We have to be debt free to adopt?!

also, each family's financial porfolio is different. Family A may indeed have "debt" to the tune of $100,000 including a mortgage and car loan, but they also might have assets well over that amount to give them a positive net worth. Family B might have minimal debt it seems, but have very few assets to the point that they have a much lower net worth than Family A who has $100,000 in debt. China has a minimum net worth requirement. This means that a family can have lots of debt, but they also must have much more in assets to offset that debt by $80,000. A real life example: we have a minivan that is worth about $10,000. we owe $3000 on the loan. So we have a positive net worth on the van of $7000 even though we do have debt on this van. Our neighbor just bought a $40,000 Suburban that they also financed. It is worth about $38,000 now since cars depreciate when you drive them off the lot, but they owe the $40,000 still. So they have a $2000 negative worth on their car. Both families have debt, but one family has a positive net value in this particular area. Same with mortgages on homes that have appreciated or depreciated. Not all debt is the same.