China is ending foreign adoptions of its children. That leaves hundreds of American families in limbo

Hong Kong CNN —

China is ending most foreign adoptions of its children, leaving hundreds of American and other foreign families with pending applications in limbo.

Since the early 1990s, China has sent tens of thousands of adoptees overseas – with about half arriving in the United States – as its draconian one-child policy forced many families to abandon children, especially girls and babies with disabilities.

But in recent decades, as China’s economy boomed and births slowed, international adoptions of Chinese children have declined in number. Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, they have largely been on hold.

Now the Chinese government is officially ending the program – which it said is in line with global trends, but also comes as officials try to reverse the country’s sharply declining birthrates and avert a looming demographic crisis.

China’s Foreign Ministry announced Thursday that no more Chinese children would be sent abroad for adoption. The only exceptions will be for foreigners adopting the children or stepchildren of blood relatives in China.

“This is in line with the spirit of relevant international conventions,” the ministry’s spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular news conference. “We are grateful for the desire and love of the governments and adoptive families of relevant countries to adopt Chinese children.”

The ban raises uncertainty for hundreds of American families currently in the process of adopting children from China.

The US embassy in Beijing is seeking clarification in writing from China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs on the new directive, the State Department said Thursday, according to the Associated Press.

In a phone call with US diplomats in China, Beijing said it “will not continue to