A report published by People’s Daily on Christmas Eve caused a sensation. The title of the report is: “The ‘Story of China-US Friendly Cooperation’ Works Collection Activity Launched.”
In response to the call of the official media, I am reposting an old article, and I am still deeply moved after rereading it…
Since December 29, 1991, when China promulgated the “Adoption Law” and opened up the adoption of Chinese orphans by foreigners, by 2018, more than 110,000 Chinese orphans have been adopted by American families.
According to statistics from relevant adoption management agencies of the US government, the United States is the country that adopts the most Chinese orphans. About 88% of the Chinese orphans adopted are girls, and about 80% have congenital disabilities or diseases. By 2021, nearly 100,000 disabled or diseased abandoned infants and orphans have been adopted by American families.
Americans who need to adopt Chinese orphans generally look for intermediary agencies like CCAI (Children’s Home Society and Family Services), which act as agents for their applications, material organization, home investigations, and contact with the Chinese government, among other tedious matters.
American adoptive families need to spend an average of 30,000-40,000 US dollars, including children with disabilities or diseases, and the waiting time for adoption is an average of two years.
Not every family is suitable for adopting children. Chinese adoption agencies review applicants’ financial, emotional, and physical health to ensure that these orphans find good foster parents. Currently, there have been no reports of American families regretting adopting children.
Although the US government has laws protecting people with disabilities, it does not provide special subsidies for these special adoptive families. Adopting a child with a disability means that the mother must give up her job to take full-time care, which requires a huge amount of physical and mental energy, time, and money. More importantly, these children’s illnesses need treatment and nursing care.
What is precious is that American families teach these children what love is. When these American fathers and mothers explain to the children who understand what “adoption” is, they will tell them: “Your parents don’t not love you. It’s just that they couldn’t give you enough love at the time, and we happened to be able to. So, they gave us this precious opportunity to love you.”
In the 2019 World Swimming Championships, Maggie MacNeil, a 19-year-old butterfly swimmer, broke the women’s 100-meter butterfly world record with a time of 55.83 seconds and won the gold medal. She is a freshman at the University of Michigan in the United States. This little girl, who was born in China, and her sister were both abandoned infants in China and were adopted by foster parents at a very young age. Today’s achievements are inseparable from the love and dedication of her adoptive parents.
Like Maggie MacNeil, it is undoubtedly fortunate to have today’s achievements. The fate of healthy abandoned infants who are adopted is beautiful. You may understand it normally, but what do you think of the fate of those children with disabilities, especially those with severe disabilities, after being adopted by American families?
If you have a child with a disability, would you be willing to devote yourself to raising them? Would you adopt an abandoned infant or orphan? Would you adopt an abandoned infant or orphan with a disability or disease? When you hold a negative answer, with such questions and doubts, think about what reasons allow these ninety thousand disabled abandoned infants and orphans to come to the United States across the ocean, and what their lives are like in the United States? Let’s take a look at some stories of these disabled children.
Ben Pimlott, 15, was born without his right forearm and hand and was abandoned by his parents in an orphanage and adopted by Kathy from the United States.
Now he has become the starting guard for the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School team in Boston, USA. In a game, he made 8 three-pointers and scored 32 points in the whole game.
His mother adopted a total of three children from China, and Pimlott is the youngest in the family, with two older sisters.
The 5-foot-7-inch guard started playing soccer at the age of 5 without his right forearm and hand, spent countless hours in the gym, improving his catching and shooting skills, and never flinched because of the inherent difficulties caused by his disability. After that, he quickly went to the numerous basketball courts around Cambridge with his 18-year-old sister Maggie.
Started practicing basketball, “There was never much to do at my house,” Pimlott said, “We didn’t have a TV, so I spent most of my time outdoors, because basketball courts were everywhere, and Cambridge is basketball-based, so I spent most of my time playing basketball.”
Pimlott’s hard practice was guided by his left arm, stabilizing the ball with his shortened right arm and following his left hand, becoming an excellent shooter.
“His adaptability is incredible,” Kathy said of her son. Pimlott said, “I want to inspire people, anything is possible. Having one arm makes me realize how lucky people are to be able to see, hear, and even walk.” At the same time, Pimlott demands that the game never give him any disability bias.
American couple Kristy and her husband came to China to adopt an abandoned infant. Born in Nanchang, Jiangxi, Jiajia was loved by Kristy and her husband at first sight. Jiajia was abandoned by her parents at birth due to a cleft lip and palate. Kristy and her husband quickly took Jiajia to the United States and spent $25,000 on cleft lip and palate repair surgery.
When Jiajia was almost three years old, in February 2018, foster mother Kristy began to look for Jiajia’s biological parents for her Chinese daughter. Kristy said: “We have always called her Jiajia and didn’t give her an English name, just to make it easier for her biological parents to find her.” “She is like an angel, bringing us a lot of joy.”
On June 9, 2011, a female abandoned infant with congenital heart disease was found in the square of the Jiaoxi Cinema in Wujin District, Changzhou City. The police sent the child to the Changzhou Children’s Welfare Institute. When she was two and a half years old, she was adopted by American mother Michelle and named Tiantian.
This year, 8-year-old Tiantian needs to undergo surgery to replace a heart valve. In order to treat Tiantian’s illness, the cooperation of relatives is needed to understand Tiantian’s family history. Michelle has twice brought Tiantian to China to Jiangsu Province to find the child’s parents.
“My biological parents must love me very much, so they put me here (the square)” Happy and lively Tiantian held a sign with these words and recorded a video, which was put on the Internet, hoping to find her biological parents. Unfortunately, no clues have been found so far. As the youngest child in the family, Tiantian enjoys the love of her foster parents and siblings, and grows up happily.
Pastor Rob Braniff and his wife, who currently live in northern Florida, have adopted three Chinese children with disabilities, whom they regard as their treasures. Their love story is very touching. On August 4, 2017, Pastor Rob shared their stories and beautiful testimonies with many Chinese people in a church in Miami, South Florida.
Sophi Green, 9, who lives in Utah, USA, was born with a disability and has no arms. Although she has legs, her right foot has no fibula, so it is shorter than her left leg. She was abandoned by her parents at birth and became an orphan.
In 2010, a kind American couple, Christina and Jeremy, came to the orphanage in Henan where she was. At that time, they were going to adopt her blind sister Lexi, but when they saw Sophi, they were deeply moved by Sophi’s pitiful appearance. They decided to adopt the poor sisters at the same time and brought them to the United States.
Christina and Jeremy quickly found that Sophi was a very strong and resilient child. Although she had no hands, she worked very hard to live with her feet. Including Sophi, her foster parents adopted a total of 7 orphans, and these seven people were all children with physical disabilities. Some of them have serious heart disease, some need to use wheelchairs, and three of them cannot see.
What makes people happy is that this special family is always full of laughter. Although Sophi has no hands, she writes with her feet at school and studies very hard, and gets along well with her classmates. Although Sophi’s brother is blind, he plays the piano to accompany her dance at home, and they match and accompany each other, and the family is full of love and joy.
Douglas and his wife Amanda are from Missouri, USA. They are a very loving couple. They have 3 daughters, but this family has 7 children. Amanda is a radio host. In an interview, she met some friends who adopted disabled orphans, so she also decided to adopt some homeless disabled orphans. The couple adopted four disabled orphans from Hubei.
In 2008, Yihan was an orphan abandoned in the Welfare Institute of Yanping District, Nanping City, Fujian Province. She had burns on more than 80% of her body, and Calabia adopted her. In Maryland, Yihan participated in a karate class, and she and her mother Calabia chatted in the car before the karate class.
Celese and her husband are both doctors in the United States. They have adopted four orphans with physical illnesses in China and have not had their own children. The eldest daughter, May, has congenital heart disease, the second daughter, Aaron, has congenital spina bifida, and her spine was open at birth. The third son, Noah, has myelomeningocele, and the youngest daughter, Tilley, has an imperforate anus.
In Wisconsin, the Hierl couple adopted two Chinese children with heart disease. In 2012, the Hierl couple came to Shanghai to adopt six-year-old Brooklyn.
In February of this year, Mrs. Hierl (Ellen) went to Shishi, Fujian, China, alone to adopt her second daughter, five-year-old Molly.
Three months after the Hierl couple adopted their first daughter, Hierl was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Hierl was once a project manager for the information system of American Family Insurance Company, and Hierl passed away more than two years later. Brooklyn loves her foster father very much. Brooklyn has completely integrated into this family. Now the mother and two daughters live happily and joyfully together.
Writing this, I am already full of tears, but my heart is filled with infinite gratitude and emotion. Where do they have this great love, strength, ability, and joy?
These Americans who adopt Chinese disabled abandoned infants and children are all from Christian families. They revere life and are unwilling to give up every life because of their reverence for life!
These special children have the same right to life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness as all other children! They are all treasures of mankind, no matter where they are born.
Source of materials: official media/online news
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