preferential treatment for food, housing, health care, and education for the
family. If you do not sign the paperwork, you may have to pay fines and even
go to jail for not obeying the country’s law of one child. All of the papers
have to be taken to the hospital with the couple in order to receive the
hospital services.
In Chinese culture, boys are seen as more worthy in China. The Chinese
prefer boys to girls because they keep the family’s last name and they think
they are stronger and will take care of the families. Women are treated
differently than in America. That leaves many girls abandoned because the
couple wants to try to have a boy as their one and only child. In other cases
the mother wants to protect her baby and does not have a certificate so she has
the baby at home so the hospital can’t kill the baby inside the mother’s
tummy. If the government finds out a couple has already had a child, the
government can make people get rid of the baby or they may be fined. The women
can also be made to not have children anymore. Because of the fear of the
government finding out about the family, abandoning the baby is the safest move
because the government may put them in jail. The mothers and fathers abandon
the baby in the dead of dark at night. My cousin Eliza was abandoned near the
orphanage and found by a worker. Her mom loved her because she had her in her
house and abandoned her in a safe place where she knew her baby would be safe.
In her orphanage there were five boys and two of them were being adopted. There
were sixty girls there.
Adoptive parents spend two weeks in China in a hotel room after they have
been given the baby. Robbie Valentine said that the best part of the trip was
“the first look at my baby.” Teresa Valentine said “the best part about
China was when I swore the baby was mine.” They saw so many people
everywhere but did not notice if there were more men than women. They did
notice there were more little boys on the street than girls. Robbie Valentine
did not enjoy visiting China however he certainly enjoys getting his new member
of his family.
The effects on the girls in America will change their life forever. Since
all the girls are abandoned, there is little known of their information such as
their real birthday, who is their real mom, and many other things. Their life
in America will be wonderful where they are free in every way. There are
negatives and positives for those girls that are adopted. The girls will be
able to be loved and nurtured in America. They can go to college, they can be
respected as a girl, and they can be safe for years to come. But sometimes
there will come challenges for these adopted girls. People might talk or make
fun of how she looks, and she will want to know everything that happened to her
but she can’t because she was abandoned. The boys that are left in China will
be an only child, have mostly boys at their school, and will have trouble
finding a wife in the future. Unfortunately that is true and the population
will go way down. The government is finding out the problem and might cancel
the law. If the law continues to go on there will soon be no people fully
Chinese because when the girls are in America they might marry outside their
culture.
Now all the Chinese orphans that are in America have adapted to their new life.
Parents often keep their name in China as their middle name, because they want
them to remember where they came from. Some parents even gather together other
people who adopted a baby from China to celebrate the Chinese New Year. They
want their child[ren] to remember their culture. It is a wonderful chance for
the girls so they know they are not the only ones. Now all the children, in
this case girl, will live happy forever. It is always good to open your arms
up for a new member of the family. All the children will be loved with grace
for years to come.
In conclusion I found out that parents prefer boys for many reasons. Some
people in China choose boys because they keep the family name. Others may do
it because they think the boys are stronger. Actually, some parents love their
child but the one child law forced them to abandon their baby. I have learned a
lot from my project and all the things I learned will help me for the future.