Bipartisan Group of Lawmakers Urge Trump to Address Pending Adoption Cases With China

The lawmakers called on Trump to ‘elevate’ the State Department’s effort to secure China’s cooperation on the issue.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) departs after President Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol on March 4, 2025. Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images

A bipartisan group of more than 100 lawmakers is urging President Donald Trump to push communist China to resolve pending adoption cases involving Chinese children.

The co-chairs of the Congressional Coalition of Adoption—Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Kevein Cramer (R-N.D.), and Reps. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) and Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.)—led the effort with a letter to Trump on March 14.

They said Trump should work on behalf of “hundreds of children and American families who have been devastated by” China’s decision to terminate its international adoption program.

“We request that you act in the best interest of these children and engage the Chinese government to finalize these pending adoption cases,” the lawmakers wrote. “The safety of adopted children and hundreds of would-be adoptees is our top priority.”

China stopped sending children for adoption overseas in late August 2024. At that time, China’s foreign ministry said the rule change was made “in line with the spirit of relevant international covenants.”

According to data from China’s Children International, more than 160,000 Chinese children have been adopted by families around the world since 1992. Of those children, 82,000 have been adopted in the United States.

The lawmakers said China’s sudden termination had “exacerbated” their concerns about the well-being of adopted children and would-be adoptees.

“Many of these children have special health care needs, and some will soon age out of care systems without the support of a permanent family,” the lawmakers wrote. “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.”

The U.S. State Department is currently “working on behalf of these families and seeking clarity on the Chinese government’s decision,” the letter reads.

The lawmakers said Trump should “elevate this engagement and press the Chinese government to finalize pending adoption cases so these children may finally be united with their adoptive families in the United States.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has previously commented on China’s ban. In a joint statement issued in November last year with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), the then-senator from Florida called on “the Chinese regime to reconsider its position and allow these families to unite with their adoptive children.”

Consignees of the letter include several members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including ranking member Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), John Curtis (R-Utah), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Tammy Duckworth (D-lll.).

Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), Mark Green (R-Tenn.), Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.), and Julie Johnson (D-Texas) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee also signed the letter.

Trump said in February that he had spoken with the Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping since his inauguration on Jan. 20.

Later in the same month, Trump said he expected Xi to visit the United States, without providing more details.

In December 2024, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee led a bipartisan group of 33 governors in a letter to outgoing President Joe Biden, asking him to take diplomatic action to press China into honoring pending adoptions.

Lee’s office said in a statement that China’s suspension had delayed the adoption of over 260 children matched to American families in 44 states.

“Dozens of families, including twelve Tennessee families, are ready and willing to open their homes to these children with medical and emotional needs, and most have waited nearly five years to complete the adoption process,” Lee said in a statement at the time.

Lee was joined in the letter by governors from Alabama, American Samoa, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.