The Chinese government is ending its international adoption program, and the United States is seeking clarification on how the decision will affect hundreds of American families with pending applications.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said at a regular press conference on Thursday that China no longer recognises international adoption of its children, with blood adoption and stepadoption being the only exceptions.
She did not explain the decision other than to say it was in line with the spirit of relevant international treaties.
In a call with U.S. diplomats in China, the Chinese government said it would “not continue processing cases at any stage” unless they fell under the exception clause. The State Department said on Thursday that the embassy had sought a written clarification from China's Ministry of Civil Affairs.
“We understand that there are hundreds of families still waiting for their adoptions to be completed and we sympathize with their plight,” the State Department said in a statement.
For decades, many people have adopted children from China, traveled to China to pick up their children and bring them to their new homes overseas.
U.S. families adopted 82,674 children from China, the highest number of children adopted from any other country.
China suspended international adoptions during the coronavirus pandemic, after which the government resumed adoptions in 2020 for children who had been authorized to travel before the suspension, the US State Department said in its latest annual adoption report.
According to a State Department report, U.S. consulates issued 16 adoption visas from China between October 2022 and September 2023, the first time in more than two years. It is unclear whether any additional visas have been issued since then.
In January, Denmark's only international adoption agency said it would scale back operations after concerns emerged about falsified documents and procedures, and Norway's top regulator recommended a two-year halt to international adoptions until investigations into several cases were completed.
Beijing's announcement also tracks a decline in the country's birth rate, with the number of newborns expected to fall to 9.02 million in 2023 and the total population set to decline for the second consecutive year.
