Why did China stop its foreign adoption program?

On August 28, China ended an overseas adaption program that had been in place for more than three decades. 

Confirming the policy shift last week, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the decision was "in line" with international trends. 

"We express our appreciation to those foreign governments and families who wish to adopt Chinese children for their good intentions and the love and kindness they have shown," Mao said. 

Yi Fuxian, a Chinese demographer and senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told DW that this decision reflects a landmark shift in China's population policy. 

"Previously, they [the government] viewed a newborn as a burden, now they see it as a resource," he said. 

Once a 'solution' to China's one-child policy

When China officially opened its doors to international adoptions in 1992, the country was scrambling to curb its rapid population growth under the draconian "one-child" policy. 

Restricted to a single child, many Chinese families were eventually forced to abandon their children — mostly girls and babies with disabilities — or else face high fines.

As a result, China became a major source of international adoptions. Over the past three decades, more than 160,000 Chinese children have been adopted into families worldwide. 

Around half of these children arrived in the United States, according to China's Children International (CCI), an international organization created by and for Chinese adoptees. 

At the time, it was a win-win situation for the Chinese government, Yi told DW.

"Since [Beijing] viewed the population as a burden, international adoption effectively transferred this burden abroad."

China's population problem

Decades later, China is now facing a shrinking population with one of the lowest fertility rates in the world. 

In 2023, new births in China fell by 5.7% to roughly 9 million, and the birth rate was a record low of 6.39 births per 1,000 people. The total population also dropped by over 2 million, the second straight year of decline.  

After scrapping the one-child policy in 2016, China began encouraging families to have two or three children. Despite these efforts, many young Chinese women remain unconvinced about having children due to the high cost of childcare, concerns about job security and an uncertain future as growth in the world's second-largest economy slows. 

"In the past, a smaller population was seen as better… now the population decline has brought about a sense of fear," Yi said, adding that China's decision to stop sending children overseas for adoption is part of its response to a growing demographic crisis. 

With an aging population, China's inter-country adoptions have already steadily decreased over the past few years.

Authorities have instead prioritized domestic adoptions in recent years, according to a commentary published by the Global Times, China's state-affiliated tabloid. As domestic adoptions now make up nearly 90% of all adoptions in China, the article said terminating foreign adoptions has become "an inevitable step. "  

Pending adoption applications left in limbo

With the decision last week, it is unclear what will happen to foreign families waiting for years on pending Chinese applications. 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 Associated Press reported on Friday. 

Last week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that exceptions would only be allowed in cases of the "adoption of a child or stepchild of blood relatives of the same generation who are within three generations of foreigners coming to China to adopt."

During the COVID pandemicChina imposed travel restrictions and suspended international adoptions. From 2020 to 2022, no Chinese children were sent to the US for adoption, and only 16 children were adopted from China last year, according to US official statistics. 

Due to the pandemic shutdown, many foreign families who had been matched with a Chinese child for adoption have been waiting for at least four years for the process to complete. The same disappointment goes for children in China waiting for adoption.

A Chinese dissident running an influential X account shared several screenshots of Chinese social media posts written by "staff working in the relevant field." The accounts of these sources were anonymized.  

One of the posts said, "These children in China … They know there are families waiting to bring them home. They've received birthday and Christmas gifts, clothes, family photos, letters, and some even had FaceTime calls, but now all of that has been cut off." 

"We will write to ambassadors, government officials, and others to see what more can be done," the post said, "praying that the doors will be opened."