China definitely seems to be tightening the reins as far as international adoption goes -- there've been rumors about some kind of weight requirement for parents, referral times have slowed down, and they've formally announced that, while single parents can adopt, they'd really rather them not be of the homosexual variety.

From the China Daily site comes this terse announcement:

The CCAA shall not identify prospective adoptive referrals for homosexuals. Legally, the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China recognizes only families formed by marriage of opposite sex and does not recognize the legality of homosexual families, and the homosexual families are, therefore, not protected by laws.

From the Chinese medical point of view, the China Mental Disorder Classification and Diagnosis Standard classifies homosexuality as sexual obstruction, belonging to psychiatric disease of the kind of sexual psychological barrier.

In terms of the Chinese traditional ethics and customs and habits, homosexuality is an act violating public morality and therefore not recognized by the society. In accordance with the principle that adoption shall not violate social ethics as set forth in the Adoption Law, foreign homosexuals are not allowed to adopt children in China.

It's an announcement that lots of people had seen coming, as witnessed by this Dutch story from last month, with their president saying they give the OK for gay couples to adopt (in general, I suppose, from anywhere) as a reaction to this Boston Globe piece on China making it difficult for gay people to adopt, which led to a noticeable drop in the number of adoptions in Massachusetts. Because, apparently, there are a lot of gay prospective parents there.

Oddly, what I find the most interesting thing about that story is that because of a rule in China, the overall level of adoptions dropped in Massachusetts.

From that story:

Chinese policies aimed primarily at keeping its children out of the homes of same-sex couples has helped cause a 6 percent drop in adoptions in Massachusetts in the last year.

The University of Massachusetts Center for Adoption Research found that the adoption of Chinese babies in the state has declined by 17 percent, the Boston Globe reported Monday.

That's a little weird, from a global perspective. That's... a lot of kids.