Four years later, nearly 3,600 Chinese babies, mostly girls, have gone home with American parents. Patterson Sims and his wife, Katy Homans , adopted Lally from China's Hunan province when she was four months old. They were lucky to get her, because they had already adopted another Chinese girl, Mardet, in 1992. China frowns on granting each family more than one adoption. Now six years old, Mardet was among hundreds of Chinese infants who were adopted by Americans and other non-Chinese after China opened up international adoptions in 1992.
China does have some restrictions on who can adopt.
Those under 35 and over 45 must accept older children, or ones with special needs. But for Americans eligible for an infant, the adoption process is quite easy and relatively quick. The infants are usually healthier, both emotionally and physically, because they have spent less time in an orphanage. And their parents acknowledge that while the children have escaped poor living conditions, they say they feel they are the real winners in the adoptions. But I think I'm the one that's benefiting from this.