“What will happen to the children?”
“Is this final?”
In early September, the Chinese government announced their decision to end its international adoption program, and it’s brought up many questions.
This news has come as a shock, even to those of us who work in this sector. International adoption has been such a significant part of the Chinese child welfare system for so long, and it’s hard to picture what that system will be like without it.
When Hope Station started in China ten years ago, the social welfare system was already shifting. Changing social policies meant that widespread abandonment of baby girls had almost ended, and almost all children in institutions were those with disabilities.
In the past several years, we’ve seen significant improvements in the expertise of those caring for children with disabilities, and the resources available to them.
The number of children in institutions is decreasing, and some orphanages we’ve worked with have even closed completely. So in many ways, this recent decision is one that shows promise and an intention to continue building better systems and resources for children and families in the future.
Now in 2024, we also see greater awareness in society of children’s special needs, and more widespread access to therapy than even five years ago. We see more and more therapy centers opening across China offering speech, physical, occupational, and behavioral therapy. China’s approach to working with children with disabilities continues to change and improve at an astonishing rate.
And yet, our Hope Station families continue to tell us how hard it is to raise a child with disabilities.
Just last month, one special needs mama shared this reflection with us: “I have always worried about [my son] going to school, worried that he would not be able to adapt to school life, worried how he would interact with other children, and many, many worries… It is really not easy.”
Many of these families we serve still feel isolated and frustrated at the lack of opportunities for their child. Parents are exhausted as they fight for their child to get the care and treatment they deserve in their daily lives. Despite the positive shifts of the past few years, there remains a very real risk that without support, children with disabilities will continue to be abandoned into state care.
It is these children we think of now.
We grieve for the children who have lost this chance at family. We honor the families who had committed to adopt a child who they will now not meet. And as we do so, we listen to the many voices of Chinese Adoptees, who teach us so much.
We don’t have answers, but as Hope Station, our response to this news is to continue to do whatever we can for the children we work with, because we believe that every child deserves a safe and loving family.
