End of an Era: China’s International Adoption Program
Copyright © The Nanchang Project
On September 4th, the U.S. Department of State notified adoption agencies and impacted adoptive families that China terminated its longstanding international adoption program on August 28th, 2024. All pending and future applications will no longer be processed for foreign families in any country, unless involving stepchildren or biological relatives within three generations. We reported this news to our adoptee community and it spread quickly. The following day, Chinese adoptee and Dutch correspondent Cindy Huijgen attended the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ regular daily press conference where she asked China representative Mao Ning to respond to this news. Mao confirmed the policy changes and answered Huijgen’s follow-up question about the potential impact on adoptees trying to search their roots: “Regarding this specific question, I suggest you contact the relevant Chinese authorities. What I can tell you is that the communication channels in this regard are unobstructed.”
This sudden announcement prompted a range of emotions rippling through our community of Chinese adoptees, adoptive families, and prospective adoptive parents. At Nanchang Project, it is our profound hope that the remaining children in China receive the attention, medical care, and love they deserve. As for our fellow adoptees interested in their origins, we do not know how or if this will impact orphanage visits or appointments to check original adoption files.
We have highlighted some voices of individuals, but will first discuss a bit of China’s history of transnational adoption to provide background. While China’s statement remains vague and leaves us with more unanswered questions, it solidifies the end of an era (1989-2024) during which 140,000+ Chinese children were adopted abroad to North America, Europe, Australia, and elsewhere.
In the years leading up to the 2020-2024 temporary pause on foreign adoptions from China during the pandemic, it was primarily children with medical disabilities or "special needs" who were living at children’s homes and eligible for adoption. The number of adoptions had seriously declined to the point that prospective international adoptive families could be on wait lists for up to years, especially if they wanted a "non-special needs" or “minor special needs” child.
This can be attributed to China's economic conditions significantly improving over decades since the implementation of the so-called "one-child policy" took effect in 1980, a declining birth rate (families are having fewer children), and preference for males becoming less popular in society.
Simply put, very few children in modern times were being relinquished or sent to orphanages compared to past times. China's international adoption program was already on its way out. The pandemic and worsening geopolitical tension seemed to fast track what we inevitably expected would happen.
As a primarily adoptee-run search organization, we felt it was imperative to provide a platform for fellow Chinese adoptees to share their perspectives during this significant moment in time. We recognize that every community member holds a unique view shaped by their personal lived experiences, and what ever they are feeling while processing this news is valid. We compiled quotes from the broader community of Chinese adoptees, and listed over thirty of them below. Please note that these views do not necessarily represent those of The Nanchang Project as a whole:
“It’s very surreal that my lifetime happened to fall between this very strange in-between. Given that the one child policy was enacted in 1980 and now foreign adoption is halted in 2024, that is a pretty small window for people like me, like us adoptees. It’s weird to think in the future just by saying 'I’m a Chinese adoptee' we can have a specific pinpoint in history. Being an adoptee is a very unique experience, mostly shared only by other adoptees themselves. I do sincerely hope that Chinese adoptees around the world are able to find comfort and peace as they process this news.”
- Emmy Young
“It feels weird that something that was/is/and will continue to be such a big part of our lives is just over - I understand that most of us aren't actively engaging in the adoption system right now, but it still feels weird. I can't imagine what families and [children] in waiting are feeling - if this happened to me and my family I think we would have all been devastated. Part of what is so disturbing is imagining being in their shoes and not getting to have the life I have lived.”
- Cate Rozier
“Feeling lost. It's strange to be part of the past, to be one of the ~140,000.”
- Tao Blanchet
“It is so sad because there are so many kids in China that are in need of a loving home.”
- Maddie
“I support prioritizing kinship and family preservation, but I hope China doesn't make us Chinese adoptees continue to fight tooth and nail for recognition, reconnection, and support with our health and wellness. I hope adoptees are listened to heavily in this conversation. I fear we will be talked over again, but the tides have been changing. I'm hopeful. I never thought I'd see this happen!”
- Anonymous
“I'm all for abolition, but I'm concerned how this will affect existing adoptees.”
- Zoe Watts
“As someone who had special needs, that required surgeries, I have a strong affinity to those affected. Having been to the orphanage, and seeing that the majority of children are special needs, makes me concerned. Many of them also have aged out, and/or been sent to programs to help assimilate to society. That being said, I hope the government keeps up their programming to support all the children that are cast aside by their families. This is not to demonize those particular families who do abandon their children, but more to do to prevent this from happening at all. All I can say is I hope for the best for the future of those affected. As a first wave adoptee, I hope the government will do more to support both international and domestic adoptees in the years to come.”
- Anonymous
“It just feels odd. I know the one child policy is over, but to think other possible adoptees don’t get the chance is sad to me. Being adopted was one of the best things to happen to me. My parents, through ups and downs, are my best friends, and without being adopted I obviously would have never had the chance to even remotely connect to them.”
- Molly Brown
“I wasn't worthy enough to be kept when I should've been born 20 years later.”
- Christine Rutkowski
“I found out about this at work and started crying. I couldn’t put a reason to why my mind and body just felt sad. Adoption is happy and sad and adoption is so different for so many adoptees. Right now I don’t know how I feel about this but it’s comforting to know that I have this community and am not alone.”
- Kiana Fabian
“I felt weirdly sad when I found out and I can’t really figure out why. I’ve always been an abolitionist and in a lot of ways, I’m glad about the news and hope it’s a step closer to family preservation. But I also felt like crying when I read it. Maybe it’s about feeling even more alone than I already do as a transracial adoptee. We already live through an experience few other people can relate to, and it’s almost like I’m going to become a relic of an era that’s now over. There won’t be any more Chinese adoptees after us. I already struggle with my sense of identity, and now a key part of my identity is going to cease to exist. I have an older adoptee acquaintance from Operation Babylift who has talked about feeling something like that before. Being a footnote in history. Maybe it’s similar. I don’t know. I can’t seem to puzzle it out. I don’t think anyone except adoptees could understand.”
- Anna Stollman
“I hoped to potentially adopt my own child from China so they didn’t feel so alone when they looked in a mirror or took family photos. I guess we’ll have to see how this policy change ripples through the next generations.”
- Roman Rasmussen
“Don't know why but I feel kinda relieved? But at the same time, sad. Like I'm grieving something I never really vouch for.”
- Carolyne Lemieux-Houle
“The complexity of what I'm feeling boils down to two points:
1. Incredible sadness for the children left behind who will not get the chance to experience the love and devotion of a family. As well as all the opportunities that come with adoption.
2. Anger and unfairness. The thousands of girls and boys that were sent to the United States in this approximately 35 year time span had no choice in the matter. In the wake of this decision adoptees like me have to navigate identity issues, deep attachment wounds, and so much more. We live with the weight of so many unanswered questions and at the root of it wonder if we are worthy as people and of love. I do feel discarded, like a small piece of history that China will erase.
I strongly feel we are the lost children of China and I am angry and enormously hurt.”
- Emma Rady Wanroy
“I'm shocked, happy, sad, angry, confused. More unanswered questions and unknowns for us.”
- Shelley Rottenberg
“There's nuance to it. Both positives and negatives. For me, it just feels like it'll all be a thing of the past - if that makes sense? Kind of like an end to an era, where the government is closing down the programs that drastically changed the course of life for so many. And I guess for my own selfish and illogical reasons, I don't want to be forgotten by my birth country and I'm looking for validation. Ending this program, where I'm sure there's good reason to, makes me feel like I have to further justify myself. Kind of like 'yes, I'm adopted by one-child policy and through a now closed adoption program.' I just feel lame.”
- Melissa Mackintosh
“I think it's a good thing (I hope). It would have been nice to grow up in my native land.”
- Tessa Osborne
“I was never curious [to find] out about my birth family, but I could be later on in life and it may not be an option now. That freedom may have been taken away from me. My heart goes out to all those parents and babies who were in the middle of this long, emotional process to then be told they won’t be able to proceed.”
- Millie Mei
“I'm conflicted. I believe that keeping families together is vital but this feels wrong.”
- Alaina Bazo
“I don't even know what to feel but I can't help but think of the life I'd have had if I weren't adopted.”
- Sara Bennett
“Many mixed feelings. On one hand I hope this is a sign that less children are being given up to the foster care and adoption system as a whole. I can only hope domestic adoption has gone up and there's less demand. Perhaps this will put more pressure on China to answer to the existing international adoptee population who have received little to no help in their search for family and conclusion. I hope it helps them take accountability and understand the impact the one child policy left on many of us and the lives lost during it's time, many being female, and/or having special needs.
On the other hand I feel awful for current matches or children who were so close to finding their international forever home. I know I as a Chinese adoptee was considering adopting from China and know many others who would have gone above and beyond especially for those aging out of the system. Closing off and terminating those long in the adoption match process must be devastating. If they had secured every child with a safe home and could promise ample care it'd be one thing. But I think we all know the biases and stigma with adopting older children, girls, or those with special needs. Now it feels like they're limiting the opportunities for children in China to find a home.
I'm not happy about the circumstances that led to my international adoption. I'm not happy about policies that unequally discriminated against and led to the infanticide of many girls. However, I'm glad to have been adopted. I'm glad to have been able to pursue an education and have a life internationally. I would a thousand times over choose my family now in America than risk aging out of the child care system in China and it's sad to hear future children might not have that chance to lead a fulfilling life with a forever home.”
- Lily Neugebauer
“This period will be a forgotten footnote in the greater story of China's modernization.”
- Bay
“As a Chinese adoptee, [it almost feels] like we're all a tiny point in time. A forgotten and abandoned generation... People often use your trauma to romanticise adoption and orphans and I think that's symptomatic of the society we live in, and everyone striving to be the 'main character'—but for us this isn't a production or a novel, it's our lives and our pain. And this new development is somewhat bittersweet in that we won't have more lost [children], but also it feels strange that we'll become almost like relics of this policy!”
- Allie de Lacy
“Wow! I’m glad children are going to be able to stay in their birth country and culture with racial mirrors. I also am a bit sad for the families who have been in this adoption process for such an anticlimactic ending to their process. But also at the end of the day, adoptive parents aren’t ‘owed’ a baby… It’s a weird feeling, though, to be an adoptee from China knowing I am part of this 'last of our kind feeling.'”
- Leah Burns
“As an adoptee from China this is hard to wrap my head around. This is not something you would ever expect to happen. There are so many emotions that I don't quite know how to process at the moment. I feel a mix of sadness, worry, anger, frustration, but mostly confusion. Why this decision? Why now? Most importantly I'm thinking of those who are currently in the process of adopting from China, who wanted to adopt from there, who have been adopted from there, and the many children in orphanages or foster homes out in China. I started my journey to find my birth family in 2021 and I had hoped to one day go to China. Now I have no idea what this means for adoptees wanting to find their birth parents. My main concern is for the children waiting to be adopted. What will happen to them? Will they be taken care of? It's a lot to process so please be kind to yourself.”
- Asia Walker
“I feel like we'll be a generation that is remembered as a few lines in a textbook in the future.”
- Vee
“I’m having super weird and mixed feelings about this and I'm not sure how I feel, but I do wish all Chinese adoptees give themselves grace and kindness while processing their feelings regarding this.”
- Aly Baske
“There are three things I wonder about with this news:
1. Where are my documents going to go, if the government still has or ever had copies?
2. Is this just a policy change like with the one child and subsequent three child policy? I know China’s population has dropped significantly lately so are they doing this to keep up numbers? Because then, somehow that makes me feel “used”/“unused” in their family planning [initiative].
3. If #2 is true, or really in general, what are they (the federal government) going to do to support their children and families from this point forward?”
- S.B.
“If China cared, they would be doing what Korea did by encouraging adoptees to return, be celebrated, and putting effort into locating family.”
- Alexandra Lerner
“My first reaction was 'Good, no more children will have to experience what I did,' because being removed from your birth place, culture, heritage, and people is such a cruel and unusual life sentence. But then anxiety started to kick in. There are so many uncertainties for how this will impact us adoptees trying to find our origin stories/documents or searching for biological relatives.
From Nanchang Project’s experience, Chinese people don’t even fully grasp the scope of international adoptions and how it affected their population. If the generation that birthed us doesn’t even realize how many adoptees there are, our peers definitely don’t know we exist and even younger generations are living with the 2015 'two child policy' subsequently turned 'many child policy.'
A 30+ year policy that decimated an entire generation will now fade from the social conscious. If it weren’t for adoptees demanding for our voices to be heard, we wouldn’t even have the limited social services that we do have. I’m entirely concerned that we will now be dismissed and disregarded more than we already were.”
- Katie L.
“I found out 12 hours ago that China has [ended] its international adoption process. For everyone who's not a blood relative or step-relative three generations back, the blunt reality is that there will be fewer families in existence like mine. And none will likely be created the way mine was ever again. Approximately 140,000 children were adopted between 1989 and 2019. We are a set population, a fixed generation, a single cohort. This is a daunting thought in many ways. But for now, I'm offering support and community to my fellow Chinese adoptees, wherever you are in your journey. May we find strength in each other during this time.”
- Hannah Johns
Thank you to everyone who submitted a quote for use in this writing piece; we wish we could have added every reaction shared with us. We appreciate your participation and again recognize the uniqueness of every adoptee’s lived experience. We hope everyone is taking care of themselves during this uncharted period.
Our team made attempts to include a comprehensive representation of the responses shared by adoptees. If you are a member of the Chinese adoption community and have a perspective to share, we welcome you to leave a comment below to contribute to this historic discussion. In your response, please indicate your role or connection to this community (Chinese adoptee, adoptive parent, other).
Statement for Immediate Release
September 6, 2024
On September 4th, we reported the shutdown of China’s international adoption program to the adoptee community. Please find our official statement on this significant development below:
We at The Nanchang Project sympathize with the prospective adoptive families whose applications have now been ended and respect their privacy as they grieve this loss. Adoption is not without its losses: the adoptive parents’ loss of having biological or adopted children, the adoptees’ loss of their origins, and the biological families’ loss of their ability to care for their child.
Nanchang Project would not be where it is today without the love of two adoptive mothers and their dedication to finding their children’s origins. From the energy of this devotion, our search organization has reunited 65 adoptees with their first families and is now 95% run by adult Chinese adoptees.
It is a bittersweet moment as we are at the end of a generation of lost Chinese people, but we feel a sense of relief that no more children will be separated from their birth place, culture, and identity. We hope this moment can shift focus toward the need for post-adoptive services to support Chinese adoptees and their families for the rest of their lives.
The adoptee community does feel a mix of emotions because adoption is complex. At Nanchang Project, we feel a sense of uncertainty and anxiety as we wonder what this means for adoptees hoping to reconnect with their origins and Chinese culture. We hope that Chinese people and those outside of the adoption sphere will support us in continuing our work to reconnect adoptees with their biological families and birth country.
We ask that adoptees’ voices be heard and valued as we digest this historic decision. We are in the process of compiling adoptees’ perspectives and will be sharing them soon on our blog.
- Nanchang Project
nanchangproject.com
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