China bans foreigners from adopting its children

Only blood relatives are exempt from the new rules

China has officially shut down its international adoption program, the Foreign Ministry has announced. 

The move comes at a time when hundreds of American families have pending applications to adopt Chinese children, according to the Associated Press.

“Apart from the adoption...from one’s collateral relatives by blood of the same generation...China will not send children abroad for adoption. This is also in line with the spirit of relevant international covenants,” Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for the ministry, said in a first official announcement of the rule change.

AP reported that in a phone call with American diplomats in China, government officials said they “will not continue to process cases at any stage” other than special cases covered by an exemption clause. Over the last three decades the US has been the most common destination for overseas adoptions of Chinese children. 

“We understand there are hundreds of families still pending completion of their adoption, and we sympathize with their situation,” the State Department said.

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Back in 2007, Beijing toughened the vetting process for foreign adopters, with an emphasis on family lifestyle and age, and only accepting applications from heterosexual married couples.

Beijing temporarily suspended foreign adoptions during the coronavirus pandemic, but later resumed for them couples who had travel authorizations prior to 2020.

China’s ban follows similar steps from other countries. In January, Denmark’s only overseas adoption agency ceased operations, after concerns were raised over irregularities and fabricated documents.

In June, Norway tightened controls over foreign adoptions and is now conducting an investigation into whether past adoptions were legal and ethical.

Citizens of several countries are already prohibited from adopting Russian children. The 2013 ‘Dima Yakovlev Law’ banned adoptions by Americans, after a Russian orphan adopted by a Virginia couple was left in a car for nine hours and died of heat stroke.

In August 2022, a proposal was put to the State Duma to expand the adoption ban to all “unfriendly countries.” Sending Russian children there would be a “blow to the future of the nation,” they argued, since the West “destroys traditional values.” President Vladimir Putin objected, however, saying that the way it was drafted, the bill would infringe on the rights of Ukrainians living on Russian territory. 

Russia banned same-sex couples from adopting children in 2013. The Russian Orthodox Church has since proposed banning international adoptions by couples from countries that allow “gender reassignment” procedures, an idea that was then backed by lawmakers.