The Chinese government has announced it is ending its international adoption program, raising concerns from the US on how the decision will affect hundreds of American families with pending applications.
China suspended international adoptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet the government later resumed adoptions for children who had received travel authorization before the suspension in 2020, the U.S. State Department said in its latest annual report on adoptions.
At a daily briefing Thursday, Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said China is no longer allowing foreign adoptions of the country’s children, with the only exception for blood relatives to adopt a child or a stepchild. Ning didn’t expand much on the reasoning behind the decision other than to say that it was in line with the spirit of relevant international conventions.
In a phone call with US diplomats in China, Beijing said it “will not continue to process cases at any stage” other than those cases covered by an exception clause. The American embassy is seeking clarification in writing from China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, the U.S. State Department said Thursday.
“We understand there are hundreds of families still pending completion of their adoption, and we sympathize with their situation,” the State Department said.
Beijing’s announcement comes amid falling birth rates in the country, as the number of newborn babies fell to 9.02 million in 2023, and the overall population declined for the second consecutive year.
US families and guardians have adopted 82,674 children from China, the highest amount from any foreign country.
According to a State Department report, a US consulate issued 16 visas for adoptions from China from October 2022 through September 2023, the first in more than two years. It is not clear if any more visas have been issued since then.
