The Chinese government is ending its international adoption programme, and the US is seeking clarification on how the decision will affect hundreds of American families with pending applications.

At a daily briefing on Thursday, Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said Beijing was no longer allowing intercountry adoptions of children from China, with the only exception for blood relatives to adopt a child or a stepchild.

Mao did not explain the decision other than to say that it was in line with the spirit of relevant international conventions. “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,” she added.

In letters sent to some adoption agencies on Wednesday, and shared on social media, the US state department said it had been told by Chinese authorities that all other pending adoptions were cancelled, except those with already issued travel authorisations.

In a phone call with US diplomats in China, Beijing said it “will not continue to process cases at any stage” other than those cases covered by an exception clause. The embassy is seeking clarification in writing from China’s ministry of civil affairs, the US state department said on Thursday.

The state department said: “We understand there are hundreds of families still pending completion of their adoption, and we sympathise with their situation.”

Many people have adopted children from China over the decades, visiting the country to pick them up and then bringing them to a new home overseas. Lengthy delays in the process meant many couples who were approved to adopt still waited years, sometimes near a decade, to receive their child.

US families have adopted 82,674 children from China, the most from any foreign country.

Intercountry adoptions had been largely suspended since 2020 because of the Covid pandemic, and changes in China’s political, demographic and economic situation had led many in the sector to expect an end or tightening of the adoption policy.

The Chinese government had resumed adoptions for children who had received travel authorisation prior to the suspension, the US state department said in its latest annual report on adoptions, but the numbers appeared small.

A US consulate issued 16 visas for adoptions from China from October 2022 through to September 2023, the first in more than two years, the state department report said. It was not clear if any more visas had been issued since then.

In January, Denmark’s only overseas adoption agency said it was winding down operations after concerns were raised about fabricated documents and procedures, and Norway’s top regulatory body recommended stopping overseas adoptions for two years pending an investigation into several cases.

The response on social media from prospective and current adoptive parents, and from adoptees themselves, was mixed. Some feared the announcement could also close off avenues for adoptees connecting with their former orphanages and birth families. Some said it was “long overdue” and they hoped children would be taken care of in their country of origin.

The Nanchang Project, a US-based group that works with Chinese adoptees and their adoptive parents to help adoptees find their biological families said the announcement marked “the end of an era” but the programme was “already on its way out”.

It added: “It is our profound hope that the remaining children in China receive the attention, medical care, and love they deserve.”

The charity said on social media that the number of adoptions had already seriously declined in the years before the pandemic pause, and there were fewer children put up for adoption overall, attributing it to China’s improved economy, falling birthrates, and a social preference for male children waning.

The number of newborn babies in China fell to 9.02 million in 2023, and the overall population declined for the second consecutive year. Amid a series of government measures designed to encourage more births, China’s decades-long one-child policy – which was a key driver of babies, especially girls, being put up for adoption – was phased out.