President Biden, please intervene and help us bring our son home

“Mom and Dad, thank you for the gifts and the letter. I read it all. I am looking forward to being with you.” Those are the words of Xiao Tang, the 10-year-old with whom we had been communicating for four years in anticipation of adoption.

The recorded video message was sent to us from the group home where Xiao, who has cerebral palsy, has lived most of his life.

But in early September, without prior notice, China’s foreign ministry issued a brief comment that it was banning all international adoptions, even those — like ours — with completed adoption paperwork and payments. According to reporting from the New York Times, “China’s civil affairs ministry told the United States that it had completed processing of cases with previously issued travel authorizations, but it would not continue to process cases other than exceptions for those with relatives” in the U.S. Hundreds of U.S. families and the hopeful children are affected.

We’re asking President Joe Biden, before he leaves office next month, to urge China to finalize the adoptions that were in process. We’re asking that he work to ensure these kids don’t spend another Christmas in an institution, bereft of the love and care they were promised.

Children belong in loving families, not in institutions.

Beijing accepted our dossier and, in January 2020, Chinese authorities preapproved our application to pursue the adoption. Only one last travel document remained outstanding as the COVID-19 pandemic brought travel to a halt. Chinese authorities requested we wait until the pandemic was over before traveling to China and bringing Xiao home. A “Letter of Approval” was placed in his file, adorned with a red seal — a promise that his future would change from lifelong orphan to a cherished son.

Nearly four years have passed since Xiao was informed by Chinese authorities that he had a family in the United States, waiting to bring him home. We are the only “Mama” and “Baba” he knows.

He could have been adopted domestically in the intervening years, but no one stepped forward to do so. Like many children with physical challenges or disabilities, Xiao needs special medical intervention. Specialists at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have reviewed his chart with us, to help us prepare for his arrival. His cerebral palsy requires lifelong care, custom equipment, and a team of specialists.

We are confident we can meet his critical medical needs as well as his emotional needs. David, who was adopted from South Korea, understands the challenges adoptees face. With his experience as an adoptee, and Meghan’s work as an English language learner instructor to children in China, we are uniquely prepared to care for Xiao.

We are the only “Mama” and “Baba” he knows.

We are committed to ensuring he has access to his birth culture and language, connecting him with top-notch medical care, and — most importantly — giving him the permanent, loving home every child deserves. After all, children belong in loving families, not in institutions.

To that end, we joined other waiting families through Hope Leads Home, a grassroots nonprofit that has rallied to secure help in urging the president to take action.

As Sens. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) and Ben Cardin (D., Md.) wrote in the bipartisan letter signed by 103 members of Congress and sent to President Biden, authorities in China shouldn’t break faith with the nearly 300 children matched with adoptive families in the United States. This week, 33 governors have joined Congress in a similar request.

Instead of compounding the losses of institutionalized children this Christmas, China must act in their best interests and unite them with the families they were promised.

Meghan Briggs teaches English as a second language and lives in a suburb of Philadelphia with her husband and biological son. David Briggs was adopted from South Korea as a child. He lives in a suburb of Philadelphia with his wife and biological son.