Adoption in China: Past, Present and Yet to Come

Abstract

The one-child policy in China has shaped the country’s families, as well as international adoption, for decades. With the recent lifting of the one-child policy, questions have arisen about its impact on both families in China and international adoption from the country. This Article explores these questions in light of the global trend of lowered fertility, suggesting that families will remain small in China to a certain extent. Indeed, the world has moved on since the introduction of the one-child policy in China, and it is now a very different place — the artificial restriction on large families has been replaced by a natural one rooted in people’s preferences for small families. This, in turn, has the potential to lessen the impact on international adoption from China.