EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of Trump’s Meeting With Xi, US Families Ask President for Help to Bring Adopted Children Home From China

Hundreds of American families are asking President Donald Trump to help them bring their children home from China.  

“Your leadership could unite hundreds of children with their forever families,” the parents told Trump in a letter Friday.  

Each of the 300 families have spent about five years waiting to bring their adopted children home from China. Initially, the adoptions were stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but progress halted completely when China announced the closure of its international adoption program in 2024.  

Despite each family having been matched with a child in China waiting for a forever home and told their adoptions were cleared to move forward, the adoptions remain stalled following the shuttering of China’s program.  

“These are children who’ve already been matched with U.S. families—children who long for the safety and permanency of a loving family. Their rooms are ready, their siblings wait eagerly, and their parents pray daily for the moment they will finally be united. We believe that you can help make that moment a reality,” the letter to Trump reads.  

Trump is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of next week in South Korea. The meeting is expected to focus on trade relations between the two nations, but the families are asking Trump to also “urge China to allow these adoptions to be finalized.”  

“This would be an act of compassion that transcends politics and strengthens the bonds between our two nations,” the families write. The letter has already been signed by more than 150 of the waiting families and is still garnering signatures.  

“You’ve led with moral clarity and American strength to bring home Israel’s hostages and raise the issue of Ukraine’s vulnerable children with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” the letter continued. “We are grateful for your strong leadership. Mr. President, we know you will be overjoyed when you see these children running into their parents’ arms—a joyful picture of love, family, and hope fulfilled.”  

The president is aware of the issue of the pending adoptions of Chinese children, but senior U.S. officials say they are unsure whether the president plans to raise the issue with Xi during next week’s meeting.  

The families have also written a similar letter to Xi, asking the Chinese leader to “help make possible a moment the world will never forget, children running into the arms of their parents at last. These reunions would be a testament to the shared values of love, family, and hope that transcend borders.”  

Signers of the letters to the two world leaders include families such as Lauren and Kevin Hawley, who were matched with a daughter, Eleanor, in January of 2020.  

Eleanor, now 7, has a metabolic disorder, and there is a clinic near the Hawleys’ home outside Cincinnati, Ohio, that is well-equipped to provide her with medical care.  

Upon first seeing Eleanor’s picture, “we just both melted,” Lauren Hawley previously told The Daily Signal, adding, “it just felt like a deep knowing that she was ours.”   

The Hawley family had 30-minute video calls with Eleanor every six months ahead of China closing its international adoption program and told her they were going to come get her in China and bring her home to America.  

The Hawleys have not been given the opportunity to explain to Eleanor why they have not come to bring her home yet, and they have no way of knowing if the orphanage has told the child the situation or that the Hawley family is still working to bring her home.   

Callie and Brian Troyer are also waiting and have never met their now 10-year-old son, Sam, who is currently living in an orphanage in China. Sam was born with congenital cataracts and is blind.   

After waiting for five years, Callie Troyer says she has “reached the point where I’m not sure that anyone else other than President Trump is able to get our children home.”  

Lifeline Children’s Services, a multifaceted child advocacy and adoption organization, represents about 60 of the waiting families and remains a vocal advocate of the effort to complete the 300 pending adoptions.  

“These children have forever families ready to welcome and love them—families who have completed the long and rigorous adoption journey and who have been waiting with hope and prayer for more than five years,” Herbie Newell, president and executive director of Lifeline Children’s Services, told The Daily Signal.  

“We are confident that President Trump and President Xi can put aside geopolitical differences and work together for the sake of these children,” Newell added. “Adoption is not a matter of politics, but of compassion, dignity, and the shared humanity that transcends borders.” 

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