FARGO — After more than five years filled with paperwork, visits and decisions, Richard and Tracy Pfeiffer are just one step away from bringing home their adoptive son from China.
All they need is to receive one travel document. But the process is stalled.
In early September, the U.S. Department of State received notice from the People’s Republic of China Ministry of Civil Affairs that, as of Aug. 28, China is no longer carrying out foreign adoption work. All pending and future adoptions, except those among blood relatives, have been halted, according to a statement from U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.
The move has left about 300 U.S. families in the process of adopting children from China in limbo, including at least two North Dakota families.
Minnesota and North Dakota congressional leaders are being called upon to help continue the adoption process.
Cramer and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., are co-chairs of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, along with U.S. Reps. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., and Adam Smith, D-Wash. The coalition sent a letter to the U.S. Department of State Office of Children’s Issues asking it to seek further clarification on the details and reasoning for China’s decision.
The international adoption process can be arduous. According to Holt International, an Oregon-based family services nonprofit that helps facilitate adoptions, the process is multi-phased and includes home studies, background checks and psychological exams. Most of this is paid by the adopting family and can add up to between $34,000 and $45,000 per adoption.
The Pfeiffers, of Fessenden, recently celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary. The central North Dakota farm couple has seven children, three of whom are adopted, including two boys from China. They were adopted just before they “aged out of the system,” age 14 in China.
The Pfeiffers started the adoption process of their third son from China in late 2019. Although the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the process considerably starting in 2020, the family continued to jump through the many hoops involved in adopting children from China, including placement, welfare and immigration processes that must be approved by both U.S. and Chinese officials.
The family has exchanged pictures with their son and celebrated his birthday each year with a delivery of cake and a present.
After five years, the Pfeiffers are in the very last stage, which only entails receiving a travel document that, once signed, allows the family to travel to China, pick up their son and return home. But the last step was halted following China ending international adoptions.
“When we started the paperwork in the summer of 2019, he had just turned 10, and he’s 15 now,” Tracy Pfeiffer said. “We’ve already lost five years.”
Before this year, Tracy Pfeiffer said the process of Chinese adoption worked seamlessly, with Chinese officials working efficiently. “You could set your watch by them,” she said.
She said she and other parents have been afraid to speak on the issue, not wanting to anger Chinese officials.
“We have all been holding our breath, hoping no one would say something that would cause, well, what happened to happen,” Tracy Pfeiffer said.
The lack of information regarding what prompted the policy change garnered the attention of U.S. lawmakers including Cramer and Klobuchar, as well as Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who drafted a letter to Chinese officials asking for further explanation.
U.S. officials estimate there are about 300 children in China that U.S. families are waiting to bring home.
Pfeiffer and other parents hope that as Congress speaks out, it will help unite the waiting children and their families.
“These are kids that should have a family,” Pfeiffer said. “Everybody should have a family.”
Aimee Welch adopted a child from China in 2017. She, too, was in the process of finalizing adopting another child in March of 2020 but continues to wait. Welch, who lives in Louisville, is now leading a nationwide organization, Hope Leads Home, which coordinates parent advocacy for completing pending China adoptions.
“We have existed informally via private social media channels for a few years but recently formalized our structure in light of China’s announcement that they are closing their international adoptions,” Welch said in an email to the Forum.
More information about Hope Leads Home can be found at www.hopeleadshome.org.
As of publication, a formal response has not been given by Chinese officials.
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