Following the announcement that China will no longer allow international adoptions, Ryan Hanlon, President and CEO of the National Council for Adoption, penned an op-ed for The Hill. In it, he pointed out the life-altering outcomes of this decision and called on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to press China for answers about the children being “left behind.”
“The news that China is ending intercountry adoptions resulted in a flood of media coverage, most of which missed the crux of the issue,” wrote Hanlon. “The decision will result in more children with medical special needs spending their childhood in orphanages instead of with loving families.”
In early September, China said it would end its international adoption program, halting not only future adoptions, but adoptions that were already in process. The nation, which has a dark history of dictating how many children its citizens can have, is attempting to reverse the negative effects of its decades of coercive population control, sex-selective abortion, and forced abortion.
Children who were already in process of being adopted — especially those with additional special needs — are going to be the most negatively affected by this sudden change.
“Instead of emphasizing this point, most of the U.S.-based media stories employ a maladaptive both-sides-ism approach: On the one hand, adoption has resulted in tens of thousands of children leaving orphanages to join loving families. On the other hand, wouldn’t it have been great if they could have stayed with their birth family? Sure, ideally, all children could live with their birth families, but we must deal with present-day realities,” said Hanlon.
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He noted that Chinese families had already been prioritized over American families in the adoption process in China, but now, for the hundreds of children for whom a domestic adoption was not possible, there is little hope of ever having a forever family. He warns that children with medical needs are simply not being adopted by Chinese families.
“As a result, the decision to end intercountry adoption in China is a decision that condemns these kids to a life without family,” explained Hanlon. He continued:
The starkest example of this is the 300 children who had been matched for adoption with U.S. families when China halted travel because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those same children remain in orphanages today. Very few were reunited with birth families or placed domestically for adoption.
These kids have spent the formative years of their lives in orphanages, and with this new decision, they will continue to live in orphanages instead of with permanent, loving families. This should concern everyone who cares about elevating the best interests of children.
Hanlon argued that the Department of State has failed to help these children, offering only meager attempts to request that their adoptions be allowed to be finalized. He noted that “both countries agreed international adoption is in the best interest of these orphaned kids, in accordance with the Hague Convention.”
He urged Blinken to step in, address the issue, “advocate for the finalization of these adoptions and make it clear China should honor its decision to entrust these needy children with U.S. families.”
