Beijing, China - In a blow to thousands of prospective families sitting amid long application processes, the Chinese government has pulled the plug on its international adoption program.

Beijing has announced an end to its highly successful inter-country adoption program, a system that lasted three decades and saw more than 160,000 children adopted since it launched in 1992.

The scheme has largely been on pause since the Covid-19 pandemic shut down most international borders in 2020. Since then, families have waited for years in long processing queues.

In May 2023, the State Department revised its information on inter-country adoptions, stating that "with the exception of a few cases, CWA's posture has not changed, and all cases remain suspended."

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Since then, there has been little news until a spokesperson from the Chinese foreign ministry confirmed that they were ending the long-running adoption program.

"The Chinese government has adjusted its cross-border adoption policy," said foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Thursday.

"Apart from the adoption of a child or stepchild from one’s collateral relatives by blood of the same generation, and up to the third degree of kinship by foreigners coming to China, China will not send children abroad for adoption," she said.

Mao explained that Beijing's policy on international adoptions was in line with international law and covenants before expressing gratitude to prospective parents.

"We express our appreciation to those foreign governments and families, who wish to adopt Chinese children, for their good intention and the love and kindness they have shown."

Reuters reports that the US Department of State on Thursday responded to Beijing's decision to end foreign adoptions by expressing sympathy for the families involved.

"We understand there are hundreds of families still pending completion of their adoption," a spokesperson said. "We sympathize with their situation."

Beijing reportedly told US diplomats calling about the issue that they "will not continue to process cases at any stage," effectively ending all potential adoptions from China.

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Speaking to the New York Times, Chinese demographer Wang Feng expressed joy over the decision, pointing out that China's adoption crisis was spurred on by the one-child policy.

"This is, in a way, the end of an era and the closing of one of the most shameful chapters of the three and a half decades of social engineering known as one-child policy," she said.