(Beijing) The Chinese government is ending its international adoption program, and the United States is investigating how the decision will affect hundreds of American families whose applications are still pending.
In a phone call with U.S. diplomats in China, Beijing said it would “not continue to handle cases at any stage” other than those covered by an exception clause. The U.S. embassy is now seeking clarification in writing from China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, the State Department said Thursday.
At a daily press briefing on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing no longer allows foreign adoptions of domestic children, with the sole exception of blood relatives adopting a child or stepchild. She did not explain the decision other than saying it was in line with the spirit of relevant international conventions.
Many foreigners have adopted Chinese children over the decades, traveling to the country to pick them up and then taking them to new homes abroad. American families have adopted 82,674 Chinese children, the most of any foreign country.
China had already suspended international adoptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The government then 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.
A U.S. consulate issued 16 visas for adoptions from China from October 2022 to September 2023, the first in more than two years, according to the State Department report. It is unclear whether additional visas have been issued since then.
“We understand that there are hundreds of families still waiting for their adoption to be finalized and we sympathize with their plight,” the U.S. State Department said.
Last January, Denmark’s only overseas adoption agency said it was shutting down after concerns were raised about falsified documents and procedures, and Norway’s top regulator recommended suspending overseas adoptions for two years pending an investigation into several cases.
Beijing’s announcement also comes as the country’s birth rate has declined. The number of newborns has fallen to 9.02 million in 2023, and China’s overall population has shrunk for the second consecutive year.