Nancy Humphrey, coordinator of the Northern California chapter of Families With Children From China, with her adopted daughter, Ruby, 7. [Jim Wilson/The New York Times]

The restrictions are in response to an enormous spike in applications by foreigners, which has far exceeded the number of available babies, said leaders of American adoption agencies who were briefed by Chinese officials earlier this month.

The new regulations, which have not yet been formally announced by the government-run China Center of Adoption Affairs, or C.C.A.A., are expected to take effect on May 1, 2007, and have raised concern and anxiety among prospective adoptive parents in this country.

China has in recent years been the No. 1 source of foreign-born children adopted by Americans ¡ª in the fiscal year 2006, the State Department granted 6,493 visas to Chinese orphans ¡ª and its regulations on who can adopt have been less restrictive than those in some other countries, adoption agencies said.

Now, however, the agencies said, the Chinese government has formulated guidelines intended to recruit adoptive families with qualities that Chinese officials believe will provide the greatest chance that children will be raised by healthy, economically stable parents.

¡°They need somehow to cut down on the number of families that are submitting¡± adoption requests, said Jackie Harrah, executive director of Harrah¡¯s Adoption International Mission in Spring, Tex.

¡°Their feeling is that while singles can be good parents,¡± Ms. Harrah said, ¡°it is better for a child to be raised in a two-parent family, it¡¯s better for a parent to be educated, it¡¯s better for a parent not to be obese because they have a chance of living longer. What C.C.A.A. really wanted was the cream of the crop.¡±

Several agencies said they had been flooded with confused, anxious or disappointed calls and e-mail messages from people wanting to adopt or those going through the application process. Most of those who had already initiated adoption applications were told that if they got all their paperwork in by May 1, they were likely to be approved.

But international adoption agencies have already begun turning away applicants who did not meet the new criteria.

The guidelines include a requirement that applicants have a body-mass index of less than 40, no criminal record, a high school diploma and be free of certain health problems like AIDS and cancer. Couples must have been married for at least two years and have had no more than two divorces between them. If either spouse was previously divorced, the couple cannot apply until they have been married for at least five years.

In addition, adoptive parents must have a net worth of at least $80,000 and income of at least $10,000 per person in the household, including the prospective adoptive child.

Parents can be as old as 55 if adopting a child with special needs.

Timothy Sutfin, executive director of New Beginnings Family and Children¡¯s Services, an international adoption agency in Mineola, N.Y., said the new guidelines put China in the middle of the spectrum of countries ¡ª not as restrictive as South Korea, but stricter than places like Guatemala or Vietnam.

Keith Wallace, the chief executive of Families Thru International Adoption, based in Evansville, Ind., said that adopting an American child could also be restrictive, with standards for the health, economic situation and marital status of the family.

Despite the new rules, adoption agencies said they did not believe that the numbers of Chinese children adopted by Americans would decrease. Since 1991, Americans have adopted 55,000 Chinese children. Adoptions cost about $15,000, according to agency Web sites.

Since one agency, Great Wall China Adoption in Austin, Tex., posted the new rules on its Web site last week, ¡°we¡¯ve had about 400 e-mails and phone calls a day,¡± said Heather Terry, director of regional offices for the agency. ¡°Some families were just turned down today. One was a couple where the husband had social anxiety disorder and takes Zoloft,¡± a violation of the new guidelines that bar people who are taking medication for anxiety or depression.

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