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STORY: :: File

China says it will no longer send children overseas for adoption, overturning a more than three-decade rule that was rooted in its once strict one-child policy.

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Thursday the change was meant to be quote, “in line” with international trends.

She added that foreign relatives of Chinese children or stepchildren could still adopt in some situations.

It was not immediately clear what would happen to the families who are already in the adoption process.

China implemented a rigorous one-child policy from 1979 to 2015 to help bring down its population... and opened the doors to international adoption in 1992.

Families around the world have adopted more than 160,000 Chinese children.

Around 82,000 of them – mostly girls – were adopted in the U.S., according to China’s Children International.

When Chinese families could only have one child, many opted to keep male children, who were traditionally expected to be their families’ main caregivers.

China now has one of the lowest birth rates globally and has been trying to incentivize young women to have kids.

The move comes after the Netherlands in May banned its citizens from adopting children from foreign countries.

And in Denmark, people will no longer be able to adopt children from abroad after the only adoption agency said it was stopping operations.