Military

DATE=05/16/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=SARS/ ADOPT (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-303287

BYLINE=JIM RANDLE

DATELINE=BEIJING

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: China is suspending adoptions by foreigners to help stop the spread of SARS. As V-O-A's Jim Randle reports from Beijing, the move is a sharp emotional blow to families who have been waiting years to adopt Chinese children.

TEXT: The government-run China Center for Adoption Affairs says it is suspending travel and other documents that allow foreigners to come here to adopt children from orphanages.

About five-thousand Chinese children are adopted each year by U-S families, and thousands more find homes in other nations.

Chinese officials are trying to limit travel within the country to stop the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. SARS has killed about 270 people in China, and made thousands more seriously ill.

Karen Friedman, who helps families with the lengthy, complex, and expensive adoption process, says adoptive parents understand the need for stern public health measures. But she says the delay is still painful.

/// FRIEDMAN ACT ///

It's so much stress to coming overseas and coming to China and picking up a baby anyway. This, on the one hand, certainly exacerbates that stress; on the other hand, these folks have been waiting a very long time, and are bound and determined to come in ..

/// END ACT ///

Adoption experts say the paperwork problems come on top of a patchwork of restrictions on travel, translators, hotels, and other services -- restrictions imposed by provincial officials worried about travelers bringing SARS from Beijing or elsewhere.

Teacher David Beckstead, a foreigner who lives in China, is resigned to waiting a few weeks or months, before he and his wife can adopt a sister for their six year-old son.

/// BECKSTEAD ACT ///

In the end, basically at the last minute, we got a call saying it wasn't so much that it is not safe down there, as they didn't quite trust us coming from Beijing.

/// END ACT ///

Chinese adoption officials say the adoption restrictions are temporary, and they will accommodate families when the SARS crisis is over.

China's one-child policy and traditional preference for boys mean thousands of girls end up in orphanages each year. Beijing relaxed its adoption laws in the mid 1990's, and a steady stream of children has gone overseas to new families ever since. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/JR/MH/TW