If You Do Not Love Them, Please Let Go
---Reflections on the Halt of International Adoption
Original by Zhang Chuanlin (张传林)
【Editor’s Note: Due to China's family planning policies and a deep-rooted preference for sons in rural areas, about 100,000 children—mostly disabled or girls—are abandoned annually, a figure that has surged from 5,000 in the 1980s to 100,000 by 2010. While Chinese families rarely adopt these children, the 1992 Adoption Law (《收养法》) allowed foreigners to adopt them, transforming the lives of over 160,000 orphans—over 80% of whom are girls, and over 80% have disabilities or illnesses. Many were embraced by foreign families, particularly in the United States, who provided love, care, and opportunities, helping them understand their roots while growing up abroad. Notable examples include Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Maggie MacNeil and world gymnastics champion Morgan Hurd. However, as of August 28, 2024, China has ceased all international adoption activities, potentially leaving these children in underfunded welfare institutions with inadequate care. The author questions whether China is prepared for this policy change amid economic strains and urges for compassion and viable solutions for these vulnerable children. If they cannot be properly cared for domestically, the plea is to let them find hope elsewhere.】
Due to China's well-known family planning policy and the deep-rooted preference for sons over daughters in rural areas, approximately 100,000 children are abandoned annually in China, the vast majority being disabled children or girls. This figure has a trajectory of "development." Public data indicate that in the 1980s, the number of abandoned infants in China was around 5,000 per year. By the 1990s, this number had surged to 50,000 annually; by 2010, it had doubled to 100,000 annually.
The fortunate among these abandoned infants enter local welfare institutions; the unfortunate are left to fend for themselves...
As Chinese citizens, perhaps none of us doubt the tragic fate that disabled children might face in welfare institutions. No Chinese person would go to a welfare institution to adopt a disabled, abandoned child. Whether in the past or now, the material conditions and beliefs of Chinese families do not support such acts of kindness.
To be frank, our civilization has not yet reached that level.
In 1992, China promulgated the Adoption Law (《收养法》), whose Chapter 2, Article 21 states: "Foreigners may adopt children in the People's Republic of China in accordance with this law."
It was this legal provision that directly changed the fate of more than 160,000 Chinese orphans.
Among these over 160,000 Chinese orphans, two statistics are worth repeating: over 80% of them are girls, and over 80% have congenital disabilities or other illnesses. But after the misfortune of becoming orphans and abandoned children, they experienced a dramatic reversal of fate, becoming the luckiest orphans and abandoned children in China's history.
Over the course of thirty-two years, they have been successively taken away and adopted by countless foreign families, about half of whom are in the United States. Many foreign couples initially came to China intending to adopt a healthy child, but upon seeing the disabled children in welfare institutions, they changed their minds and chose to adopt disabled children instead.
The U.S. Embassy in China once released data showing that American families have adopted a total of 82,658 Chinese orphans. Behind this number lie countless stories of love that transcend borders and races. These orphans once faced abandonment, but fortunately, they found new families in foreign countries and began entirely new lives.
In the United States, the vast majority of adoptive families not only provided material care for these children but, more importantly, gave them emotional warmth and educational opportunities. Many American families, in order to better care for these children from China, would learn Chinese culture, allowing the children to understand their roots. This fusion of culture and emotion enables these children, although living in a foreign land, to feel the warmth and security of home. It also allows these Chinese orphans to grow up healthily and happily in a distant country far from their homeland.
Maggie MacNeil and Morgan Hurd are outstanding representatives among them.
Tokyo Olympics 100-meter butterfly gold medalist Maggie MacNeil was born in Jiangxi, China. She was an abandoned infant adopted by a Canadian couple. Under the care and support of her adoptive parents, she displayed talent in swimming and ultimately became an Olympic champion.
World gymnastics champion Morgan Hurd was born in Wuzhou, Guangxi. She was a two-year-old abandoned baby adopted by an American mother, who nurtured her into a gymnastics champion. Her story demonstrates how an adoptive family can provide an abandoned child with an entirely new life and opportunities.
International adoption is a profound humanitarian concern. It transcends blood ties, race, and national borders, embodying human sympathy and assistance for vulnerable groups. This love that crosses racial boundaries will shine forever.
But starting from August 28, 2024, civil affairs departments across China will no longer carry out any work related to international adoption. This decision also cuts off the only hope for those children in welfare institutions.
Are we truly prepared for this policy?
What is China's economy like in 2024? Everyone knows. Tax revenues have plummeted, and in situations where local governments are financially strained to the point of being unable to pay civil servants salaries, how much funding can inland provincial governments allocate to welfare institutions? To what extent can those abandoned infants and disabled babies be cared for?
Some time ago, a surveillance video appeared online, showing a female caregiver violently grabbing an orphan by the hair, lifting and throwing her onto a bed. Another orphan in the footage first stared blankly, then turned and ran wildly... The scene was outrageous.
We are well aware that the vast majority of caregivers in welfare institutions are like this.
Therefore, if foreigners are not allowed to adopt disabled children, orphans are destined to stay in welfare institutions forever, and under the care of caregivers with "Chinese characteristics," they will hastily complete lives that are doomed not to be long.
We should all search our consciences and ask ourselves: If we prohibit foreigners from adopting, can we take good care of them ourselves? We are a society where 80,000 graduate students and 300,000 undergraduates are working as food delivery riders!
Since their parents have long abandoned them,
Since we do not yet have sufficient resources to rescue them,
Why not give them hope—a life path?
If you do not love them, then please let go!