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China Suspends Approval for International Adoptions Due to SARS

Aired May 16, 2003 - 15:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: China is putting adoptions on hold to try and halt the spread of SARS. The government says it will stop sending pre-adoption paperwork to prospective parents outside the country. It says adoptive parents who arrived in China already will be allowed to proceed as planned, as will those who have made final travel arrangements.
Rob Volz and his wife are adopting a Chinese baby. Corey Barron works for an adoption agency, and he has adopted twins from China. They both join us from St. Louis. Gentlemen, thank you.

COREY BARRON, CHILDREN'S HOPE INTERNATIONAL: Good afternoon.

ROB VOLZ, ADOPTIVE PARENT: Hello.

PHILLIPS: Well, Corey, let's begin with you. Explain to us the latest situation with the adoptions.

BARRON: Well, we just heard yesterday, officially, from the Chinese government, that they are going to delay the issuance of referral letters, and those are your adoption papers that say, come on over and adopt your child. It's your adoption approval. And the delay makes it a little antsy for some folks, but we're still seeing folks traveling next week, like Rob and a group of 25 families are going to be traveling, but it's this referral letter, this approval of adoption that is being delayed somewhat.

PHILLIPS: Well, Rob, tell us about -- we're looking at pictures right now. Is this the beautiful baby that you are waiting to adopt?

VOLZ: That's her.

PHILLIPS: What's her name?

VOLZ; Her name is going to be Victoria Jasmine (ph).

PHILLIPS: Oh, she's absolutely precious. Now we're looking at some of the other kids here. Is that her right there?

VOLZ: I don't have a monitor, I'm sorry.

PHILLIPS: That's all right. Well, listen, talk to us about Victoria (ph). This must be just an emotional roller coaster for you.

VOLZ: It is very exciting. I really like to promote international adoption. It is very exciting, and with the SARS cases, we think we're going to travel, we don't think we're going to travel. We think we're going to travel, we don't think we're going to. And it is a little bit of a roller coaster, more for my wife, I think, than me.

PHILLIPS: Are you worried about traveling at all? Are you worried about the health of your baby, Victoria, that you're about to adopt?

VOLZ: No. You know what, we're really not worried about it. The way that SARS affects us is it affects our travel. The way I kind of explain it to people is that if you had a daughter or a child that was overseas and in a place they might be in danger or might be something -- they might be getting sick or whatever, your first reaction as a parent is, I want to go over there, get them, and bring them back. So the SARS, it is an inconvenience for us because it could hinder our travel. I'm not worried about it at all.

PHILLIPS: So, Corey, Rob will definitely get his child?

BARRON: Well, at this point, it looks like we are a go to travel. He's part of a group of 25 families that will be leaving next week, and the process will go through. Where this referral backup happens are for the families that thought they were going to receive their referral letter, and this is little Victoria, Rob's child, and that's the referral letter, and these were supposed to arrive about a week, maybe two weeks ago, and they haven't come in, and now the families are realizing that that letter's going to be delayed.

PHILLIPS: And how are they reacting, Corey, when you're telling them, hey, these have got to be on hold for a while, we are dealing with this epidemic. What are they saying to you, and how are you telling them, Don't worry, I promise you somehow we're going to work this out?

BARRON: Right. There are always -- and Rob can tell you this. There are always going to be some kind of glitch in international adoption. There's always something to be concerned about. When the Chinese embassy was accidentally bombed or when the spy plane was shot down, those were glitches that eventually we saw the adoption process come back up to speed, and that's what we're hoping here, that just for a couple of weeks, things will slow down a little and then we'll eventually get those referrals back in and the process will kick in again.

PHILLIPS: But you don't know that for sure, though, right?

BARRON: No, we don't know that for sure, but we're seeing the number of SARS cases in China starting to go down, the number of infections every day go down. So we're hopeful that it will be a very short delay.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Rob -- go ahead, Rob.

VOLZ: We've been in this process for 17 months. What I was telling Corey before we came on was that you know, there's so many things that happen that you can't live your life based on day-to-day. This is a problem, this is a problem, this is a problem. Over those 17 months, we've ran into all types of things that you just have to overcome. What we do is we just trust that Children's Hope does a good job, and that there's people out there that are taking care of it.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Well, why did you want to go through this? I mean, you're so patient. You have such a good attitude about this. Why did you want to adopt a baby from China?

VOLZ: Well, that's a good question. This is my second adoption. We did -- our daughter Halle (ph) about two years ago. In 1996, I traveled to the Philippines about my brother, Dave (ph), to pick up his son and while I was over there, we were staying in a beautiful hotel. Right across the street from us was Manila Bay, and there was a garbage dump where these people were living, and the garbage trucks would come in and dump the food out and the children were going there through the food. Well, when we were leaving, I was in a van parked at a stop light...

PHILLIPS: Rob, I hate to interrupt you. I want you both to hold on for a minute, Corey Barron -- we have to listen to the president...

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





SARS>


Aired May 16, 2003 - 15:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: China is putting adoptions on hold to try and halt the spread of SARS. The government says it will stop sending pre-adoption paperwork to prospective parents outside the country. It says adoptive parents who arrived in China already will be allowed to proceed as planned, as will those who have made final travel arrangements.
Rob Volz and his wife are adopting a Chinese baby. Corey Barron works for an adoption agency, and he has adopted twins from China. They both join us from St. Louis. Gentlemen, thank you.

COREY BARRON, CHILDREN'S HOPE INTERNATIONAL: Good afternoon.

ROB VOLZ, ADOPTIVE PARENT: Hello.

PHILLIPS: Well, Corey, let's begin with you. Explain to us the latest situation with the adoptions.

BARRON: Well, we just heard yesterday, officially, from the Chinese government, that they are going to delay the issuance of referral letters, and those are your adoption papers that say, come on over and adopt your child. It's your adoption approval. And the delay makes it a little antsy for some folks, but we're still seeing folks traveling next week, like Rob and a group of 25 families are going to be traveling, but it's this referral letter, this approval of adoption that is being delayed somewhat.

PHILLIPS: Well, Rob, tell us about -- we're looking at pictures right now. Is this the beautiful baby that you are waiting to adopt?

VOLZ: That's her.

PHILLIPS: What's her name?

VOLZ; Her name is going to be Victoria Jasmine (ph).

PHILLIPS: Oh, she's absolutely precious. Now we're looking at some of the other kids here. Is that her right there?

VOLZ: I don't have a monitor, I'm sorry.

PHILLIPS: That's all right. Well, listen, talk to us about Victoria (ph). This must be just an emotional roller coaster for you.

VOLZ: It is very exciting. I really like to promote international adoption. It is very exciting, and with the SARS cases, we think we're going to travel, we don't think we're going to travel. We think we're going to travel, we don't think we're going to. And it is a little bit of a roller coaster, more for my wife, I think, than me.

PHILLIPS: Are you worried about traveling at all? Are you worried about the health of your baby, Victoria, that you're about to adopt?

VOLZ: No. You know what, we're really not worried about it. The way that SARS affects us is it affects our travel. The way I kind of explain it to people is that if you had a daughter or a child that was overseas and in a place they might be in danger or might be something -- they might be getting sick or whatever, your first reaction as a parent is, I want to go over there, get them, and bring them back. So the SARS, it is an inconvenience for us because it could hinder our travel. I'm not worried about it at all.

PHILLIPS: So, Corey, Rob will definitely get his child?

BARRON: Well, at this point, it looks like we are a go to travel. He's part of a group of 25 families that will be leaving next week, and the process will go through. Where this referral backup happens are for the families that thought they were going to receive their referral letter, and this is little Victoria, Rob's child, and that's the referral letter, and these were supposed to arrive about a week, maybe two weeks ago, and they haven't come in, and now the families are realizing that that letter's going to be delayed.

PHILLIPS: And how are they reacting, Corey, when you're telling them, hey, these have got to be on hold for a while, we are dealing with this epidemic. What are they saying to you, and how are you telling them, Don't worry, I promise you somehow we're going to work this out?

BARRON: Right. There are always -- and Rob can tell you this. There are always going to be some kind of glitch in international adoption. There's always something to be concerned about. When the Chinese embassy was accidentally bombed or when the spy plane was shot down, those were glitches that eventually we saw the adoption process come back up to speed, and that's what we're hoping here, that just for a couple of weeks, things will slow down a little and then we'll eventually get those referrals back in and the process will kick in again.

PHILLIPS: But you don't know that for sure, though, right?

BARRON: No, we don't know that for sure, but we're seeing the number of SARS cases in China starting to go down, the number of infections every day go down. So we're hopeful that it will be a very short delay.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Rob -- go ahead, Rob.

VOLZ: We've been in this process for 17 months. What I was telling Corey before we came on was that you know, there's so many things that happen that you can't live your life based on day-to-day. This is a problem, this is a problem, this is a problem. Over those 17 months, we've ran into all types of things that you just have to overcome. What we do is we just trust that Children's Hope does a good job, and that there's people out there that are taking care of it.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Well, why did you want to go through this? I mean, you're so patient. You have such a good attitude about this. Why did you want to adopt a baby from China?

VOLZ: Well, that's a good question. This is my second adoption. We did -- our daughter Halle (ph) about two years ago. In 1996, I traveled to the Philippines about my brother, Dave (ph), to pick up his son and while I was over there, we were staying in a beautiful hotel. Right across the street from us was Manila Bay, and there was a garbage dump where these people were living, and the garbage trucks would come in and dump the food out and the children were going there through the food. Well, when we were leaving, I was in a van parked at a stop light...

PHILLIPS: Rob, I hate to interrupt you. I want you both to hold on for a minute, Corey Barron -- we have to listen to the president...

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





SARS>