Fewer Couples Are Adopting as China Scraps One-child Rule

Adoptions in China have been on a decline, following the relaxation of the country's one-child policy, wrote China Daily.

Child adoption cases by Chinese families have fallen to 17,201 in 2015 from 29,618 five years earlier, per figures disclosed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

"The fall in the number of adoptions is the result of economic growth, improvements to the social welfare system and adjustment of the family planning policy," a director at the ministry was quoted as saying in the China Daily report.

"People's attitude to having children has also changed, and fewer parents are abandoning their children, [resulting] in fewer eligible adoptees at welfare institutions," said the director, who refused to be named.

Last year, China lifted its 35-year-old one-child policy, allowing parents to have two children.

In a statement, the Communist Party of China said via Xinhua that the move to scrap its decades-long policy was "intended to balance population development and address the challenge of an ageing population."

The decline in adoption cases is seen to continue in the wake of the implementation of the new family planning policy, noted Tong Xiaojun, director of the China Research Institute of Children and Adolescents, in the China Daily report.

Tong said that there are two types of families seeking to adopt. First are those who are unable to have their own babies due to biological constraints. Second are couples who have a solo child but want to have another one yet could not do so because of the then existing policy.

"Many families in China want two children, a boy and a girl, to make a 'perfect family,'" Tong said. "The Chinese written character for 'boy' and the character for 'girl' when put together form the character for 'good,' adding to the allure."

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Affairs is looking to amend its policy to make adoption easier for interested and qualified parents.