Prioritizing China’s Vulnerable Children after the CCP’s Suspension of International Adoptions

September 2024

Past Event

Prioritizing China’s Vulnerable Children after the CCP’s Suspension of International Adoptions

Past Event

Hudson Institute

September 27, 2024

A general view of the Harbin Holy Iveron Icon Orthodox Church and orphanage on December 6, 2017, in Harbin, China. (Tao Zhang via Getty Images)

September 2024

Past Event

Speakers:

Chelsea Sobolik

Author

Rana Siu Inboden

Senior Fellow, Robert Strauss Center for International Affairs and Law, University of Texas-Austin

Karla Thrasher

Senior Director of International Adoption, Lifeline

Shaoey Chapman

Certified Child Life Specialist, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital, Vanderbilt

Shaoey Chapman is a certified child life specialist at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. She is trust based relational intervention (TBRI) certified and has a master of social work from the University of Alabama. She was adopted from China when she was eight months old and has worked closely with the nonprofit Show Hope, which aims to break down barriers between waiting children and loving families.

Listen to Event Audio

The Chinese Communist Party made a seemingly sudden decision to end its international adoption program in late August. Then, in September, the State Department told American families who were matched with children in China that they would likely never be united with the children they were pursuing for adoption. The news was a devastating blow to the hopes and dreams of hundreds of Chinese children and their prospective families, many of whom had been waiting for their adoptions to be finalized since before the start of the pandemic. This decision also leaves hundreds of thousands of children, most of whom have special needs, languishing in Chinese orphanages.

Join Hudson for a conversation on what the US government and the international community can do to help these children and their families.

April 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

The Future of the Gulf: Commerce and Security in the Middle East After Operation Epic Fury

Featured Speakers:

Mike Gallagher

Jared Cohen

April 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

The Future of the Gulf: Commerce and Security in the Middle East After Operation Epic Fury

Join Hudson Institute Distinguished Fellow Mike Gallagher for a fireside chat with Jared Cohen, president of global affairs at Goldman Sachs and co-head of the Goldman Sachs Global Institute, for a discussion on the future of the Persian Gulf.

Featured Speakers:

Mike Gallagher

Jared Cohen

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April 2026

In-Person Event | Invite Only

Updating US Trade Policy: A Discussion on the Strategic and Economic Importance of Central Asia with Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-CA)

Featured Speakers:

Ken Moriyasu

Congressman Jimmy Panetta

April 2026

In-Person Event | Invite Only

Updating US Trade Policy: A Discussion on the Strategic and Economic Importance of Central Asia with Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-CA)

Please join Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) and Senior Fellow Ken Moriyasu for a discussion on Central Asia’s economic and strategic significance and why updating US trade policy is key to unlocking the region’s potential in an era of renewed great power competition.

Featured Speakers:

Ken Moriyasu

Congressman Jimmy Panetta

Learn More

April 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Cuba: Prospects for Transition

Featured Speakers:

Daniel Batlle

Frank Calzon

April 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Cuba: Prospects for Transition

Join Hudson Institute for a conversation with Frank Calzon, a veteran human rights advocate and one of the foremost authorities on Cuban civil society, as we examine the state of the island, lessons from democratic transitions elsewhere, and prospects for the Trump administration’s Cuba strategy.

Featured Speakers:

Daniel Batlle

Frank Calzon

Learn More

April 2026

Past Event

Strains and Strength: The Future of the US-UK Alliance in a Time of War

Featured Speakers:

Joel Rayburn

Tobias Ellwood

April 2026

Past Event

Strains and Strength: The Future of the US-UK Alliance in a Time of War

Join the Hudson Institute for a timely conversation with former UK minister for the Middle East and North Africa and former minister of state for defence Tobias Ellwood, one of Britain’s most experienced voices on security and foreign policy.