Adopting from China

I mentioned in an earlier post we are looking at ways to expand our family-- including fertility treatments and adoption. One of the options we have seriously considered is adopting a daughter from China. Knowing that the wait is many years, we decided to go ahead and check into it. No harm, no foul.

So we contacted a organization and learned a few things. It is much more affordable than we thought. The costs are more related to travel, than adoption fees. We also learned there is a 3 year wait ... and that the Chinese government has changed the guidelines to make it more difficult to adopt.

To qualify to adopt you must:

• Not be fat. That is right, no fat parents allowed.
• Not be on anti-depressants, anti-anxiety or other mood altering drugs for at least two years prior to application.
• Not have more than 4 children.
• Have a net worth of $80K.

So, the short and sweet is that we learned some basic criteria and we don't qualify. Mainly due to our school loans, we don't have a net worth of $80K. While we are certainly going to attempt to increase our net worth, I don't think we will be anywhere near $80K in the near future. Unfortunately, China is not an option at this time. Maybe someday.