Adoption in China

From an adoptive mother: "Our group had two daughters from this orphanage, in fact, the first two to be adopted from their orphanage. The director, Mrs Nie Hui Zhen, was very emotional when she had to say goodbye to Zou Yong Ling and Zou Yong Ming. She brought each one of us about 20 different photos from the orphanage. I was told that each child had their own crib, and that there were over 40 children in her orphanage under the age of one year. It was obvious that they took much pride in dressing the girls in the best clothing (yes, layers of quilted shirts, vests, split pants) and they were very clean and sweet smelling. Our daughter cried a lot when we first met, but time and a bottle did wonders, and I took it as a good sign that she had bonded with someone." (MK, a. 3/99)

And another adoptive mom: "I wish we could tell you something about the orphanage itself. Unfortunately, travel in Jiangxi being what it is, it was not possible for us to get there. Xin appeared to have been a particular favorite of the director, Mrs. Nie. She was taken in at little more than one day old and went fairly quickly into foster care with Mrs. Nie's younger sister. She seems to have alternated between life at the orphanage and life in foster care. Mrs. Nie was clearly very attached to her. Our first night as a family Mrs. Nie approached the three of us in the dining room of the Lakeview Hotel and helped us to feed Lillie, pointing out to us that plain congee was too dull for her, she liked hot and spicy food with a lot of salt! She fed her for awhile, then took her around the hotel for about 30 minutes to show her off to the other orphanage directors staying the night. Of course, not speaking any Chinese, we didn't know that until we sent the facilitators from Holt to look for them! Mrs. Nie provided each adoptive family with handwritten information (in Chinese) about their feeding, temperaments, general health, etc. She also gave us a letter about Xin, describing her to us and relaying her own confidence that Xin was going to a good family. After that first night, she came by the hotel at least two more times to make sure we were doing right by her little foster-niece, and by her last visit she felt comfortable enough to say goodbye with a little kiss. Several months later, Mrs. Nie sent a letter directly to our home thanking us for a small contribution we had made to the Yongfeng Orphanage. Still unable to read Chinese, we took it to the local restaurant for a short translation! It struck us as very typical of this strong woman's resourcefulness that she determined to send this to us and did so. It was very clear to us that she cared deeply for all of her children. Not only did she provide the notes and information we've already described, but she also stopped by more than once with photographs of Xin in the orphanage and in foster care, and she was sure to let us keep the hand-knitted outfit she was wearing when she came to us - including the baby equivalent of a college sweater with the word China in English script across the front, and the characters for Zhongguo (China), Jiangxi and Yongfeng knitted across the back. We surely treasure everything she gave us; of course nothing can match the treasure she gave us in our Xin! (BS/MK, a. 11/99)

Unfortunately we were not able to go to Yong Feng but we experienced Nanchang the whole time. Our group experience was great. We had the best guide. Every detail was explained to us. When we asked for something it was done in no time. When I met my daughter for the first time, our guide tried to make it as comfortable as possible for the families just because it was a stressful but yet momentous moment. Our group met our daughter in our guides hotel room on 8-26-03. The care-takers who delivered our daughters were very nice and caring. You can tell they really loved our kids. The care-takers tried to give as much information about our daughters and they were open to answering more questions even after they left. I was told that most of the healthy infants go to foster homes and those babies who need more attention will stay at the orphanage. My daughter stayed with a foster family and you can tell she was loved. I sent disposal cameras over and the foster family took pictures of where she lived and pictures of the day that she came to me. Apparently most kids go to the orphanage 2 weeks before they are adopted so they can transition out of their foster family environment. In my case though, my daughter came straight from her foster family to me all in the same day. She did well considering. She was a bit stressed out but she attached on to me at 3am. I also think I wasn't making her formula right so she was upset with me. My guide finally helped me and she finally took the bottle. When I received her she was in very good health, she liked to explore and was very happy all the time. You can tell she had a very positive and happy up-bringing. She was very clean and she wasn't wrapped in a bunch of clothing. She actually came to me in a onesie. I imagined her to be wrapped in a lot of clothing. I have heard stories where parents would have to cut their daughters clothes off just to get to her. Considering it was summer so I thought maybe, maybe she would be in summer clothes. And, yes she was. Overall my experience was wonderful. If anyone has anyone questions please feel free to email me at dofredolouie@hotmail.com Thank you so much and good luck to all of you! - Ann Marie

Please e-mail me at webmaster@gurrad.com if you have any additional information or if your child is from here and you would like to post a picture here or other contact information.