Because that's where our daughter is.
This is a nice short answer to use when a longer answer is not appropriate.
It is not intended to be a smart-ass reply. The fact is, Lisa and I both
feel strongly that there is a little girl in China who is now waiting for
us to come get her. I can't explain why, but the feeling is definitely there.
The need is so great
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 daughter 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.
Just this week (10/11/99) there was a local case where the birth father,
just released from serving time for statutory rape of the 14 year old birth
mother, won a court case to get his birth child back from the parents that
had adopted it. My heart goes out to both the adoptive parents and the
child that will be raised by a rapist.
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. It may take longer, it
may cost more money, but it will happen. That idea is very attractive to
anyone who has been through infertility struggles.
Respect
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 daughter be proud of.
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 daughters 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.