NEW YORK — China remains the country of choice for thousands of Americans seeking to adopt a child, but the time frame for new applications is often triple what it was a few years ago and many families are enduring uncertain, emotionally draining waits.
“I’ve gone up and down with it — like a roller coaster ride,” said Barbara Duarte Esgalhado, a single mother in Manhattan. She has a 7-year-old daughter adopted from China and filed paperwork in January 2006 for a second adoption that has yet to materialize.
“You find yourself rethinking it a lot more — is this still a good idea?” said Duarte Esgalhado, a 50-year-old writer and psychologist.
Her daughter, Uma, was a big fan of getting a sister when the idea surfaced three years ago. Now, she’s ambivalent.
“A 4-year-old thinks differently about a sibling than a 7-year-old,” her mother said.
The longer waits — projected at three or four years for many new applicants — officially are attributed to the large number of foreigners trying to adopt from China, coupled with a smaller pool of available children and a slower review process. The China Center of Adoption Affairs, long respected for its ethics and efficiency, avoids specific promises about how long applications might take.
Infant girls by the thousands are abandoned every year in China, and the nation has been America’s top source of foreign adopted children since 2000. But the annual total fell to 5,453 last year, down from a peak of 7,906 in 2005, and further declines are expected as part of an overall drop in foreign adoptions.
The uncertainty has fueled rumors and speculation within the tight-knit community of Americans who have adopted from China or hope to do so. Some believe the longer waits are part of a temporary Chinese effort to scale back international adoptions ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August. Others wonder if China may be phasing out foreign adoptions almost entirely.
“Our agency made clear our wait could be three years, four, five — they just don’t know,” said Mike Suomi, a Manhattan architect. He and his wife, Jenn, have applied to adopt a second child to become a sister to 5-year-old Olivia, whom they adopted from China in November 2003.
“China is becoming an economic powerhouse,” Suomi said. “As far as we know, there’s an embarrassment factor to having an inability to take care of your own children.”
The Suomis are working with Spence- Chapin, a venerable New York-area adoption agency whose caseload for China has dropped sharply due to the delays. Ann Hassan, the agency’s China coordinator, said the wait can be much shorter if parents agree to adopt a child with a physical handicap such as a cleft palate or congenital heart disease.
Some applicants feel they’re in a particularly precarious position. Theresa Fierro, a third-grade teacher from Clifton, N.J., is a single mother who got her current application filed in 2006 shortly before China changed its rules to exclude most single parents.
“The wait is causing some fear,” said Fierro, 50, who has a 5-year-old daughter adopted from China. “And it’s tough to plan. . . . Should I work summer school or not? Should I go on vacation or not?”
For Joann Nix, 48, of Mastic Beach, N.Y., the wait adds to frustrations that had been building up over years of futile fertility treatments. She and her husband registered two years ago to adopt a Chinese child. They now fear the slowdown could hurt their chances of seeking a second adoption later on.
“It gets torturous sometimes,” Nix said. “There are thousands of kids in this world who need good homes. We want just one.”
