When nations clash, children suffer: Unpacking China’s adoption ban 

On Sept. 4, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs announced that China would no longer carry out foreign adoption work, except for a few narrow exceptions. In turn, the U.S. Department of State notified American families, many of whom had already been matched with children in China years ago and were just waiting to bring their kids home.  

With this devastating announcement, China has nullified the bond that American families had with their waiting children. For the families affected, it is a waking nightmare. For the U.S., it is the latest failure of Washington to tame the worst impulses of the Chinese Communist Party. 

The timing of Beijing’s announcement was particularly embarrassing for the Biden administration. China ceased intercountry adoption on Aug. 28, one day before national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with General Secretary Xi Jinping.

Xi’s message is clear: the Chinese Communist Party is unmoved by the need of children to be united with their families and is willing to use them as pawns in a broader geopolitical game. 

To be sure, China’s calculations were broader than its relationship with the U.S. Beijing’s demographic outlook is bleak. Its population has shrunk two years in a row, and the United Nations expects that it will decline by more than 100 million by 2050. These trends are due, in large part, to the country’s “one-child policy,” which constrained the number of children Chinese families could have for more than three decades.  

Even so, a halt in international adoption will not reverse China’s demographic mess. Until now, China has prioritized for international adoption children with disabilities, children with medical needs and health conditions, and older children. Now these children will likely grow up in institutions, without forever families. 

Beijing’s decision most likely stems from pride over any practical consideration. Since 2013, Xi has heralded the “China dream,” his vision of China reclaiming its mantle as the world’s “middle kingdom” and displacing the United States as the dominant geopolitical power. In recent comments about his Communist Party’s education policy, Xi warned his party comrades against “hostile forces competing for Chinese kids” and spoke of the danger of people “with Chinese faces but no Chinese heart, no Chinese affection and no Chinese taste.”  

Xi’s longstanding concern about foreign “hostile forces” appeals to a nationalist sentiment and ideological commitment. It could move party apparatchiks, who are eager to implement Xi’s vision of restricting international adoptions of Chinese children. 

Whatever the reason, this episode is a sober reminder that foreign policy is deeply personal. Strategists often debate it in the abstract, but the most vulnerable among us can suffer most from the whims of bureaucrats and the impulses of ideologies. 

Many American families were scheduled to bring their children home in January 2020, the same month that China closed down due to its zero-COVID policy. Those families have been waiting for more than four and a half years to bring their children home. 

“It’s really hard that there are hundreds of families that are waiting, that have a place prepared and we sit here hopeless, with our hands tied,” said Courtney Moore. an American who had been matched with a young Chinese boy. “We loved the country, we love the people, and part of my grief is for the connection with China.” 

As adoptive parents, the grief of Courtney and hundreds of other Americans makes our hearts sick. Our own lives were forever changed by international adoption when we welcomed our son home from India last year. Children belong and thrive in the love and safety of families. The impact of China’s announcement could mean that these children will never experience the love, safety and permanency of a family.

And in many of these cases, the waiting children in China already knew they had families overseas working to finalize their adoption. That awareness compounds the tragedy of Beijing’s decision. 

The U.S. embassy in Beijing is seeking clarification in writing from China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs on the new directive. But that isn’t enough. The U.S. government should urge Beijing at least to allow the waiting families to finalize their adoptions. More specifically, President Biden and Secretary Blinken should leverage the high-level diplomatic talks they have cultivated with Beijing to push this issue. Congress, for its part, should stand up for these American families, who are also constituents.  

This is the right thing to do for the waiting children and families, and it would send a clear message to China that the U.S. will not sit idly by as Beijing separates American families with capricious policies.

Chelsea Sobolik has managed government relations for a number of nonprofits in Washington, D.C., including the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. She is the author of “Called to Cultivate: A Gospel Vision for Women and Work” and “Longing for Motherhood: Holding on to Hope in the Midst of Childlessness.” 

Michael Sobolik is senior fellow in Indo-Pacific studies at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, D.C. He is the author of “Countering China’s Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance.”