Months have passed since China closed its doors to international adoption, leaving hundreds of would-be adoptive families devastated. The Manns from Florida are still fighting to bring home a child from Xi'an.
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00:00So this is our son Titus's room and then when we found out that we would be adopting another son
00:06in 2019 we got them bunk beds and they actually have matching quilts that I made for them and
00:13matching little signs and we got we made this for him right after we were matched
00:20in like November 2019 and um so it's got a little
00:31Asher is a Chinese orphan living in the central city of Xi'an
00:37he was matched with this American family and was ready to be adopted
00:50But in September 2024 his dream of joining a family fell apart
01:03Around 300 American families with pending applications have since been left in limbo
01:10Brittany Mann's family is one of them
01:14It was a complete shock
01:16I called my husband and then I called my friend who was a social worker in china
01:20and she works for adoption agency so she has a little bit more connections
01:24She's like I'm just as shocked I was in a meeting I didn't know
01:27The thing that bothers me the most is that china won't give us a clear answer
01:31because right now you're just leaving a bunch of families like myself
01:33and all these other families have been waiting for five years
01:36Wondering we want these kids that's our that's our prayer and that's our thing but we also want closure
01:41Until we get an absolute no we're going to keep trying to get him
01:45China has increasingly restricted foreign adoptions in recent years
01:50With its population declining for the third straight year in 2024
01:55Domestic adoptions now make up nearly 90 percent of all adoptions
02:00International adoption is always like the last resort for a child
02:03But the problem is as far as we know our son
02:06As well as many or all of the 300 children that have been waiting have all been available for domestic adoption
02:13Because children like both of our sons their files were flagged for like special medical needs things like that
02:20The likelihood of them being adopted domestically is probably quite low and especially as children grow older
02:26And I think overall our biggest concern is obviously the longer the time goes like the worst possibly
02:31You know, he's in pain. Maybe there's some lifelong disability because he didn't get surgery when he was four
02:39For years foreign families offered hope in the future to Chinese orphans with disabilities
02:46Now can Chinese families fill that gap?
02:50Miro, a Chinese immigrant whose adopted brother has an arm disability, isn't optimistic
02:57The
03:24The would-be adoptive families in the U.S. have formed an advocacy group called Hobley's Home.
03:31We started writing letters to Congress to contact our senators and representatives.
03:36And so we just want the Chinese government to know, like, we love these children.
03:41We're here. You know, if there's a possibility that we can still adopt them, like, we still want them.
03:47But their voices are in danger of being drowned out by global politics.
03:52China, first row, China.
03:56Under the Trump administration, the relations between the U.S. and China focus on tariff disputes and trade wars.
04:04We would like to raise the concerns to President Trump.
04:07I know he's really busy right now. He's got a lot kind of on his plate.
04:10But I do think it would be a great way to just close the program, the history between our two countries.
04:16Just let 300 children be a part of families. Let them come home. Let them have the care that they need, especially if, you know, they might not get that for the rest of their life.
04:29Teeth. You get the teeth.
04:30And you had a uni. Maybe the outside world doesn't really understand why are you grieving a child that you've never met and grieving their birthday.
04:39But I would say it's just, like, every mom is going to fight for their child.
04:43Every mom is going to try to tell everyone about their child.
04:45Every mom is going to give our child as much chance as we can.