VOA慢速英语:柬埔寨重启国际领养计划
This is As It Is. Thanks for joining us today. I’m JuneSimms in Washington.
Today on the program, more and more Chinesecouples are having babies by women in the UnitedStates. We tell why the practice is growing in popularitycoming up later in the show.
But first, Cambodia has announced plans to restartinternational adoptions this year. The move comes fouryears after the government suspended the practiceafter widespread reports of children being trafficked. Steve Ember has the story from VOA’s RobertCarmichael in Phnom Penh.
Cambodia to Restart International Adoptions
When it comes to international adoptions, Cambodia has had a poor record. For many years, local media reported many stories of poor parents beingtricked into giving up their children.
The children were being placed with foreign families, in exchange forthousands of dollars in so-called processing costs. Security checks wereoften not carried out on the people seeking to adopt.
The situation was so bad that in 2001 several countries barred their citizensfrom adopting children from Cambodia. France, the United States and theUnited Kingdom were among those countries.
The Hague Conference, or HCCH, is an international governmentalorganization that works to balance laws across national borders. In recentyears, the group has joined with UNICEF to help the Cambodian governmentimprove its adoption process.
Laura Martinez-Mora is the group's main legal officer. She says Cambodiahas made good progress. This includes passing a law on internationaladoptions and supporting legislation.
She says workers are training local officials to make sure the parents havegiven their permission and that they fully understand what they have agreed to.
“They have done so after being informed and counseled, and after having triedthat they keep their child, so that there is information, they know what they aresigning and even if they don't know how to read, they know what they aresaying yes to.”
Another issue is making sure the children have birth certificates. That isimportant in many countries, and a problem in Cambodia where less than 40percent of children have one.
“So we need to have essential safeguards to do inter-country adoptions aswell as domestic adoptions. For example, to be sure that Child A is reallyChild A, that there is no problem with the birth certificate. Other types ofissues like this need to be in place before any adoption takes place. So theseare the things that Cambodia is working on now.”
Under the terms of the 1993 Hague Adoption Convention, which Cambodiahas signed, participating states are required to put the interests of the childfirst. The number one goal is to try to keep the child with their birth family ortheir extended family.
If that is not possible, the next step is to try to find a home within the country. Experts want Cambodia to do more to support domestic adoption over thethird and last possibility, which is international adoption.
States must also put safety measures in place to prevent the kidnapping, saleand trafficking of children for adoption. And they must guarantee that there is no corruption in the process. That continues to be a major issue inCambodia. Last year, Transparency International ranked the country as oneof the 20 most corrupt in the world.
UNICEF Cambodia's deputy representative, Sun Ah Kim, says severalimportant measures still need to be in put in place. She says staff mustreceive the correct training. They have to make sure that the children arereally in need of adoption. And, she says, they must also make sure theadopting parents are qualified.
“As of now, not all these requirements are in place. The resumption ofadoptions should take place gradually to guarantee the proper and orderlyimplementation of both the International Country Adoption Law and the HagueConvention.”
The Ministry of Social Affairs says that 3,800 Cambodian children wereadopted internationally between 1997 and 2009. That is the year Cambodiasuspended adoptions. The recent announcement suggests that the countrybelieves it is close to meeting the necessary requirements to begin again.
I’m Steve Ember.
You are listening to As It Is, from VOA Learning English. I’m June Simms inWashington.
Chinese Couples Having Babies by American Moms
More Chinese families are looking for surrogate mothers in the United States. A surrogate mother is a woman who agrees to become pregnant and carry ababy to full term for another woman who cannot have children. Surrogacy isillegal at most hospitals in China. But agencies are now connecting Chinesecouples with Americans who will carry their children for a price.
Tony Jiang and his wife Cherry live in Shanghai. The couple has threechildren, all born in the United States to an American surrogate mother. Theirdaughter and twins were born in California.
“The elder girl is now three years old. The youngertwins are now 13 months.”
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Tony Jiang poses with his three children at hishouse in Shanghai. |
The couple had twice tried surrogacy services in Chinathrough military hospitals, which can legally perform theoperation. But their efforts were unsuccessful. Theythen contacted a surrogacy agency in the UnitedStates. There, they connected with Amanda, aCalifornia woman who wishes to use only her firstname. She gave birth to all three of the Jiangs’children.
“Cherry was actually in the room with me when Nicole was born so she got toactually witness the birth and see Nicole come into this world. And she wasso ecstatic, and she was crying, and she was just so happy.”
China changed its one child policy last year. It now permits couples to havetwo children if one of the parents is an only child. This has led to an increasein the number of families seeking to have children.
The Jiangs are among an increasing number of wealthy Chinese couplesseeking to have babies by women in the United States. That decision comeswith other values.
Under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, anyone born in the UnitedStates has a right to citizenship. U.S. citizens may also apply for green cardsfor their parents when they turn 21.
Tony Jiang started an agency in Shanghai that works with Chinese coupleswho want to have children. He says most couples, like him and his wife, seeksurrogate mothers because they are medically unable to have childrenthemselves. They choose the United States because of the high quality of itshealth care system.
“More and more patients are inquiring about services at clinics.”
Surrogacy services can cost as much as $120,000. However, Chinesecouples are increasingly willing to pay those high prices for the chance tohave a child born in the United States.
And that is As It Is, from VOA Learning English. I’m June Simms. Thanks forjoining us. VOA world news is coming up at the beginning of the hourUniversal Time.
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