thinkingmama (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} thinkingmama) wrote,@ 2006-12-19 15:21:00 |
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Supply and Demand
Take a look at how China is changing the rules on exporting its infants:
http://my.earthlink.net/article/int?gui
I suppose that this change rules out the single adopters who find that "China dolls" are just so very cute. For those who think that I shouldn't use that word to describe the Chinese girls that we import for American adopters, an adopter of a Chinese girl herself used that word on a message board I read a couple of years ago. I use it only to draw attention to how some adopters think of their Chinese adoptees.
Notice these quotes from the article:
The China Center for Adoption Affairs has said it is trying to increase the number of children available by creating a new charity to improve conditions in orphanages and "keep infants and young children alive and well enough to be adopted," Harrah's said.
and
The agency said China has pledged to try to make more children available to those who qualify.
and my personal favorite:
The move comes amid a surge in foreign applications . . .
Yet, when I talk about the supply of children versus the demand from potential adopters, especially the supply of those domestic white infants that 40 couples now vie for each one of, adopters seem to skip that part when they write me nasty letters. Of course, most people will read this article and think either that the Chinese are discriminating against the obese, or against gays and lesbians, or against people who have supposed mental illnesses, or whatever. But the real message here lies in the fact that the Chinese government has no incentive whatsoever to stop exporting infants, i.e., to stop their inane policy of limiting reproduction. In fact, the Chinese government now has incentive mainly to tighten the rules, assuring the availability of more children to meet the demand. If there is a silver lining to this story, I suppose it is the fact that children already in orphanages will receive better treatment so that they may be better marketed (and thus receive a higher price in the adoption market?). But then again, didn't we stop this kind of marketing of human beings, oh, well over one hundred years ago?
Take a look at how China is changing the rules on exporting its infants:
http://my.earthlink.net/article/int?gui
I suppose that this change rules out the single adopters who find that "China dolls" are just so very cute. For those who think that I shouldn't use that word to describe the Chinese girls that we import for American adopters, an adopter of a Chinese girl herself used that word on a message board I read a couple of years ago. I use it only to draw attention to how some adopters think of their Chinese adoptees.
Notice these quotes from the article:
The China Center for Adoption Affairs has said it is trying to increase the number of children available by creating a new charity to improve conditions in orphanages and "keep infants and young children alive and well enough to be adopted," Harrah's said.
and
The agency said China has pledged to try to make more children available to those who qualify.
and my personal favorite:
The move comes amid a surge in foreign applications . . .
Yet, when I talk about the supply of children versus the demand from potential adopters, especially the supply of those domestic white infants that 40 couples now vie for each one of, adopters seem to skip that part when they write me nasty letters. Of course, most people will read this article and think either that the Chinese are discriminating against the obese, or against gays and lesbians, or against people who have supposed mental illnesses, or whatever. But the real message here lies in the fact that the Chinese government has no incentive whatsoever to stop exporting infants, i.e., to stop their inane policy of limiting reproduction. In fact, the Chinese government now has incentive mainly to tighten the rules, assuring the availability of more children to meet the demand. If there is a silver lining to this story, I suppose it is the fact that children already in orphanages will receive better treatment so that they may be better marketed (and thus receive a higher price in the adoption market?). But then again, didn't we stop this kind of marketing of human beings, oh, well over one hundred years ago?
