A bipartisan group of American lawmakers on Saturday called for US President Donald Trump to address pending adoptions from China when he next meets President Xi Jinping, urging the US leader to press Beijing to uphold commitments made before a recent policy change.
Last September, China abruptly ended its decades-long international adoption programme, leaving nearly 270 American families who had already been in the adoption process for years in a state of uncertainty.
“We urge you to elevate this engagement and press the Chinese government to finalise pending adoption cases so these children may finally be united with their adoptive families in the United States,” said the letter to Trump, led by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, a bicameral caucus, and Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa.
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The caucus is co-chaired by two US senators – Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, and Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat – and two US congressmen – Robert Aderholt, an Alabama Republican, and Danny Davis, an Illinois Democrat.
US senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, co-chairs a bipartisan congressional effort asking China to revive its international adoption process. Photo: Getty Images via AFP alt=US senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, co-chairs a bipartisan congressional effort asking China to revive its international adoption process. Photo: Getty Images via AFP>
The letter, signed by 105 lawmakers, stated that most of the affected children have special healthcare needs and that some would soon age out of care systems without the support of a permanent family.
“It is particularly critical that these children have access to the care and support that they need – which hundreds of American families approved for adoption are willing to provide,” it stated.
Lawmakers highlighted the largely unsuccessful efforts of the US State Department under the previous administration of Joe Biden to seek clarity from China.
They said families seeking to unite with their adoptive children had been “devastated” by China’s decision.
According to people familiar with the effort, Beijing has largely remained unresponsive.
“We request that you act in the best interest of these children and engage the Chinese government to finalise these pending adoption cases,” the letter continued.
The lawmakers further pledged to work closely with the US president to “ensure these children are welcomed into safe and stable homes”.
Most families say they had been years into the adoption process and just weeks away from receiving travel permits to bring their adoptive children home when the coronavirus pandemic led China to suspend international travel in 2020.
Their hopes were briefly revived in 2023 when China reopened, but families say they received no updates until Beijing officially announced in September last year that it would halt foreign adoptions altogether.
Two separate letters signed by 100 lawmakers and 33 governors were sent to Biden last year. However, the issue did not come up during Biden’s meeting with Xi in Peru later that month.
Since Trump took office in January, US lawmakers and families have pinned their hopes on him to resolve the crisis.
“For the sake of these children who were promised permanent families years ago, we are hoping with all our hearts that President Trump might be able to bring a quick resolution,” said Aimee Welch of Kentucky.
Welch was in the process of finalising the adoption of a girl with special-care needs in March 2020 and is still waiting.
“We weren’t able to get movement the past four years,” said Welch, who leads an organisation called Hope Leads Home that advocates for completing the pending China adoptions.
“Sometimes President Trump thinks outside the box,” she added. “Maybe he can negotiate the completion of these agreements as others have been unable to do.”
As the Trump administration has settled in, the families say they have yet to receive any updates on their cases from the State Department.
The White House and the State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
US senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, raised the issue on the floor of the Senate just days after Trump’s inauguration.
“I’ve been told families from other countries have been invited to travel to complete their adoptions but not Americans,” he said on January 23. “Why not Americans?”
Grassley noted that Trump “talks about wanting to meet with Xi, have more friendly relationships with President Xi” and expressed hope that such an “environment” could bring the children to their adoptive families.
Earlier this week, the Post reported that Chinese and American officials were in discussions to arrange a meeting between the presidents as early as April.
Welch voiced hope that if the meeting occurred the issue would “touch the hearts of both presidents” and that they would collaborate to unite the children with their American adoptive families, fulfilling promises made long ago.
The first official international adoption approved in China was in 1985, and in 1992 a law formalised the process by setting out a framework allowing foreign families to come to China to adopt children.
Since that time, tens of thousands of Chinese children have been adopted by foreign families, with the US leading the list.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
