For three decades, China sent tens of thousands of babies overseas for adoption as it enforced a strict one-child policy that forced many families to abandon their children. Now the government will no longer allow most foreign adoptions, a move that it said was in line with global trends.
The ban raises questions for many of the hundreds of families in the United States who were in the process of adopting children from China and had heard earlier this week from adoption agencies that China was moving to bar international adoptions. The official confirmation came in the form of a brief comment by China’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday.
"We are grateful for the desire and love of the governments and adoption families of relevant countries to adopt Chinese children," said Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the ministry. She offered few details about the new policy, except to say that exceptions would be made only for foreigners adopting stepchildren and children of blood relatives in China.
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