Minister of Civil Affairs Li Liguo has said at the National People's Congress annual session that the current regulations encourage families to adopt children. And NPC deputy Jia Weiping has proposed that the Adoption Law be amended to lower the threshold for families to adopt orphans and abandoned physically challenged children.

The adoption of orphans and physically challenged children has been a subject of public debate ever since a fire in an unregistered orphanage, run by a woman named Yuan Lihai in Lankao county of Henan province in January, claimed seven lives.

By January, China had about 615,000 orphans and abandoned children but only 109,000 of them were in government welfare institutions, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.