New CCAA Rules Force Local Family to Alter Plans

China's New Adoption Laws Will Affect Many Waiting Parents in U.S.
Kathy and David Pijor adopted a baby girl from China two years ago, and planned to take in another this year so their daughter Lili would have a sister from her homeland. But China's decision to "adopt" new rules for what kind of foreigners it will accept as parents of its orphans effectively derailed the Pijor family's plans.

According to proposed Chinese regulations set to go into effect in May, people who are older, obese, single or facially deformed can no longer become adoptive parents of Chinese babies, with some exceptions made for those agreeing to take in children classified as "special needs."

Kathy Pijor is 44, but her 54-year-old husband David has now been deemed too old to adopt from China. The cutoff age for either parent will be 50, or 55 with harder-to-place special-needs orphans (the minimum age is still 30).

Instead, the northern Virginia couple — who in addition to Lili have two college-aged children and a 6-year-old daughter — decided to bypass China entirely. They're trying to adopt a newborn girl named Sara from Guatemala instead.