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.

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

How to Transform the Japan Self-Defense Force for Twenty-First-Century Deterrence

Featured Speakers:

David Byrd

Bryan Clark

Moderator:

Masashi Murano

A member of the Philippine Navy looks out at as the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer JS Takanami during a joint maritime exercise in the South China Sea on June 14, 2025. (Getty Images)

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

How to Transform the Japan Self-Defense Force for Twenty-First-Century Deterrence

Join report authors Bryan Clark and David Byrd, in conversation with Masashi Murano, for a discussion of the report's principal findings and their implications for how Japan should design and resource its future defense force.

Featured Speakers:

David Byrd

Bryan Clark

Moderator:

Masashi Murano

Learn More

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

The Code as Witness: COVID Origins, Scientific Accountability, and Preventing the Next Pandemic

Featured Speakers:

John P. Walters

Steven Quay

Senator Roger Marshall

David Asher

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

The Code as Witness: COVID Origins, Scientific Accountability, and Preventing the Next Pandemic

Join Hudson as David Asher sits down with Dr. Quay for a fireside chat. Senator Roger Marshall, who has been a leading voice for stronger oversight of high-risk biological research, will open the program by framing the stakes for Congress, national security, and public health.

Featured Speakers:

John P. Walters

Steven Quay

Senator Roger Marshall

David Asher

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June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

The Annual Czech and Slovak Freedom Lecture

Featured Speakers:

Joel Scanlon

Amb. Andrej Droba

Matthew Boyse

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

The Annual Czech and Slovak Freedom Lecture

Hudson Institute is pleased to host the 2026 annual Czech and Slovak Freedom Lecture.

Featured Speakers:

Joel Scanlon

Amb. Andrej Droba

Matthew Boyse

Learn More

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Deterring Russia and China: Securing America’s Nuclear Future

Featured Speakers:

Rebeccah L. Heinrichs

Brandon Williams

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Deterring Russia and China: Securing America’s Nuclear Future

Join Senior Fellow and Keystone Defense Initiative Director Dr. Rebeccah Heinrichs and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration Brandon Williams for a discussion on the administration's priorities in strengthening the US nuclear enterprise.