Why China?
In anticipation of hearing this question a lot. We know many asking don't intend to imply there is anything wrong with China or Chinese people, they are just curious about what factors we thought of before deciding to adopt from China. Since there are so many different things to consider, it is difficult to give a verbal answer. This is an attempt to give a more complete answer than I could give verbally.

The Need
I have heard that there are somewhere between 30 and 60 couples in the US waiting to adopt each healthy caucasian infant that becomes available. These US children will, without question, have the chance to be raised in loving homes. In other countries this is not the case. Thousands of perfectly healthy children will live their lives in orphanages which are only able to provide the minimal needs for these kids. If we are going to adopt, I would really rather help out a child that will not otherwise get help. Note: This does NOT mean that we are some kind of saints whose mission is to help the unfortunate children of the world. We want children. This is one way to get what we want. The fact that it also provides some help where help is badly needed is a plus, but it is not the REASON we are adopting from China. We feel we are the lucky ones in this process. We get to have the family we want.

Health
Chinese orphans have a reputation of being among the healthiest in the world. There are fewer problems with alcohol and other drugs in China than in many other parts of the world. We like the idea that the birth mother of our child very likely did not drink.

Certainty vs Risk
Adoptions in the US always involve risks of the birth family creating problems for the adoptive family. These range from the relatively common case of the birth mother changing her mind before even delivering the child, to the well publicized cases where birth parents have sued to get their child back years after the child was placed with adoptive parents. It seems very wrong to me, but most of those cases that I read about are won by the birth parents. After dealing with all the disappointments and dashed hopes of infertility, we just felt we wanted to minimize our risks in adopting. Once approved for adoption, China adoptions almost always go through. That idea is very attractive to anyone who has been through infertility struggles.

Respect of the Culture
China has a unique and remarkable history. China was a civilized country long before European countries could be called civilized. The China of today is rich in interesting and varied cultures. We feel this is a background which we can easily help our child be proud.

Support
There are many thousands of Chinese children who have been adopted into US families. The parents of these children are organized and offer newsletters, playgroups, camps, classes, and all kinds of special events. We feel it will be very helpful to our child self-esteem to know others with a similar background and to have opportunities to learn something about Chinese culture. This kind of support was a VERY big factor in our decision. Families with Children from China is a great place to start.