Canadian Mom Anxiously Awaiting May 1 Deadline

`Golden age' of adoptions from China fading fast

Anne Marie Devine has always felt blessed to be a mom. But now she feels even luckier.

Devine, who is single and lives in Newmarket, adopted her daughter Julia, 4, from China and brought her to Canada just before the girl's first birthday. And she is eagerly awaiting news about her application to adopt a second daughter.

But as of this May, China's tighter rules on foreign adoption would essentially push single adults like Devine to the bottom of the rapidly growing waiting list – along with potential parents who are physically disabled, obese, on medication for depression or anxiety, or who have a facial deformity...

China accounted for 973 of Canada's 1,871 foreign adoptions in 2005.