Father reclaims son he gave up

A couple in Liyang, Jiangsu Province, returned a 1-month-old boy to his father in Shanghai Wednesday, more than two weeks after he gave up the boy in an informal adoption, local media reported.

The 29-year-old father, Guo Ming, had given his baby to a woman surnamed Zhou, whom he met on the instant messaging platform QQ, according to the Shanghai Evening Post.

The boy was Guo's second child. His wife gave birth to a girl in 2012, the report said. Guo's mother was unwilling to take care of the boy because she thought it was too tiring.

Guo posted that he wanted to give up his baby on a private discussion group set up specifically to help connect parents with people interested in adopting their children.

Zhou took the baby in on October 1 and gave Guo 20,000 yuan ($3,278).

Guo later regretted his decision and contacted Zhou, who initially refused to return the child. Guo went to Liyang to pick up the baby and return the 20,000 yuan. He also paid the couple another 5,000 yuan in compensation.

Guo and Zhou cannot be charged with child trafficking because Guo didn't intend to make money of the deal, said Wu Ji, a lawyer at the Shanghai Hengye Law Firm.

Wu classified the case as an informal adoption because the two parties did not go through the legal adoption procedure.

According to Chinese adoption law, children under 14 years old can be adopted if they meet one of three conditions: they are orphans, their parents cannot be found, or their parents have difficulty raising them.

The law also sets up other limitations in terms of adoption. Couples who want to adopt children must be over 30 years old and cannot already have a child. Children above 10 years old have to consent to the adoption.

A total of 1,500 couples have signed up to adopt children at the Shanghai Adoption Registration Center from 2005 to 2012, though only 170 have successfully adopted children, according to a report in the Xinmin Evening News.

Civil affairs authorities nationwide approved 24,635 adoption cases in 2012, according to the Xinhua News Agency.