Nearly 100 Congress MPs put pressure on the president Joe Biden take hundreds of children out of China after the country ceased all adoptions abroad.

The group of senators and representatives wrote a letter to Biden on Friday on behalf of hundreds of American families uncertain about the status of their adoptions of children from China, who announced on August 28 that no further adoptions foreign would not take place. Families no longer know if they will one day be able to welcome the children they had been promised months before.

“We express our concern for vulnerable children in the PRC (People’s Republic of China) who have found a permanent, loving home but remain separated from their future future. adoptive families“, the lawmakers said in the letter. “We ask that you act in the best interests of these children and families by urging the PRC to fulfill and respect the commitment the country has made.”

News week contacted Biden for comment via email.

Historically, the United States and China have followed the guidelines of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, and more than 82,000 children have been successfully placed with adoptive families in the United States.

But now that foreign adoptions have ended, about 300 children matched with adoptive parents in the United States are being held in China, and many of them could benefit from more medical and health care. mental needs which need to be addressed.

“American families who have been matched with their foster children are prepared to meet their long-term medical and emotional needs and give them the love and care they need,” the letter continues.

“While these families have waited years for their adoption to be finalized, they have formed deep bonds with their adopted children. Many of these children know they have a home that, in many cases, has been prepared for their arrival since the families were created. informed that they were matched and moving forward with the adoption process.

The lawmakers went on to say that these children need direct intervention from China to move forward with adoptions, especially since State Department reports indicate that China may continue to approve adoptions in other countries. countries other than the United States.

“We hope that American families will have the same opportunity and that the PRC’s participation in the Convention will not end in heartbreak for families who will never be united with their adopted child, and with vulnerable children left without them. love. home that they knew they had,” the letter reads. “Your leadership could change the lives of these families.”

Robert Shapiro, a political science professor at Columbia University, said the end of U.S. adoptions to China was a result of increased tensions between the two countries, and that Biden could wield a lot of power when it comes to pending adoptions. ‘approval.

“Biden has every authority to negotiate on this,” Shapiro said. News week. “It is striking that this plan has substantial bipartisan support and if Biden is unable to achieve it, it may be left to the next president of either party to pursue this approach. “

Kristin Stapleton, a history professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo and an expert on modern China, called what is happening a “tragedy” for American families hoping to meet the children they matched as adoptive parents.

“The Chinese government’s decision to end foreign adoptions is based on the belief that China itself now has the resources to care for orphaned children and that it is best for them to grow up in their country of birth ” Stapleton said. News week.

As many families in China seek to adopt orphaned children, China’s timing of a bigger decision is hurting hundreds of families who hoped to bring their new children home this year.

“The timing of this decision, when some American families had already been informed of the children assigned to them, was unfortunate and even cruel,” Stapleton said.

“I doubt, however, that this is a deliberate insult directed at the United States. As in the United States, Chinese bureaucracies sometimes do not coordinate very effectively. I suspect this explains why American families are always matched with children the decision was being made to put an end to foreign adoptions.

Although the order to end adoptions has been widely criticized, Stapleton does not believe the Chinese government is likely to change its policy and allow children to join American families, even if Biden intervenes.

“The Chinese government certainly does not want to be seen by its people as bowing to foreign pressure, particularly from the United States,” Stapleton said.