As the World Health Organization lifted the last of its travel
warnings for China on Tuesday, China in turn announced that
it would resume allowing foreigners to come adopt babies.
The decision ends the waiting for hundreds of American parents who have been in limbo since May 15, when the adoption freeze took effect. Those who already have been matched can head to China to take custody of their children, and others who have been waiting for word can now receive notices informing them which children have been assigned to them.
"It's an awesome day," says Laura Dercher Ludwick, 45, of Overland Park, Kan., who before the ban had expected to be in China around now. She says she hopes to get there by August to pick up a daughter she and her husband plan to name Grace. "Deep down inside, I knew that sooner or later, something had to give."
China's adoption ministry had stalled the process in an effort to minimize travel around the nation while it tried to contain its outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. The country was hit hardest by the epidemic, which is believed to have started in the southern province of Guangdong and spread to more than 30 nations.
More than 5,300 of the world's 8,400 cases were reported on mainland China, along with 347 of the 807 SARS deaths, according to the World Health Organization. WHO had issued travel advisories against several parts of China in April and May; it ended the last of them Tuesday by lifting its caution against travel to Beijing.
Americans adopt roughly 100 Chinese babies a week, making China the most popular country for foreign adoptions. The decision to freeze the process, which already takes more than 13 months, was tormenting to many families.
Laura and Paul Zagnoni of Phoenix missed the first birthday last week of the daughter assigned to them, Liliana Shu Zagnoni. They received a picture of the infant at 5 months old in April, when she was already 10 months old, and they had expected to bring her home by early June.
Now, because of the delay, the documents required by the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration have expired, so the couple and many others must have new background checks and home visits that will add another month or more to the wait. That also tacks on an additional $1,000 to a process that typically costs more than $15,000.
"I don't even know if I'll recognize her, she's so much older now than she was in the picture," says Laura Zagnoni, a pharmacist for Bristol-Myers Squibb. "I haven't even gone into her nursery anymore because it made me so sad."
Despite the anguish, adoption agency officials say the families endured the six weeks of uncertainty with grace.
"After the initial disappointment, they all ultimately understood why China was doing this, for the health of their people as well as the parents and children," says Monique Zhao, Asia program director of Gift of Love International Adoptions in Des Moines. "But I'm sure they're all jumping around the houses or offices right now, very excited."
