New regulations on family foster care in China will take effect on Monday, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
The new rules allow each foster family to take in a maximum of two children, instead of the current three, provided that the family does not have a child of its own aged below six.
The formal qualifications required of foster parents are also being raised. Prospective parents should have completed at least nine years of formal education and their financial status should be at least average for their region.
Foster families are already an anomaly in China and social workers are worried that while the new regime may better protect children, it may make the rare foster families even rarer.