Research-China.Org

A Mid-Autumn Night's Dream: Searching for Birthparents at the Close of Chinese International Adoption

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 12:30:00 +0000

We welcome the following essay from an adoptee we have known for over two decades. She was adopted from our eldest daughter's orphanage, and we met her and her family at several orphanage reunions I organized in the early 2000's. We last saw this adoptee in 2006 at our last reunion.

But last year she emailed me, reminding me of who she was, and asking for help in locating her birth family. Given our long history, Lan and I decided it would be possible to organize a joint trip of the adoptee and her parents with Lan, since our oldest daughter was also from the same area. This is the first adoptee that Lan has accompanied to China to search, and we were interested to see what results such a search project would bring. With the help of this adoptee and her family, combined with the data we already possessed for this orphanage, a total of 67 birth families were located and tested. When everyone had returned home, I asked the adoptee to write down her thoughts and "take aways" from the trip. What follows are her deepest impressions.

_______________________

A birth sister searches one of our search posters.

In September of 2024, I returned to China for the first time in my life on a two-week trip, accompanied by my parents and Longlan (Lan) Stuy. The goal of my trip to China was simple: Help as many adoptees as possible to match with their birthfamilies.

It was a trip in the fullest sense, just as being under the influence of a powerful narcotic would be, falling down the rabbit hole and entering an upside-down world, where day is night and up is down. I quickly realized though, that I had been the one living upside-down my entire life, walking around in pitch darkness and confidently calling it daylight.

The story of Chinese international adoption is a complex one, which has been spackled into a smooth, simplistic surface that can be summarized as follows: Chinese couples could only have one child during the One Child Policy, and male heirs were favored, so female babies were willingly abandoned. Despite mounting evidence in the past two decades that not all was as it seemed, this is the prevailing story repeated by the international news media even today, reinforcing our own ignorance.

Cracks in the perfect façade were discovered early on and quickly suppressed within China to varying degrees of success. Cases of human trafficking were highlighted in documentaries such as One Child Nation and books such as “The Orphans of Shao”, both works that are banned in mainland China. Search articles featuring adoptees searching for their birthfamilies are often censored, and removed from Chinese news and social media, and abandonment and finding documents have been found to contain fraudulent or fabricated information. The masterly confusion of what exactly happened in China concerning international adoption continues to separate and divide adoption families and birthfamilies around the world. It is a marvel that we have any successful birthparent matches at all given our collective ignorance—the successful reunion stories we do have teach us the valuable lesson that truth is truth, no matter how mismatched our beliefs about reality.

The distance of cold-hard statistics and a strong moral stance that adoptees should absolutely be in control of their own lives, ill-prepared me for the skyscraper of emotional whiplash when actually face-to-face with birthfamilies. From the moment we touched down in Guangzhou, it was as if all of these voices went silent and an invisible hand moved me to the side, as if to say, “it is now your turn to listen to their stories.”

Case 1:

The first birthfamily we met was a bubbly couple. The birthmother had a youthful energy and wore a solid jade bracelet on a slightly plump wrist. What struck me was how young she seemed and how bright her personality. I had imagined birthparents to be godlike, untouchable really, but these people were so human and so full of life. In 1993, they had their first daughter who they raised in China. In 1997, they had their second daughter, who they were able to keep for 40 days. Back in those times, the One Child Policy was very strict, and the government would tear down your house for keeping extra children. Knowing they had this second daughter, a family member approached them with a false promise, “Give me the child and I will send her to a local family. You will be able to watch her grow up and she will be near.” So, the couple gave their trusted family member their second daughter, but as stories of this type so often go, the relative sold the baby to the orphanage.

This first birthfamily insisted on paying for our breakfast, our very first meal after the long-flight to China. There were savory noodles, hargow, xiaolongbao, turnip cake, and congee. The birthmother said that she felt so much guilt and shame for not being able to take care of her daughter and keep her, but there was no choice. She kept holding up a single finger, indicating the One Child Policy. If they reunited with their lost daughter now, they really wanted to know if she was alive, happy, and healthy. They did not want to interfere with her life or be a burden in any way to her.

As my parents and these birthparents sat around the table, the contrast in our situations was starkly obvious. Both sides, my family and this one, were searching for answers and for loved ones. I had seen reunions before and having both families around a table of food is the hallmark of a successful reunion. But here we were, my family and I, tasting what we could not have. It was hopeful and sobering, all at once.

“If we found our lost daughter,” the birthparents said, “we would want to become one large family with her adoptive family.” It was not about taking the adoptee back, but about adding more love to her life and loving her adoptive family as well. My parents and I answered that we wanted that too, more than anything.

Case 2:

We arrived in a small village under active construction off the side of a highway. It seemed that everyone was building these two-story marble-encased homes, surrounded by smaller one-story cement houses. When the birthfather saw Lan, he began to cry, wiping his tears with the bottom of his shirt.

The birthfather was looking for his fourth daughter, born in 2004. When his first wife (now-deceased) gave birth with the help of the village midwife, that midwife immediately took the baby away. For years, he has been searching for his stolen daughter, but the midwife never gave any information about his or any other baby she stole from people in the village. Even after the birthmother passed away, the birthfather never gave up. He could not have fathomed that his daughter could be overseas, he told Lan. He had never even heard about international adoption, let alone consented to it.

Case 3:

The birthmother met us at the entrance of her village. She appeared middle-aged and remembered the day her daughter was born like it was yesterday. She had three total children. The first- and second- born were daughters. The third-born was a son. It was the second-born that had been taken from her. Originally, this second child was supposed to be cared for in her older sister’s home (the adoptee’s biological aunt), but the baby caught a cold when she was 100 days old and was brought to the hospital for treatment. However, when the birthfamily went to retrieve the baby from the hospital, the baby was gone. Her second daughter had been sold to the orphanage by the hospital.

The birthmother pulled out her smart phone, bringing up a recent family photo, telling us that her family photo was incomplete because it was missing her daughter.

“I miss her every day,” she said.

Last year, in 2023, the birthmother even traveled one hour away to the orphanage to ask about any clues to find her missing daughter. Because the orphanage was so far away, she said that no one in her village would have ever considered bringing a baby there. It was never her intention for her baby to end up in the orphanage. She was supposed to come home. It had only been a mild cold.

“How long have you been searching for your birthfamily?” the birthmother asked me seriously.

Lan told her that I have been searching for 20 years.

Her face twisted up in surprise. “Then how come I only found out about this now? Why are the other kids not coming back? Why only you?” Why isn’t my child searching for me?

The grief on the birthmother’s face and the frustration packed into her questions was terrible to witness. She missed her child each and every day. The pain never just left for her, but remained in her heart and memory. Then there was me, standing in her bedroom on the second floor of her new home, very much alive and returned to China like a cruel magic trick. If I was here, then where was her daughter? I could feel the injustice in my bones, the anger at my own powerlessness to produce her child.

Lan answered that the trip to China was expensive and took a lot of time, even if adoptees did desire to travel back one day.

I asked Lan to tell her that, “We adoptees miss and love our birthparents too.”

The birthmother replied, “I know how you feel and can relate. Your birthparents must surely be looking for you. Be patient.” Still, something just didn’t make sense to her. “What,” she asked passionately, “was the purpose of sending our babies outside of China? Why? Why?” She told Lan that she heard rumors that children were sent outside of China for organ harvesting, and that she had been worried sick her daughter had been chopped up and used for parts. It was a rumor many birthparents have told us before.

Lan gestured to my parents and explained that babies were adopted into foreign families, that these were my parents, which surprised her. All this time, she had just assumed they were random people in the bedroom. Her face lit up, “Oh these are your parents! They are so nice! You are so lucky to have such wonderful parents who bring you back to China!”

She asked to get a photo with my parents because, as Lan explained, they were so nice and she loved them too.

“Why don't you get a boyfriend in China? Why don't your parents retire in China? You are smart and you'll pick up Chinese fast! Can’t you be my daughter?” She asked excitedly. She gave us all hugs and brought out large green grapes, and a bowl of foil-wrapped candy. “I will be your godmother. Come back to visit anytime!”

Through Lan’s careful planning, we were able to locate and test 64 birthfamilies—surpassing our goal of reaching thirty birthfamilies. All of these families welcomed us into their homes, gave us gifts, offered us lunch, poured us tea, and showered us with more mooncakes than we could possibly eat. Their stories were versions of the others: trafficking midwives, hospitals that sold their babies, or a false-promise made by a trafficker that the baby will be raised by a local family. Their collective pain blurred into one large nightmare. It was like you could still hear the entire region crying out in pain and anger. It felt eerie, like we were in a haunted place bathed in blood that never quite washed off. I felt so inadequate, feeling like I couldn’t provide answers or guarantees to the birthfamilies so eagerly hoping to reunite with their now grown babies, wishing I could be more than what I was.

My pain took a backseat to the birthfamilies’ pain. I knew my story, my own self-discovery journey like the back of my hand: different gripes I’ve had with the media portrayal of adoption, the objectification of Chinese adoptees, the exploitation of our pain to sell books, the perpetual gatekeeping of our identities, my personal vendetta against any article that dares suggest a Chinese adoptee should be perpetually “grappling” with their identity, like we must always be confused about who we are, even though it is others who struggle to put us in a box…

But this world? This was more raw, more real than anything in my typical American life. As my dad said, “Up until now, we have lived in the fairytale. We got to raise you and you completed our family. And now, we see the horrors on the back end of it. Our first trip to China to adopt you felt like Heaven and now we realize that it was really Hell.”

While still in China, still exploring the area around my orphanage, China officially announced the end to its international adoption program. It felt poetic, as I stared out of the hotel room windows onto the streets of people on motorbikes below. It was with some sense of masochism that I went onto Facebook via a VPN to see what the reactions were from the Chinese adoption community. While there was certainly a mixed bag of emotions, there was an overwhelming reaction from adoptive parents who lamented that this was the "end of an era." I remember collapsing onto the bed in the hotel room, after a long day of meeting with birthparents, thinking, “What a relief this is. Let this madness end.”

The news media descended too, like hawks over roadkill. Everyone was so eager to write about us and write through us, like we adoptees were transparent cells squished between glass slides on a microscope. Even reflections from within our community feel skewed and strange, intensely and inextricably and justifiably passionate about something that was always an illusion. How do we heal? Who decides the truth? Who owes who anything—who deserves anything—what is right?

The intense landscape of birthparent searching, at least as it appears on social media, leans strongly towards an adoptee-centric approach: If the adoptee doesn’t want to search, it is felt that it is their choice. It felt natural for it to be our choice, as nothing about this adoption was performed with our consent or consultation. When choice is taken from you, even this small amount of control over your fate feels owed to you. It is our lives, so we should make decisions about it, right?

This adoptee pride shriveled up in the face of meeting birthparents. The people I met wanted desperately just to hear that their baby was safe and alive. It was never about wanting to have their child back. Many people expressed deep respect for my adoptive parents for raising me. Birthparents in reunion eagerly showed me the very few photos on their smartphones that their lost child, the adoptee, had sent to them. I was overwhelmed by the amount of pride these birthparents in reunion had for their stolen children sent abroad, even if they had never yet met in-person.

The division between reality and our understanding of reality never felt more separated. Adoptees, raised to believe they were abandoned, often express resentment for a birthfamily who presumably chose to raise a son over them. The idea that six daughters were raised at home, or that a hospital sold a newborn without the birthmother’s consent was never featured on our abandonment paperwork. There’s a not insignificant sentiment shared by the adoption community that, sure, “I feel sorry that they had to go through that, but I did not cause it. I don’t owe them anything.” I imagined standing in front of any of the hopeful birthfamilies I met—looking at me in wonderment that there were more Chinese children like me raised by foreigners abroad—and telling them that their child may never search for them, because it was an inconvenience fraught with emotional pain to search for people who “abandoned” them. It was a sentiment I was well acquainted with: the unfairness of needing to decide to derail my life to search for birthparents, in case they passed away and I lost my chance forever, needing to feel the weight of a decision that non-adoptees were not saddled with, to set out on a journey with a miniscule success rate and a 100% chance of pain. This was my life—and yet, it was connected to theirs.

Regardless of what we were told by the adoption agencies, by the orphanages, and by the world, the truth was always and will always be the truth. Birthfamilies live with the pain and the memories of being powerless, of giving birth to a baby that got spirited away, only to reappear as a paper-ready orphan into the international adoption program. We have a buffet of beliefs to choose from about our origins, but our birthparents do not have a choice.

There is only truth and we adoptees are, through no fault of our own, so incredibly separated from it. I felt ashamed and so, so small. All my life, I have struggled with feeling like I was enough, since my abandonment declared me inadequate from Day One. All this time, I had been suffering with a falsehood without ever fully sitting with the truth: that birthfamilies had their families torn apart. All these articles proclaiming that birthfamilies “chose” to put their baby up for adoption, when birthfamilies had no power at all, felt unbelievably cruel.

As my parents and I sat in a hotel room in China, after a long day of birthparent conversations, we discussed the complexities of our roles in adoption. While all of us had been lied to and tricked -- birthparents, adoptive parents, and adoptees -- it became clear that we had not all suffered equally. I’m quite happy with my life in America, even if I still struggle with the aftermath of adoption. My parents also love that I am their child and wouldn’t trade me for the world. What struck me so fully, though, was that birthparents were still so visibly suffering, missing their children, wondering if they were alive. There are days I forget about my birthparents. Meeting these birthparents made me realize that they lived each day remembering us.

The memory of us did not stop existing in China the minute we were adopted. There was a story in China before we were adopted, and a story in China that continued even after we had left the country…It is so ironic to me that every journalist wants a bite of the story of the end of Chinese international adoption, when we have not even reckoned with what it was that ended. In fact, we haven’t even agreed as a community what exactly happened.

As my family and Lan met with birthparents, it became more and more apparent that the wound was still fresh, still bleeding…and that rather than providing any sort of relief, answers, or promises, the power of what Lan was able to provide was opportunity. We were able to provide a semblance of control over their own fate, the opportunity to choose to participate in the matching process. Whether they get answers or not rests then entirely on whether the adoptee ever chooses to test. It was an incredible feat to find these birthparents, sometimes in villages without real addresses that our GPS’s struggled to locate—and yet a successful match depended on an adoptee millions of miles away, perhaps mauling over whether to get a DNA test on sale for the holidays. Two situations that were worlds apart—and yet, answers that depended on one another.

We, as a community, should honor and acknowledge the pain that was brought by this program in the formation of our current families. These are our stories, but they are not ours alone. Our stories are a part of our birthparents’ stories—and it makes me wonder, if we believe as a community, that it is entirely fair that a birthparents’ desire to know their child is alive, should depend entirely on adoptees’ personal desire to connect or not. Just a simple, “I’m alive,” would relieve so much pain the adoption program has caused these birthfamilies. No relationship needed, no strings attached, just a simple, “I’m alive.” It feels like it shouldn’t be our responsibility, and yet, there are so many things that should not have happened that brought us all to this point. So the question is, what do we do about it? I wonder if there is a place that exists within the search community for such things as empathy, grace, and the openness to think outside of our own world. I wonder, if we believe as a community, that birthparents should be considered just as thoughtfully as well. I certainly hope so, for the sake of the 64 birthfamilies this trip alone was able to contact, all hopeful, all waiting for an answer from across the world.

Identity and the "Origin Story"

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 13:09:00 +0000

I met this adoptee for the first time when she was about four years old, at an orphanage reunion in Missouri. She and her family attended the next two reunions, and then she vanished from my radar until a year or so ago, when she contacted me for help in putting together a search project in her orphanage area. Her intelligence and self-awareness were impressive. A few months ago she recounted for me in a phone call her search journey, and I was stunned by what she told me. As she recounted what writings of mine she had read through the years, and how my words had hurt her, I could hardly breath. I thought sharing the truth would be helpful, not hurtful to adoptees. I begged her to compose an essay to other adoptees, sharing her experience. She emphasizes that "the following is from my own personal experience. Everyone will have their own."

__________________________

When I was younger, I was one of many Asian Americans, and one of a number of Chinese adoptees, in my community. I had a quintessential adoptee childhood: Went to FCC get-togethers, learned Mandarin with other adoptees, even attended Chinese school with other adoptees! I went to adoptee camp in the summers and spent vacations with my adoption group. I was bathed in a sense of belongingness and togetherness, that being adopted was simply natural and that sometimes Asian kids had white parents and sometimes they did not.

I could probably wax poetic for many more paragraphs about my wonderful parents and how they raised me with great pride in my heritage and honor for my birth mother. I could probably say much more, but I am crying and I will simply need to get to my point before I lose all train of thought.

When I was a little girl, I missed my birth mother very much. I missed her more than the entire world. I felt absolutely worthless, wretched, and completely unworthy of being loved. I had night terrors and frequent nightmares of being kidnapped and taken out of the house. And yet, I had decided before the age of preschool that searching for my birth mother and by extension, birth family, was simply impossible and a waste of this proverbial “second chance of life.” In my child brain, I calculated that because China was the most populous country in the world, that I could spend my entire life searching and come up empty -- devastatingly, gut-wrenchingly empty. So I put the prospect of searching out of my mind and shut the lid.

I met other adoptees and we greeted each other in customary adoptee fashion. You began with the year of birth and of adoption, then the orphanage, then the Chinese name, and then the finding spot. The holy finding spot. The finding spot was the mythical place where your birth mom last saw you, last kissed you good-bye and held you close. The magical finding spot was, for better or worse, the most important piece of knowledge you could have because maybe one day, you could go back to China and your birth mother would be there, waiting for you. I remember telling so many kids at daycare so proudly that I was adopted from the orphanage and that I was left at a food market. It did not mark me as pitiable, but rather unique and special. It was often celebrated when two adoptees had the same finding spot because it just had to mean something.

The entire origin story read like a fairy-tale out of Grimm or the Bible. Many people don’t even realize how many orphan heroes there are in fiction, people touched by fate from birth, who somehow rise from their lowly orphan origins to great things. There is such a strong narrative around the orphan -- that we are special, chosen, saved, marked by destiny, and loved above all others. Some of it is related to strong religious narratives like Moses floating down the river, and some of it leans more sappy like a Hallmark movie. In any case, I was surrounded in this cultural stew, and I pictured vividly those last moments of separation, cried over it, mourned it, but never, ever questioned it. I know adoptees who have the GPS coordinates of their finding spots tattooed on their skin. It is so integral to our identities, the way a pearl forms around a piece of sand. Everything, everything, everything revolves around the origin story.

China valued boys.

They didn’t want a girl.

There was a One Child Policy.

My birth mother abandoned me at the finding spot.

They kept another child.

It is so difficult to feel like you are allowed to mourn for the loss of your birth family because of the pressure by society to not appear, look, or even think “ungrateful.” An ungrateful adoptee gets abandoned again. An ungrateful adoptee gets attacked online. An ungrateful adoptee is unloved. And so it is very difficult for many adoptees to mourn what they think they know about their origins, let alone mourn the rest.

The first year of undergraduate college was when I came out of the fog. Coming out of the fog sounds peaceful, like one second you are in a trance and the next, you are not. It is anything but. Imagine your skin being peeled from your body and your insides being flipped inside out, then someone puts everything back together again who never saw a human being. I mourned my birth mother like never before. I felt deeply how unfair it was for both of us, because I finally could see her as a woman and not just a myth. She became real to me as a human who was probably terrified that she was pregnant. It occurred to me that I had siblings who may have known I existed and it occurred to me that my birth mom probably remembered me too. It was and still is unbearable to live knowing that she is out there somewhere and cannot know me. I filled journals and wrote poetry about those final moments we had together. I gave her a name I picked out from some Mandarin I was learning. I had always pictured her as Chang’E, the Chinese moon goddess, from a book my parents had read to me as a child, and so I printed out a poster of her and put her in my room. It struck me that she was real, too real, and it made every nerve light on fire.

In 2020, the pandemic hit. I did not get to attend my college graduation and I spent the rest of the spring semester with my parents, attending Zoom classes from my bedroom. My chances of visiting China after graduation, finally, were dashed completely. It was with the vibrating restlessness of being in quarantine that I finally decided to watch One Child Nation. About a year earlier, I learned that my orphanage was connected to human trafficking in China, but it was not until watching the documentary, many times in fact, that it began to sink in. The Hunan Scandal wasn’t special and it wasn’t just a couple of bad orphanages. The stench of baby buying was everywhere. I was suddenly bombarded online with news articles and interviews about the documentary, all about this sudden “truth” of Chinese adoption. I also read the report, “Open Secret: Cash and Coercion in China's International Adoption Program,” published years earlier.

We were not abandoned lovingly (and without choice) by our birth mothers, but were simply pawns in a complicated black market fueled by greed. We weren’t the main characters in our own narrative but just merchandise being stolen and bought and sold and moved orphanage to orphanage. There was an unstoppable avalanche of testimony from birth families searching for their children and in reunion: everything from babies/kids being kidnapped by local authorities, to midwives tricking birth moms into giving up their babies to a nice local family (that never existed) to sell them to the orphanage, to hospitals selling babies in batches to orphanages after telling the birth parents the baby was a stillborn.

And if you thought I was finally happy to be told, “You were not truly abandoned! You were more than likely kidnapped, trafficked, and sold!”, you would be grossly oversimplifying things. I felt everything at once, but my most immediate feeling was pure anger. Anger over what? you may ask. Anger that I was merchandise in a black market? Anger that my birth mom might be mourning over my empty grave? Anger that I had been lied to and that my parents had been lied to and that the world had been lied to my entire life, about my very life?

No!

I was angry because the world had absolutely no right at all to take away my origin story! I was so incredibly angry that this origin story that I had worshiped and dreamed of, and loved as the very last relic of my birth mom could be thrown out so easily and so swiftly by the world. I was angry that my finding spot, which I had fantasized about, which I shared with all my adopted China Cousins, was meaningless! I was angry that I was expected to simply take in this new, updated, shiny truth and swallow it down before I could even fully wrap my heart around the first story. How DARE the world do this to me? How dare the world think it can make me jump and run and change at a moment’s notice? It was as if my entire identity, which I had held so close to my heart - the orphan abandoned by the fruit stand - was blown over by nothing more than the gentlest of breezes. My friends, with their shiny personal statements of being abandoned by their birth moms, and their artists’ statements of why they painted their finding spot, and me with my piles of poetry — all turned to dust and shit.

There never was a finding spot. They forged these abandonment documents in batches. People had them pre-approved and stamped, all ready to be filled out. Police got paid, orphanages employees got paid, orphanage directors got paid, heritage tour leaders got paid, everyone got a pay day at my expense. My entire heart, laid open and stomped on, because the finding spot was a lie and it never existed in the first place and everyone on that heritage tour was told to stand at the place where it supposedly was and take a photo in front of nothing but dirt and delusion. How dare this be allowed to happen?

But at the very same time, I felt a tremendous sense of relief. My birth mom had not simply abandoned me. A million things could have happened, but whatever the orphanage told me was probably not one of them. I was angry that the origin story was not only a lie, but the very worst lie you could ever tell an adoptee: That their birth mother placed them in a finding spot, and walked away, and never came back.

I struggled with these two competing truths. Despite everything I had learned about baby buying and finding fees and human trafficking in China, I still yearned for those moments of pure movie magic, where I could return to my finding spot and find my birth mother. It was familiar and safe to live in the little world I had built, and that the world had let me build. How could I accept that my most treasured clue to find my birth mother wasn’t even real? That even the town I was supposedly found in probably wasn’t even accurate? I had long ago accepted that my birth date was an estimate at best, that I would never even know my own name. How could the world take this away from me too?

I had clung to this holy origin story the way someone lost at sea might cling to a log. It had helped me survive this far, providing something to hold onto when all I had was a giant blank space of my past. The origin story, no matter how cruel, was thought of and loved, turned over and over in my mind like a polished stone, as if I had actually lived it in a memory. So even when I could finally swim to land, to something true, how could I possibly think of simply letting go of my log?

What story we choose to believe about ourselves in some ways feels like it should belong to us adoptees. It feels like we are owed it to own our own narratives. The weight of all the hurt and pain should be paid in letting us paint whatever story we want to cover up the gaping black void we have in our personal histories. And that’s fair. But every time I want to just fall back asleep and snuggle back into my fairy-tale, every time I want to feel like my feet are on the ground and the sky is the right way up again, I think of the birth parents who are searching for their children.

I think of the stories I’ve heard and the pain that never subsides for them. I think how unfair it is that I can simply sink into delusion while they remember the details of the truth that so few people know. It feels like I am erasing their pain to ease my own, as if I need to deny their existence and experience to bring myself comfort.

And so little by little, I let go. The more I listened and learned about what our birth parents had to go through and the lies that they themselves were told, the more enraged I became that I had ever found comfort in a lie. It was a betrayal of astronomical proportions, and the composite truth of what happened to us all became sharper and more solid. There was simply no going back.

Searching for birth parents brings with it all of these emotions and more. It is the ultimate slap of reality because no matter what we were told or choose to believe, the truth is the Truth. I want to find my birth family more than ever, but that comes with it an understanding that my truth will change again. How can that not be scary? I have a future to live, a career to plan, friends to visit…searching for and possibly succeeding in finding my birth family threatens to derail my life now. Why can’t I just live my life like all the other non-adopted children without having to consider: If I don’t search now, they could die before I find them. If I don’t search now, I might miss some golden point in space and time and miss them forever…

So in writing this, I just wanted people to know that things are very complicated. Learning the truth is a Pandora’s box that threatens to once again make the world invert itself until the earth’s molten core is under our bare feet. How can I lead my life without making some peace with who I am? And how can I be comfortable in who I am if I’m having to change fundamental truths of who I thought I was every decade? When will this roller-coaster end?

And that is just a very, very small snippet of what some adoptees might feel.

Story FM: The Search for Jia Jia (1 of 2 Episodes)

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 11:29:00 +0000

In 2016, we published an essay on behalf of a woman searching for her lost child. The article, "The Story of Baby Liu Jia Jia," was read over 30,000 times. It was eventually seen by Jia Jia's adoptive parents, and Jia Jia and her family was able to reunite with Jia Jia's birth mother.

The story of Jia Jia's birth mother's search has now been presented inside China by "Story FM," a very popular podcast framed after the style of public radio's "This American Life." With a listenership of over a million people inside China, the search for Jia Jia has touched the hearts of tens of thousands.

But our interest is in the path the birth mother took: The deceptions and outright scamming that she experienced on her journey. Her experience perfectly encapsulates what birth families experience every day in their search for lost children, and goes a long way to enlightening us on why their skepticism and fear runs so deep.

Part Two, to be released in the coming weeks, will explain to Chinese listeners our work in reuniting birth families. Although Lan was mentioned only briefly in this first segment, already we are being contacted by birth parents and siblings in the hope that we can also help them search for their lost family members.

I would encourage you to listen to the audio of the story as you read the English translation presented below, for the emotional journey is more powerful than the physical one. (Alternatively Apple Podcasts, E718, April 14, 2023)

_________________

Zhang Xiaoya is a mother looking for her child.

In 2012, under the introduction of a friend, Zhang Xiaoya and her husband met, fell in love, and soon became pregnant. However, before she could react to the ignorance and joy of being a new mother, she was forced to lose her child.

From then on, Zhang Xiaoya began the bumpy road to find relatives.

Her story is about how a mother finds her daughter in lies and deceit, and about the deprivation and loss that a woman may face.

-1-

Abandoned

I had my baby in 2012 and I was 26 years old. When the child was born, he weighed seven pounds and two ounces, with a chubby face and a round belly, very cute. She was lying in my arms, and I felt very excited and happy.

The doctor asked me, did you eat anything during pregnancy, and the child has a birthmark on his mouth. I took a look and found that the child had a little red birthmark on the nasolabial fold, and the doctor said she also had a little bit on her calf. I didn't pay much attention.

After leaving the delivery room, the child's father was unhappy, as if he had just finished crying, and his eyes were a little red. After returning to the ward, he said, what should I do with this child. I said, what should I do. He said, can't.

I asked him why, and he said there was a birthmark. I said what's wrong with the birthmark, and it's not like she's missing arms or legs. He insisted on that sentence.

Abandoning the child because of the birthmark on the child's face was something that Zhang Xiaoya never thought of and could never accept. But did the husband's family really decide to abandon her only because the child had a birthmark? Things don't seem that simple.

After Zhang Xiaoya and her husband got acquainted, their relationship developed very quickly. In less than half a year, they were already talking about getting married. Just when the two were about to get engaged, Zhang Xiaoya found out that she was pregnant, and he and her husband were very happy.

However, at that time, the man's parents did not seem to welcome the child very much.

One day after the engagement, the child's grandma took me to check whether it was a boy or a girl, and it turned out to be a girl. She was very unhappy, and her face was very ugly.

The child's father was quite happy, saying that girls are also good, and twin girls are even better. His mother said directly, one is enough for that, and two more.

His mother asked her sister, my partner's aunt, to tell me that you should be careful when you go to work. If someone asks you if you are pregnant, you will not admit it. I'm not happy. We are also engaged, why are we sneaking around. But I was young at the time, and I didn't refute what the man's family said, but I was unhappy.

I asked the child's father why he couldn't admit that I would be pregnant in four or five months. He said, in order to have another boy in the future. At that time, there was family planning, so I wanted to hide my first child. The child's father has an older sister. When he was a child, his family put his older sister in the relatives' house in order to keep him.

Although she was very upset, Zhang Xiaoya didn't dwell on this issue because the man's family didn't mention it again, nor did they say they didn't want the child. After that, Zhang Xiaoya worked and lived normally, and did not deliberately conceal the fact that she was pregnant in accordance with the opinions of the man's family. She thought that this incident was just a small episode in her life. But unexpectedly, when the daughter was born, the husband's family was determined to abandon the child.

When I heard the child's father say that the child cannot be had, my mind went blank and I was stunned. I didn't expect him to treat his own child like this. He is usually very kind to me, and he will apologize to me when we quarrel, and he will coax me. His attitude towards children makes me very sad. I wanted to cry, and I also wanted to call my mother's family. He also took my cell phone. I wanted to leave, but he wouldn't let me go. He stayed by the bed all the time, telling me what to do with the child and not having it, and repeatedly telling me about it.

Later, their family may feel that I kept disagreeing, and it is not an option to continue in the hospital, so let's go home. It seemed that we didn't even go through the discharge procedures, so we left in a hurry. I took a car with the child's father, because since the child was born, their family has not allowed me to hold the child or breastfeed the child, so the child's grandma and relatives of their family sat in the back holding the child on the car.

The two of us got home first, and it was both ten and eleven o'clock in the evening. Then I didn't see anyone else coming back, so I asked the child's father why the child hadn't come back yet. He said, the child is at the third aunt's house. His third aunt was very close to his family, so I thought they really went to the third aunt's house, maybe they went to discuss the child's affairs. At about five o'clock the next morning, his parents came back, and after a while, his third aunt came. His third aunt ran to my bed and told me that the child had been sent away. She said they had given the child a way out. I cried, and I said, send it away? Where did it go? The third aunt said that she was sent to a hospital in Xuzhou, and said that the child did not cry on the way. I didn't say anything, after all, she is not my family.

I kept crying there, and my third aunt wiped my tears there.

At that time, what appeared in Zhang Xiaoya's mind was not anger, grievance, or questioning her husband's family's behavior. She just felt very dazed, at a loss and helpless. She couldn't believe that such a thing had happened, and she didn't know how to face it. She told her mother about it, but her attitude made her feel even more isolated.

I called my mother and said that the man's family had sent the child away. My mother said it was impossible. They might be lying to you. Did they give the child to a relative in their hometown to feed them? My mother didn't care much about me either. She is more concerned about Christianity all day long, and doesn't care much about my affairs. She felt that the water splashed by the married daughter would not interfere with my married life too much. Her attitude broke me down. You don't help me when I need my family. I feel like I have no one to lean on, no straws to grasp, nothing. When I woke up in the morning, I felt that everything was fake, as if I was dreaming. On the second day after the child was abandoned, it snowed outside, and it fell quite heavily. I just thought, where is the child, is he freezing outside, how is he eating, and whether he is warmly dressed. I am very afraid that the child will suffer outside.

-2-

Entrust Lao Jing

In addition to trance and helplessness, Zhang Xiaoya is also full of worries about her lost daughter, and she really wants to find her back.

But how would she find it? Can anyone help her?

According to the husband's family, the child was abandoned in Xuzhou, which belongs to another province. In a strange city, it is not easy for ordinary people to find children. She thought that she had lost an electric car before, and met several policemen when she was catching thieves. Zhang Xiaoya did not call the police formally, but privately asked one of the policemen named Lao Jing to help find the child.

My partner may be afraid that I will leave, or go to find the child, and he didn't go to work, so he just watched me at home. I couldn't go out, and I couldn't do anything.

At that time, I just had an idea, and quickly asked others to help me find the child. I think Lao Jing is a policeman, maybe a little more powerful than ordinary people, so I want him to go to Xuzhou to help me find it. If the child is taken away, he can continue to look for it. I secretly used my mobile phone to send messages to Lao Jing, not wanting my partner to find out. It seems that Lao Jing replied yes, and let me wait for the news.

Afterwards, I often called him to ask if he had been there and how he was doing. Because his place of work is closer to my natal home, he said that he would talk to me face to face when I returned to my natal home after I was confinement. When the confinement is over, I will go back to my mother's house to find him. He said that he went to inquire, and the people in the hospital said that they saw a woman taking the child away. I asked what kind of person that woman was, and he said she was probably middle-aged. I checked on my mobile phone that the hospital was very close to the train station. I was worried that if the child was taken away by people from other places, it would be very troublesome to find it all over the country.

I asked Lao Jing if he had found out if anyone nearby knew this woman, and where she had gone. Lao Jing said that he had a relative from Xuzhou, and he asked this relative to continue to inquire.

Although she found out that the child was taken away by a middle-aged woman, Zhang Xiaoya was not relieved. She was thinking, who is this woman? Will she treat her daughter well? Where are they now? These unanswered questions pressed tightly on Zhang Xiaoya's heart. However, while her whole heart was still hanging on her abandoned daughter, her mother-in-law couldn't wait for her to have a second child.

After I was confinement, my child's grandmother made me drink traditional Chinese medicine, burned incense and worshiped Buddha at home, made me kowtow and drink incense ash water. I thought at the time that they lost the child, felt guilty, and prayed for the child's safety. After drinking for a period of time, the person who prescribed Chinese medicine for us mysteriously called me into a small room and told me how two people had intercourse and in what way. Only then did I know that they made me drink traditional Chinese medicine and incense ash water, all for the sake of my son. I was a little confused and disgusted. Not long after the child was thrown away, your family asked me to have a child again. I wanted to cry right then.

Zhang Xiaoya didn't want to have a baby, but everyone around her was persuading her, including her mother and friends. Get another one, they say, so you won't be so obsessed with finding your daughter. Looking around, no one understood Zhang Xiaoya's situation and mood. Zhang Xiaoya can only pin her hope of finding the child on Lao Jing, after all, now only Lao Jing helped her find the first clue about the child.

In order to make Lao Jing work harder when looking for someone, she also gave Lao Jing 100,000 yuan one after another. However, when she later asked Lao Jing about the progress of finding someone, Lao Jing seemed to have something hard to say, and the difficulty of finding a child seemed to be far more difficult than imagined.

I called Lao Jing at my mother's house, and Lao Jing said that someone smashed the window of his house at night. When he ran out, the people had already run away, and only two figures were seen. What he meant was that he helped me find it, but people from my husband's family stopped him and frightened him, and there was a reason why he didn't tell me how the search was going, because he was afraid that my husband's family would cause trouble. I thought that Lao Jing knew where the child was, but he just didn't tell me.

Zhang Xiaoya has no way of knowing whether her husband's family obstructed Lao Jing from finding a child. She asked her husband, but he denied it. But what Zhang Xiaoya can be sure of is that her husband's family does not want her to continue looking for a child. They feel that Zhang Xiaoya's finding a child will affect their second child plan. They hope that Zhang Xiaoya can fulfill their expectation of inheriting the family as soon as possible. In desperation, Zhang Xiaoya became pregnant with a second child, and her plan to find her daughter was delayed because of this.

In the spring of 2014, after Zhang Xiaoya gave birth to her second daughter, she decided to focus more on finding a child. The matter of finding the child also ushered in a turning point: Lao Jing really told her who the woman who took the child away was.

Lao Jing said that the woman's hometown is Xuzhou, but her husband passed away, and her house was also demolished. She has only one son, and now she is in Shanghai, so she went to Shanghai to help her son look after the child. He said that the child is in Shanghai, so I definitely want to look for it, but he said that you are not familiar with the place where you were born, and you can't find it there. He said that he has a friend in Shanghai, and he asked his Shanghai friend to help him continue to inquire. I asked him if he could send me a photo of the person who took the baby, and he said no, but he could show me. It seems to be a photo on an information collection system, with a woman's name on it. I just got the name in my head.

-3-

Go to Xuzhou

Female, middle-aged, native of Xuzhou, now in Shanghai. These pieces of information are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and the image of the woman who took the child is gradually becoming clearer. In order to find her daughter faster, Zhang Xiaoya decided not to rely on Lao Jing alone to help her, so she took the clues she got from Lao Jing and found a colleague of Lao Jing, who was also the policeman she knew because of the electric car thief. Old Chen. But what Zhang Xiaoya didn't expect was that Lao Chen made a completely different judgment. He said that his daughter was not taken away by the woman Lao Jing said at all.

I think I can check again through Lao Chen to see if I can find the specific location of the woman, and then I want to find the woman myself. Lao Chen helped me find out that this woman has a husband. It's not like Lao Jing told me that her husband passed away. She seems to have a daughter, not just a son. Lao Chen said that based on his years of experience in handling cases, this matter is not quite logical. But I was convinced at the time, I never doubted that Lao Jing would lie to me. Why is he lying? I'm not letting him work in vain, and I'm willing to give him money. I don't give up, I want to go to this woman to have a look. Lao Chen and I went to this woman's hometown, which is a village in Xuzhou. Her family looked very poor, the yard was empty and grass grew, and there was no one at home.

I confirmed with my neighbors that there is a woman named that name here, and then I found out that this woman has a son and a daughter, and the son's family has two children, a boy and a girl. That girl is about five or six years old, and she doesn't match my child. I'm still a little bit unwilling to give up. I felt that the child was taken away by someone else, but the situation in her family was not exactly what Lao Jing said. I also wonder if people in this woman's hometown don't know that she picked up the child. I also discussed with Lao Chen to find this woman and her son's house. I wanted to see this woman with my own eyes, to see if the baby was there. Old Chen said, have you ever been to the hospital at that time, or should we start from the beginning. I said how to find it from the beginning. This incident has been going on for so long, and there are no witnesses. I was also very anxious, Lao Jing helped me find out that it was taken away by this woman, I was unwilling to give up this clue. He said, you go and try. He told me not to think too much, saying that I hadn't taken this road yet, and I was afraid of wolves and tigers, and blocked my own road.

Encouraged by Lao Chen, Zhang Xiaoya decided to go to the hospital to inquire carefully to see if there would be any new clues. She went to the emergency room first, and then went to the security room to ask for monitoring. After several rounds of inquiries, she did not expect to find a master Liu who had worked in the hospital for many years and said that she was an eyewitness back then.

Master Liu said that he found the child at that time, and he took the child to the emergency room. I thought there was something wrong with the child and was thrown to the hospital, but the doctor checked and said there was nothing wrong with it, except that the nose and lips were a little red. He said they called the police at that time, and when the police arrived, they sent the child to an orphanage. I was very surprised. I knew before that the child was taken away by others, but suddenly there was a big change, and she went to the orphanage. Because I had never heard of this kind of situation before, it was the first time I heard it, and I didn't know much about the orphanage, so I was a little skeptical. I asked him how he remembered it so clearly. He said he was very impressed because there were two or three abandoned babies during that time.

-4-

Doubts about Welfare Institutions

Zhang Xiaoya didn't know what kind of institution the orphanage was. She had heard since she was a child that the child of that family was an abandoned baby, so she thought that most of the abandoned children would be picked up and adopted by passers-by. In addition, Lao Jing kept saying that her daughter was taken away by a woman, even with the woman's name and photo, how could the child go to the orphanage? Could it be that she has been cheated for the past two years? Shocked and puzzled, Zhang Xiaoya went to the orphanage in person.

I went to the orphanage, found an office, and wanted to ask about the situation. There was a man in there, probably in his 30s. I told him that a child was thrown to the hospital at the end of 2012. I went to the hospital to ask, and they said the child was sent to your orphanage. The staff member changed his face, and his attitude was very bad, saying what about the child, we have never seen the child. I was stunned, why is it like this, people said to send them here, but he said so. I wondered if the information given to me by the teacher at the hospital was inaccurate, maybe the orphanage didn't see the child. I went back to the hospital and asked the master about it. I said, is the child really sent to the orphanage? Is it impossible to send it to other places? Master Liu said that when they encountered such a situation, they would call the police. After the police came, they would issue a report, which might be a certificate of abandonment, proving that no one wanted the child, and then sent the child to the orphanage. I found out which police station it was from Master Liu, so I went to the police station. After waiting for a long time, the policeman who was handling the case at that time arrived. The policeman said that when they adjusted the surveillance, they saw that two women and one man had thrown the child. It seems that the police station did not find them, and then issued a bill to send the child to the orphanage.

After getting confirmation from the police, Zhang Xiaoya went to the orphanage again. After learning that Zhang Xiaoya had been to the police station, the staff of the orphanage admitted that they had taken in the child, but their attitude was still very impatient and they were still unwilling to disclose the whereabouts of the child.

This time I was looking for a female person in charge. She had a very bad attitude and said that one of the two children was sick and died shortly after delivery. I know which one you're talking about, the one who probably died was your daughter. I just cried. She said I couldn't bear the death of the child. I said the child is not sick, why do you talk like this. She said they are good people, you don't want children anymore, we took them in. I said, people said they sent it to you, even if the child died, you still have to tell me where the child is now. She said, did you throw the child? I said no. She said, it's not what you throw that you come to find, whoever throws it will come to find it. I said, since they threw the child away, they don't want her anymore. As the mother of the child, if they don't look for her, I can look for her. The woman in charge still said that whoever threw it will come to find it.

Zhang Xiaoya was confused by the flashy rhetoric and strong refusal attitude of the orphanage. From Lao Jing to the hospital to the orphanage, who is telling the truth? Where did the child go? Could it be that the policeman at the police station is lying, and he actually secretly gave the child to one of his relatives? Could it be that the orphanage is lying, and they secretly sold the child? Countless reasonable and unreasonable guesses flashed in Zhang Xiaoya's mind. Later, she went to the hospital, police station, and orphanage many times, but there was no progress. Until one time, she sneaked into the second floor of the orphanage and heard about the whereabouts of the child from a nurse.

I want to go find it myself and see if I can find the baby. I walked along the corridor to the east end, and saw a staircase at the east end, with a lot of baby's laundry and diapers on the handrail. Then I walked up the stairs, and there was no one there. Then I went inside and saw a housekeeper and didn't hear anything from her. I walked in again and saw a glass room with two women in it, who seemed to be nurses. When they saw me, they came out. I asked them about the child, and one of the nurses said that there was such a child at the time, and the child had gone abroad. I was dumbfounded for a moment, I thought she was lying to me. I said, why did the child go abroad? Did he go abroad to see a doctor because of some illness? She said no, the child is going abroad. I asked her which country she said was the United States. I asked her when the child would come back, and she said that she would not come back, and the child could not be found. As for why she couldn't find it, she didn't want to tell me any more. Because she was the first to say this, I wondered if she deliberately made up a lie to make me give up the idea of finding a child. I also thought, how tricky is this? Who is the child given to? Was it sold abroad for human experiments? Why didn't the people in the orphanage admit to having seen it, and didn't say where the child went. When I got home at night, I searched. Some foreigners used Chinese people for human experiments.

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Call the Police

From the Xuzhou woman to the orphanage and then to the United States, things seem to be getting more and more complicated. No matter what, Zhang Xiaoya decided to start with the orphanage. Since the orphanage insisted on letting those who abandoned their children come to find them, she decided to drag her husband along to find the children. But at this time, the rift between Zhang Xiaoya and her husband has become deeper and deeper. Zhang Xiaoya originally thought that after she became pregnant with her second child, her husband would stop her from finding a child, but unexpectedly, her husband was still unwilling and made up more and more unbearable lies. For a while, he said that he had visited the child, and gave back 100,000 yuan to the family that adopted the child; for a while, he deliberately wrote a diary on a note, saying that his daughter died on the way to the hospital. He wrote it down and crossed it out, and then hid the note in the cabinet, in a conspicuous place where Zhang Xiaoya would definitely see it. Zhang Xiaoya thought, how can a father be so cruel? In order to keep his wife from looking for a child, he lied that his daughter was dead. When the child was just thrown away, the child's father still pretended to be pitiful, and he still cried, saying that you also left after the child was sent away, so my wife and children were separated.

I'm a bit soft-hearted, at least I think he's still human. I think he will definitely regret it. After he refused to agree to find a child, there was a gap between me and him. I thought, why am I married to such a person, I have no responsibility at all, and I don’t regret or feel sad when my child is lost. What is the difference between such a person and a beast? I had resentment towards him, and I didn't want to see him ignoring him, so I let him go to work in other places. But I encountered many obstacles in the orphanage. They insisted not to tell me where the child went. I was devastated and had no choice but to quarrel with the child's father. I called him and he said that the child was sent abroad, and now I don’t know if he is dead or alive. The orphanage said that whoever threw it will come to find it, and you have to look for it with me. He hung up the phone. I called him many times and finally he shut down. I told their family that if you don't look for children with me, I will call the police. His parents and relatives came. We quarreled. His mother denied the child, saying that I was insane. She said, where did the child come from, who did you have the child with. I am angry. My child is quite pitiful, she was thrown away by her family, and she didn't even have any repentance at all, and even said that I gave birth to the child to someone else. As a mother, she called my child a wild child, and I definitely couldn't accept it. I had never quarreled with her before. When she said that my child was a wild child, all the hatred I had accumulated in the past few years broke out, and I fought with her, tearing each other's hair. My husband and his uncle also helped. Because they were the ones who sent my child away at that time, and I also hated his uncle in my heart, so I picked up a brick on the ground and chased him. Then the brick fell, and his uncle ran to the property office. I saw there was an ashtray in the office, and I picked it up and wanted to hit him. Anyway, I want to fight their family hard.

This is the first time Zhang Xiaoya has expressed her anger and dissatisfaction to her husband's family since her marriage. She reported to the police that the family had abandoned the child, but her mother-in-law and other relatives said it was a family conflict that could be resolved within the family. In the end, the police station did not investigate the abandonment of the children, but asked them to sign and leave. But after such an incident, the husband's family was still unwilling to find a child.

His family still didn't want to look for it, and I couldn't contact him. When I contacted his family, his father said that they severed the father-son relationship and his son was not at home. Then if his family doesn't look for the child with me, I can't find it. I followed him and watched him and his relatives come out of the house, and he looked very happy. I was very anxious, so I followed him and stopped his car. He didn't open the door or open the window, so I sat in the car. I felt like I was going crazy, so I called the police a second time.

In order to find a child, Zhang Xiaoya behaved more and more like a so-called "crazy woman". She quarreled, fought, stopped cars, called the police, and used all the methods she could think of.

This time I called the police, and the police station detained my husband for one night. But the police told Zhang Xiaoya that legally, the determination of the crime of abandonment is more complicated, and it needs serious circumstances to constitute a crime, such as causing serious injuries or death to the victim. The police station said to find the child first, and then they went to the orphanage. After I came back, the police station said that the attitude of the orphanage was very bad, and asked me if I had quarreled with them, and why their attitude was so hostile. The orphanage is still unwilling to disclose the whereabouts of the child, so they keep it a secret, and at most say that the child has gone to the United States.

-6-

Find a Private Eye

No matter what Zhang Xiaoya did, even if she called the police, the orphanage would only disclose that the child was sent to the United States, and refused to show the registration information and the announcement of abandonment. The orphanage also required Zhang Xiaoya to prove that she was the child's biological mother. But after Zhang Xiaoya submitted the child's birth certificate to the orphanage, the orphanage still refused to inform the child's whereabouts. Zhang Xiaoya gradually realized that the so-called asking the person who lost the child to find her or providing the child's birth certificate were all excuses for the orphanage to reject her. Because she could no longer bear the attitude of her husband's family, Zhang Xiaoya decided to divorce her second daughter, and resigned to concentrate on looking for children. But where to find it? Is there any other way to break through the orphanage? At this time, someone introduced a private detective to Zhang Xiaoya, and Zhang Xiaoya, who was eager to find a child, spent another 20,000 yuan to hire this detective to help find the child.

At that time, there was no other way, and the orphanage just didn't say anything. The private detective shown on TV is quite capable and can solve the case. I want to see if there is something tricky about the orphanage. I want to see if this private detective can find out. I went to Xuzhou with the private detective. I picked him up by car. He was about 30 years old, black and thin, with a bag on his back, and he spoke with a northeast accent. We first tracked down the woman in charge of the orphanage, and then he said that he was going to squat in the orphanage at night, planning to go there to steal files. I was not at ease, so I drove and followed him. We went out in the middle of the night, and he said that he would steal it when there was no one in the dead of night, and then gave me a signal. As soon as I heard the signal, I started the car and we drove away. He also made a straw hat out of wicker, saying that he would hide it so that people could not see him. Make it mysterious. Later, he ran out with a file, on which was written a few words, saying that a woman had adopted a child, with her name and fingerprints. I only know who this woman is, and there is no information about her on the above, nor does it say where her home is. The private detective did not know how to find out the woman's address, saying that she was from Jinan. Maybe because I have experienced many such things, I thought at the time, don't care what he said, just go and prove it. If you don't confirm this, you may not give up. We then drove to Jinan in the middle of the night.

We drove there around three o'clock in the morning, and it was almost dawn when we arrived in Jinan. After seeing the woman, she was at a loss. I told her not to be afraid, I'll ask you something. I said, my child was abandoned, and when I went looking for it, I found a file that said you adopted the child. The woman said blankly, I have never been to this place, where did I get my name. This woman is in her 40s, divorced, and has a daughter, who is already very old, and they still live in a rented house. In her case, she doesn't meet the conditions for the orphanage to adopt a child at all, so I think this file is fake.

-7-

Find a Reporter

Stealing files, going to Jinan, tossing a lot, and finally returning disappointed. And this private detective is at the end of his rope, and there is no new way. Zhang Xiaoya realized that this private detective was a charlatan. Looking back on the journey of finding a child, there were too many deceptions and lies. It was not until later that Zhang Xiaoya realized that Lao Jing, who had been helping her find her child, was also a liar. Although Lao Jing works in the police brigade, he is not a policeman with a formal establishment at all, he is just an auxiliary policeman or a security guard at all. Although Zhang Xiaoya was angry about all this, she had no intention of pursuing it. After all, neither anger nor remorse will help in finding relatives. Zhang Xiaoya thought, the most important thing is to find the child. However, the police also reported it, and the detectives also looked for it. During this time, she even posted on the Internet and contacted reporters, but it was of no use. Is there no other way?

Just when Zhang Xiaoya was in a state of desperation, things ushered in a turning point. She found a reporter in Jiangsu, and the reporter followed Zhang Xiaoya to interview her ex-husband's home, hospital, and police station. Finally, they brought a series of materials to the orphanage.

But this time, I don't know if it's because the reporter's media is in Jiangsu Province, and the attitude of the orphanage has changed. After the reporter and I obtained a series of evidence, we went to the orphanage together. After seeing the woman in charge, her attitude changed, saying that the child was indeed sent to the United States, but the specific information was kept secret. We also found a nurse at the orphanage who used to take care of my daughter. I showed the nurse a picture of my youngest daughter and asked them if they looked alike, and she said they looked alike. She told me that the baby was very good as a child and was sent away when she was about 11 months old. Then the reporter asked the orphanage if they could show us photos of the adoptive family. The orphanage showed the reporter, but not me. The reporter also took photos of my daughter when she was living in the orphanage. After she came out, the reporter showed me the photos. That was the first time I saw a picture of my daughter. In one, she was lying in a baby carriage, eating her hands, and looked like she was two or three months old. There is another one on the information sheet, which states the time when my daughter was picked up, saying that it has been two months since she was picked up, but my daughter was just born. After watching it, I was very excited and cried. I feel that my daughter has grown up a lot. I was relieved a lot when I saw the photos. If I couldn’t even see the photos, I just heard them say that the child went to the United States. I still didn’t believe it, and I was still worried about the child’s safety. The reporter said, seeing me smile that day. I feel like a big rock has been on my heart for a long time, and now some of the rock has finally come down. I feel hopeful for the future. I didn't dare to think about what it would be like in the future, and I didn't know how long I could last. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to survive. I want to write a letter, and when my child comes to see me when she grows up, I want her to read this letter. I just wrote about my child’s situation. I wrote that my mother is very worried about you every day. I don’t know how you are eating and whether you are warm. You have a younger sister now. When I look at my younger sister every day, I think, what are you doing now? Will there be someone who loves and loves you as my own sister like I love my sister? I was afraid that she would not be able to find me, so I wrote the contact information in the letter and handed it over to the orphanage.

-8-

Find Daughter

After getting the photo, Zhang Xiaoya finally believed that the child was indeed sent to an orphanage and later adopted by an American family. Her hanging heart finally eased a little. In fact, since the 1980s or so, China has started foreign-related adoption work. In 1992, after China made it clear that foreign citizens could adopt Chinese children, the scope of foreign-related adoptions gradually expanded. As of 2016, nearly 150,000 Chinese children have been adopted by overseas families. A large number of these children, like Zhang Xiaoya's daughter, became abandoned babies due to various complicated reasons. However, many Chinese families who have lost their children, like Zhang Xiaoya, do not know that their children may be sent abroad, so they will experience more ups and downs in the process of finding relatives.

After she was convinced that the child had gone to the United States, Zhang Xiaoya still did not give up the idea of looking for the child. She even wanted to go to the streets of the United States and ask one by one.

I knew that the child was going to the United States, and a big stone in my heart fell halfway. But after all, I didn't see the child, and I was still very worried. I just thought about how to find a child like a needle in a haystack in a sea of people. I tried every means during the day, but at night I still had to go back to my little daughter and sleep with her. Because of the matter of the eldest daughter, I may be afraid of the feeling of loss. I only see my younger daughter every day, and only by her side can I be more at ease. But every morning when I wake up, I still feel like a dream, in a daze, not knowing where I am. Every time I see reports on TV or online that there is child abuse, or the stepfather of the adoptive family molesting the child, I want to cry. I am worried that this will happen to my child, and I think I should find her quickly . If her life is not good, I will definitely try my best to get the child back. I also tried to find a way to post on the Internet, and then a Chinese named Xiaolongnv (Longlan Stuy) from abroad contacted me after seeing my post. She said that she was a volunteer and knew many families who adopted children from abroad, and she had adopted children herself. She said she translated my story into English and sent it to their country.

While waiting for Chinese volunteers to help her find a child, Zhang Xiaoya continued to think of ways in China. She went to foreign-related adoption centers in Beijing and Nanjing successively, but did not find any new news. During this period, many adoptive families found her after reading the stories that Xiaolongnv helped her translate. She saw pictures of many people, but none of them were her daughters. Since her daughter was abandoned in 2012, Zhang Xiaoya has worked hard again and again, experienced one lie after another, and was disappointed again and again.

When the child was abandoned, Zhang Xiaoya didn't even have time to choose a name. It was during the process of finding the child that Zhang Xiaoya chose the name for her daughter. The single character is "Jia", and the nickname is "Jiajia". "Jia" means "good". Zhang Xiaoya hopes that Jiajia will eat well, live well, and everything will be fine.

It seems to be a hidden arrangement. In 2017, when Zhang Xiaoya's youngest daughter went to kindergarten, Zhang Xiaoya finally found out about Jiajia's whereabouts.

The day my younger daughter started kindergarten, I found out that the head teacher who took her had the same name as my older daughter. It seemed to me quite a coincidence that an adoptive family I had known before sent me a photo of the girl that night. In the photo, the girl should be a little over four years old, wearing a red T-shirt standing by the sea, with her head bowed, looking a little shy. When I saw it was my daughter, she looked very similar to me, her father, and my youngest daughter. It feels very strange, as if it was an arrangement of fate. I met a teacher with the same name as my daughter, which had a good omen, and then the child was found that night. Isn’t it a coincidence? I was very surprised, very happy, and also very urgent. Now that I found her, I wanted to see her very much.

-9-

After Finding My Daughter

Apart from her looks, Zhang Xiaoya was sure that this was Jiajia because the girl also had the same birthmark on her face. She hoped to get in touch with the girl's American adoptive mother as soon as possible. And this adoptive mother contacted [DNAConnect.org] after seeing Zhang Xiaoya's story. The adoptive mother had always thought that her daughter was an orphan, and she was surprised when she learned of her life experience.

Xiaolongnu (Longlan Stuy) suggested that Zhang Xiaoya write a letter to her adoptive mother, emphasizing that she would not rob the adoptive mother of the child, so that the adoptive mother might be more willing to establish contact with her. Zhang Xiaoya wrote down Jiajia's life experience, her process of finding Jiajia, and her feelings for Jiajia. After Xiaolongnu forwarded the letter to her adoptive mother, the two finally got in touch.

Contacting the adoptive mother of the adoptive family was not as fast as expected. The adoptive mother also considered a lot, and finally decided to contact me. Because when she went to adopt my daughter, the orphanage said my daughter was an orphan. After she saw my story, she couldn't accept it, and her heart was very complicated. The adoptive mother said the child knew from an early age that she was adopted. When she was first adopted, the child cried every night. Later, the adoptive mother collected photos of the orphanage and put them in a box, so that the child would not see it, for fear that she would be sad.

The child was young at the time, so I didn't dare to ask for too much, for fear that the other party would have scruples. The most I could ask for was a picture of the child. From the photos she sent me, we can also see that she is very kind to children, and the toys she bought for them are also very good. I've also seen pictures of kids learning to swim. The adoptive mother said that the child likes playing tennis and animals very much, and said that her wish when she grows up is to be a veterinarian. Every time I saw the photos, I was very happy and would share them with my family. They said that the child was living a happy life, and the family who adopted her looked very kind. I feel much more at ease now, and feel relieved that I can finally live a normal life in the future. When I first found my child, I really hoped to see her, even if she went to China for two days during the summer or winter vacation, it would be great. I also wondered if the child wanted to video or call me as much as I did. I also tried to ask the adoptive mother, but the adoptive mother did not respond. I was also cautious when talking to her, for fear that she would be unhappy if I said something, and we would no longer be able to contact her. I have learned that the child has gone to the United States, and legally I will never return to her in my life. But I will definitely visit her in the future, even if it is secretly. When she grows up, if we meet for the first time, I want to take her shopping and buy her favorite things. For so many years, the things I want to do for her have never had the opportunity to do for her, just want to do these things for her when I meet for the first time. . . . .

-- As we said in the program, since China opened up foreign-related adoptions, more than 100,000 children have been adopted by overseas families. Among them, the family members of many children, like Zhang Xiaoya, started a long journey to find their relatives after abandoning or losing their children for various reasons; and many children abroad are also eager to find out where they came from. Across the ocean, how do they find each other? What kind of pain, joy and embarrassment will they experience? In the near future, we will broadcast another story about cross-country family search, friends who are interested. We look forward to your listening in the future.

Is STR (CODIS) Testing Adequate for Birth Parent Searching?

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 16:45:00 +0000

Post script 10/12/22

This week a scandal broke in the Netherlands regarding a popular TV show there called "Spoorloos" (Without a Trace). The show, which helps adoptees from all over the world locate birth family, apparently failed to verify potential birth families through DNA testing. The result is that a number of adoptees who thought they had found their birth families had in fact been misled. Of the four birth families tested so far, two have been shown to be unrelated to the respective adoptee.

These cases involve birth families from Colombia, but China has seen similar cases. In the Spoorloos cases, a simple DNA test would have prevented a lot of pain. This morning the Belgium story gained some additional publicity with a TV news interview of Noemi Plateau, the subject of the article below. Her story is different from the "Spoorloos" scandal in that in her case DNA was used, but with an inappropriate DNA test. The problem was compounded by a lack of understanding by several members of the testing chain as to the implications of her test (Video from the documentary is imbedded in the article). But the result was the same: An adoptee was misled to believe their birth family had been located, when they in fact had not.

_______________________

In June 2021, I was contacted by documentary film-maker Lidewij Nuitten in Belgium about being part of a series involving roots searching (Entitled "We Are Family", the trailer and series can be seen here). The series would feature different people involved in searching for lost family, including two Chinese adoptees. The adoptees and the film maker asked if I would help them in plotting a path forward for their search, and I readily agreed.

The series was broadcast in June 2022. Composed of six episodes of about 30 minutes each, the series documents the efforts of the film-maker as she searches for her family's historical roots, combined with her following the search of the two adoptees. It is a very heart-felt journey for all involved, and definitely worth watching if you live in Belgium (or have a VPN outside of Belgium).

For the purposes of this blog article, I will focus on the two Chinese adoptees profiled. They enter the film about a third of the way through episode 1 (1-11:54 -- future references to the series will include the episode number, and time mark). Episode one introduces them, and the remaining five episodes alternates back and forth between the two story lines. For brevity I will simply say that the first step taken was to test themselves with 23andMe, Ancestry, and MyTapRoot (MTR) (1 - 32:24).

In episode 2 (2-12:11) I participated in a Zoom call where we discussed the finding information of both adoptees, as well as some ideas on how they could conduct a search.

In episode 3 (3-1:20) the adoptees get their first DNA results from 23andMe and GedMatch. Like most other adoptees from China, their closest relatives were third-fourth cousins. They film an innovative TikTok video, and start a media campaign inside China.

It is in episode 5 that the events occur that will be the focus of this article. One of the adoptees gets a message from Roots of Love (5-23:12) (One can watch these segments from the documentary in this article linked above).

After introducing themselves, the representatives of Roots of Love tell the adoptee that a recent search project in Chongqing had netted 20 birth family samples, all submitted to MTR's STR/CODIS data base. "This week, we heard some news that there was a random surprise match with one of our other birth parents in China. . . . And we found out that it was you. We have positively tested your birth father." As the adoptee begins to weep, they went on. "But the DNA came back as a complete match to you," CRL continued. According to Roots of Love, the DNA matched on all 21 loci.

Roots of Love emphatically claimed to the adoptee that they had located the birth father of the adoptee. "There's absolutely no doubt. It was a perfect match."

The birth father, however, had doubts. As far as he knew, he had no children from 1996, so it seemed impossible in his mind. So he requested a new test, a more detailed STR/CODIS test, that looked at 30 loci instead of the 21 that MTR tested for. The adoptee was called again, not by Roots of Love, but by MyTapRoot. "The second DNA results are in," she tells the film-maker, "because something about the results wasn't right or something."

"I don't know how I feel," the adoptee starts the conversation with MTR, "because it is a bit weird. I am a bit confused. Is it possible to, like, quickly explain what happened with the second test?" The MTR representative begins, "With your initial test, your first test, we measured 21 loci, and that is what we always measure for our test, 21. And if it's 21 out of 21 match, we notify people that is is a match."

The adoptee was then told by MTR that the test that the birth father requested seemed to largely confirm a relationship to the adoptee, according to MTR's representatives, although it failed on two loci. "When we received that report and re-matched it, out of the thirty, two were not matched." That failure ruled out he being the birth father, but they speculated that he was, nevertheless, a very close relative. "Because of the amount of similarity in your loci, it's so similar, to the point that it cannot possibly be an uncle or a brother. It's closer than that," the adoptee was told. This understandably created a deep emotional response from the adoptee. "Has anyone else got a confirmation and then it was not a confirmation?" she asks. No, was the reply, "you are the unlucky first, I guess."

And that is where the story essentially ends. No resolution.

Did the adoptee really find her birth father? According to Roots of Love, she did. It was a "perfect match", according to their (MTR's) CODIS test. Even if it wasn't a birth parent according to MTR after the second test, he was a very, very near relative. But one is left at the end of the documentary with no clear answer: How were these two people related?

I met the adoptee while in Holland last May, so I reached out to her to see if she had learned any new information in the intervening three months. I asked if a third test had ever been done, as was alluded to by MTR. "Yes," she replied. "Tell me that at least it was an autosomal test," I replied. It was. Since she had her DNA in GedMatch already, the birth father was tested with 23Mofang by Roots of Love, and his results were uploaded to GedMatch. It was hoped that the test would provide some clarity as to how closely related he was to the adoptee.

It did.

There was no relationship.

The adoptee was devastated. "I don't know if I can trust DNA tests anymore," she explained in my conversation. How could it have gone so wrong?

It shouldn't have gotten this far, of course. Dogmatic claims of a "perfect match" aside, it is known that STR/CODIS tests are susceptible to "false positives" -- when a test indicates a relationship where there is none:

Because of the shared DNA, when testing the minimum 16 DNA markers for paternity (DDC tests a minimum of 20), there is a slim possibility that the man who is not the possible father could match the child being tested at every location. This scenario can create what is called a 'false positive' result. So can a paternity test be wrong? In this case: yes, even though lab processes were followed correctly.

"Additional tests on an increased number of markers, however, could reveal that the man is not the biological father of the child."

In other words, because STR (CODIS) tests only look at a very small number of data points (loci), it is possible that two random, unrelated individuals can share those 21 loci, as we saw in the case of this adoptee (The same situation occurred in a murder case in Louisiana where a man matched 34 of 35 loci, and had his life turned upside down by the police who felt that he had committed murder. A full autosomal test later showed no relationship to the DNA of the murderer.) This will result in a false positive. It is hard to overstate how completely devastating this can be to the adoptee and the birth family. It is very, very fortunate that the birth father in the documentary requested the more detailed test, which still matched on twenty-eight of the thirty loci, but failed on two, disqualifying him from being the adoptee's birth father. It wasn't until the autosomal test was done (which should have been done at the beginning) that the non-relationship was discovered.

____________________

There continues to be "controversy" in the Chinese adoption community about DNA testing, but there shouldn't be. The advantages of autosomal testing for locating birth family is abundantly clear. For one, non-parent relationships are detected, allowing for more adoptees to locate birth families. But, as this experience shows, the CODIS test results themselves can be incorrect, with emotionally devastating results.

If any adoptee has been randomly matched to a birth parent through MyTapRoot, Roots of Love, Nanchang Project, China's police data base, etc., they absolutely must test themselves and the birth family with an autosomal test to verify the match is accurate.

I reached out to Roots of Love, and they referred me to their website, which states: "When a searcher finds a biological relative who needs to take a DNA test, we cover the costs and test them through either an STR/paternity/CODIS-type test or autosomal test (GEDmatch database)." An August 11, 2022, update regarding the closure of MyTapRoot added that they are "working towards migrating all of the parents in MyTaproot to another STR/CODIS-compatible database that does free matching." It is unknown and undisclosed what CODIS data base will be used going forward, but it is probably "GenGen", which rose from the ashes of MTR. It seems to this writer that the inability of Roots of Love to provide clarity to the question of what testing will be used going forward indicates that they seemingly will utilize both kinds of tests, even with first-hand knowledge of the STR's significant weaknesses.

This film clearly shows why STR/CODIS testing should never be used for random birth family matching. The reality is that in a population the size of China's, there will be thousands of random people who will match on the 21 loci used in CODIS testing. Thus, CODIS should only be used for potential target matches, where it is known that the birth parent probably did parent a child. In this case, the birth father was not in the correct time and place to have been the birth father of the adoptee, a point he made clear, ultimately demanding a second test.

Which begs the question:

If any random match made using an STR test must be verified by doing a follow-up autosomal test to avoid a false positive, why do STR/CODIS tests to begin with? Why not simply begin with an autosomal test?

I have never heard a coherent answer to this very simple, but crucially important, question.

I don't want to be seen as picking on Roots of Love. They are simply the organization that facilitated this painful and emotionally devastating false positive. It could just as easily have been any other CODIS testing entity. I am simply wanting to convince everyone that we should no longer (if we ever should have) use STR/CODIS testing on birth families in China. Adoptive families should be the pushers of this change. If an organization, any organization, will not test a birth family you locate for inclusion in GedMatch, look for an organization that will. Don't donate money to any organization that won't act in the best interests of adoptees, birth families, and the the adoption community. If there is any good that comes from the pain of the adoptee as seen in "We Are Family," it should be the commitment of every member of the adoption search community to do the right thing going forward.

As a community, we should demand that change.

__________________________

Postscript: This article/review of "We Are Family" set off a firestorm. Almost as soon as it went live, Roots of Love was notified, and they angrily contacted the film maker (who had read my article before publication) and demanded that their part of the film be removed (not possible since the film had already been broadcast in Belgium). The film maker did contact Youtube, and requested that the video clip from this article be taken down, which they did. By that time over 700 readers had seen the video.

There have been many opportunities for Roots of Love to do the right thing over the past three months. First, they could have made the adoption community aware in June that one of their tests had had an issue, and that they were going to change their protocol to prevent a false match from occurring in the future (announcing that they would be testing with autosomal tests exclusively would have accomplished this). Second, they could have issued a statement yesterday indicating that they had had discussions, and that things were going to be done differently in the future to prevent something like this from happening again. I gave them a head's up over the weekend, giving them a chance to get ahead of the curve on this, but they refused.

The very real issue is that IF the birth father had not requested a second test, the adoptee would have gone the rest of her life thinking she had located her birth family. She would have stopped searching, and therefore never found her actual birth family. The false positive that resulted from the STR/CODIS was potentially catastrophic.

Rather than address this main issue, instead Roots of Love is attempting to bury it, and keep the adoption community in the dark.

Guangxi Family Planning Scandal

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 17:37:00 +0000

A new Family Planning scandal is erupting in China, this one taking place in Quanzhou, Guangxi Province.

In September 1989, a boy was born to a couple with six previous children, father Deng Zhen Sheng and mother Tang Yue Ying. Soon after the boy was born, Family Planning paid a visit to the family and assessed a fine of 6,000 yuan, and the family was given 15 days to pay the fine. The family put together and paid 1,380 yuan, all they had. Family Planning then confiscated some furniture and other possessions of the family.

Nearly a year later, in August 1990, Ms. Gao Li Jun, head of the Quanzhou Family Planning office, tricked the family into bringing the boy to the her office, even sending a driver to the family’s village to pick them up. While in the Family Planning office, the boy garnered the attention of the Family Planning leader. Ms. Gao invited the family to her house for dinner. While eating, she tried to talk them into allowing her to find a rich family to adopt their son, since they were poor. “No,” the husband angrily replied, “who wants to adopt my son? I won’t give my son to anyone.” The subject was dropped.

After dinner, Ms. Gao arranged for a room for the family at a hostel across the street from the Family Planning office. Ms. Gao told them to not leave the room. Less than an hour later, five “comrades” from Family Planning broke into the room where the mother, daughter, and the son were (the father had gone to the market). They took the boy.

The family attempted for years to retrieve the boy, asking for information about their son. Ms. Gao repeatedly told them that when he turned 30 he would return to them.

In 2020, the family’s patience ended and on June 21, 2022, the birth family filed a complaint with the Quanzhou government.

Up to this point, the story is common, and certainly would not become a big scandal. It is the response of the government that is the fuel for the scandal.

The first response to the complaint came from the Quanzhou County police. “We have your complaint, and have transferred it to the Quanzhou County Anhe police station.”

The Anhe police then passed the buck to the area health department. On July 1, 2022, the family received a letter from the County Health Bureau. We have received the complaint "demanding that Gao Li Jun be held accountable for trafficking in children and requiring the Public Security Agency to initiate an investigation,” the response stated. The letter continued, saying that the regulations regarding Family Planning policy in the 1990s “were strictly implemented,” Since their child was the seventh child born to them, “there [was] no child abduction behavior.” The letter concluded, “Therefore, the Bureau will not accept your petition.”

The family obviously did not want to accept this “let sleeping dogs lie” response to their case. So they contacted a reporter. On July 5, 2022, the story hit the internet, and spread like wildfire across China (the original reporting has since been taken down, and our links probably will also soon disappear). The netizens in China are furious for a few reasons. The primary anger is directed at the government officials who seem so callous to this family’s story, and just brush off their case. Second, that Ms. Gao Li Jun apparently had a racket going of confiscating children under the guise of the Family Planning regulations to adopt to third party families.

This story seems to have hit a very raw nerve inside China. Tens of thousands of people are spreading the story (assuming a particular story stays up long enough to spread). It will be interesting to see if international attention is brought to it (the children from Quanzhou County were adopted through the Guilin orphanage, so there may be an international component to this story, since finding ads list the Family Planning Bureau as the most common finding location in Quanzhou County). But what is known is that this story is again a reminder to searching birth families that they are not alone. More such stories will no doubt follow.

Is Baby-Buying Still Going On??

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 16:47:00 +0000

This essay originally appeared on our subscription blog. For families that wish to remain current of research and developments regarding China's adoption program, signing up for our subscription blog (https://research-china.org/blogs/index.htm) is a must. There we discuss and research topics that are too sensitive to be discussed publicly. At $20 for life, it is the best investment you will ever make.

______________________________

We recently conducted a "wide-net" birth parent search project in Jiangxi. One of the big questions about China's program is why the number of children being submitted for international adoption has declined so sharply following the Hunan scandal of November 2005. There is no doubt the number of children fell simultaneous to the scandal publicity, the only question is why.

I recently spoke with a Japanese journalist for NHK Television, the Japanese version of NPR. He is doing a story on the impact of the Hunan scandal on the Chinese adoption program by profiling one of the American families that had adopted from China in 2005, and how the intervening 16 years have changed their perspective on the China program. When I showed him the graph of submissions by month from the dominant Provinces in 2005, he asked why things had gone so quickly south.

The truth is we don't know the actual reason why, but we do know what aren't the reasons. The reporter speculated that the orphanages began funneling adoptees to domestic families to avoid potential international scandal. "You are right, that is a possible scenario. However, we have the adoption statistics from domestic adoptions inside China, and they show domestic adoptions did not increase following the scandal." OK, the reporter queried, maybe China's signing on to the Hague Agreement in January 2006 caused orphanages to "change their stripes," and cease to buy babies, since that violated the newly signed international agreement. "Well," I replied, "that is also a possibility. But in February 2006 the Beijing CCAA held a China-wide meeting of orphanage directors, and told them to submit every child that entered the orphanage for international adoption, no matter their health or gender." They specifically address paying rewards for babies, stating that if an orphanage was caught paying 1,000 yuan or less for a baby, the government would protect them, but if they were caught paying more than 1,000 yuan, they were on their own. "If Beijing really wanted orphanages to abide by the Hague Agreement, they could have simply said, 'Don't pay money for babies.'" Besides, I added, we have seen that orphanages have continued to traffic in babies after 2006.

Which brings us to our recent experience. We sent a friend of ours to northeastern Jiangxi Province to locate any birth families in the villages and towns that had relinquished a baby between 1995 and present. Our friend was approached by a birth mother, who showed them a copy of the adoption certificate from the orphanage of an American family that had adopted the child in Spring 2012. She asked our friend if we could help her locate this family, so that she could find out how her daughter was doing. Lan reached out to the birth mother to learn her story.

The birth family were officially registered as an "urbanite," meaning they were allowed only one child under the One-Child Policy. When the birth mother became pregnant with a second child, they wondered how they could have their second child registered. They had means and relationships, so they planned to hide their second child, since the Family Planning fee was over 30,000 yuan. To do this, they rented a second apartment in town to try and avoid detection.

And then a woman approached her. This woman was known to the next-door neighbor of their new apartment. The elderly woman worked as the assistant director of the local orphanage before retiring. The ex-assistant director told the birth mother that her son was infertile, and although he and his wife had tried for many years, they were unable to have a biological child. She wondered if the birth mother would be willing to let her son adopt their second child if she was a girl? It would make them so happy, and the birth mother's child would remain in the area. The birth mother felt that this solution could work, since she would be able to watch the child grow up from afar. She agreed to the ex-orphanage employee's suggestion.

So, when the birth mother gave birth to the baby in the town hospital in March 2011, the ex-assistant orphanage director was there to pick up the baby the same day she was born. The birth mother felt good, knowing that her baby girl would be living with a successful family in the area, and would not be hard to check on if the birth family wanted.

So, the following year the birth mother tracked down the assistant director and excitedly asked her how her daughter was doing with her son. Strangely, the retired assistant director grew agitated, told the woman not to talk to her again, and said that her daughter had actually been adopted to a foreign family and she would never see her again. The woman's callousness infuriated the birth mother, and she told the woman that she was going to the police to file a kidnapping report. "Go ahead," the woman replied, "Go to the police if you want. I don't care."

So the birth mother did. She smoozed a local police officer and got them to file a report. The police went to the orphanage, interviewed the orphanage director, and arrested the retired assistant director. They also made a copy of the orphanage file for the child, including the adoption certificate. They gave the copy to the birth mother.

And then released the retired assistant director. Charges dropped.

So, now the birth mother had the name and address of the family that had adopted her daughter.

We have reached out to the adoptive family. The story is obviously developing, and DNA testing will need to be done to confirm the relationship. Since the child is now only eleven years old, it may take time. But we are hopeful of a somewhat happy ending to this birth family's saga, and thankful to the birth mother for her persistence. It provides yet another data point for the current situation in China and her international adoption program.

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For data purposes, the birth date of the child was retained by the orphanage, although they indicated that the child was found at two days old "at the gate of the orphanage." When the birth mother saw the abandonment certificate in the orphanage file, she was incensed. "They say I abandoned my daughter at the orphanage. I never did this. Why did they shame me with this lie?"

“Searching for Your Chinese Birth Family” – A Review

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 14:36:00 +0000

It was only a matter of time before someone put pen to paper to offer a guide to Chinese adoptees as to how to search for birth families in China, and Wesley Hagood shows through his presentation that he is up to the task. Having known Wes since 2004 when he requested his daughter’s finding ad from us, I have always been impressed by his doggedness and attention to the smallest of details. Both of these characteristics are on full display in this book.

“Searchingfor Your Chinese Birth Family” is divided into nine chapters and appendixes covering the full range of how a search could be conducted, including chapters on using DNA, hiring searchers to search using the orphanage documentation, and searching using social media inside China. He wisely recommends that searching adoptees begin with a genetic genealogy-based (DNA) search because it is easy, inexpensive, and over time has the greatest probability of success (Wes speaks here from experience. After employing hundreds, if not thousands of hours implementing other methods of searching, the match to his daughter was ultimately made by a simple DNA test). Wes employs a very broad “adoptee-centered” searching approach, meaning that he offers any and all ideas for a single adoptee to utilize, giving little emphasis to effectiveness and value of the various search ideas, nor for the potential impact of those ideas on the community at large. Other than small lists prioritized by what he feels is the order things should be done in, he offers no opinion as to whether an adoptee should employ particular search avenues, or whether these ideas will have a chance of success. In other words, there is very little data behind the ideas.

To use one small example: On the list of potential DNA data bases that an adoptee could utilize he references Zuyuan, a company that briefly came on the scene in 2018 concurrent with Wes writing this book. Zuyuan’s claim to fame was that they were able to match a pre-identified birth family with a pre-identified adoptee using a third-party DNA company. When word spread of this reunion, the adoption community was excited, and people started thinking that this could be a viable path for reunions. It was this excitement that allowed Wes to include Zuyuan on his list of Chinese data bases.

The problem was that as adoptees uploaded their DNA to Zuyuan, Zuyuan then turned around and marketed their DNA to birth families to encourage them to test with Zuyuan, for a fee. Some of these birth families, a few of whom we have met, felt that since they had done a DNA test with Zuyuan that they would not need to test further to get into other, more reliable and far-reaching data bases. Thus, in a very real sense, birth families that tested with Zuyuan (and it probably wasn’t many before the company shut down a short time later) were potentially deprived of any chance of locating their relinquished child. Their DNA may be lost to the adoption search community (Wes did include a footnote to our article strongly discouraging the use of Zuyuan).

The primary issue I see with Wes’s book is that by approaching the subject from an "adoptee-centered" perspective, Wes ignores the overall search community, and how individual steps taken can positively or negatively impact the larger search efforts of all. He fails to point out that not only should adoptees search for themselves, but they should be mindful of how their actions will impact those that follow after. Yes, an adoptee should do everything in their power to search, but only if those actions don’t hurt the chances of others. Those that pushed for Zuyuan, for example, unwittingly damaged the search efforts of the entire community. I would have liked to see more “broad picture” discussion in Wes’s book of the various data bases and other strategies he wrote about. Such a “data driven” appraisal to go alongside his recommendations would have greatly increased the value of the book.

The book is extremely valuable for presenting the huge pile of bricks from which an adoptee can pick and choose to form their search "platform." Most will not use all of the ideas, because as Wes points out each adoptee’s story is unique. Wes correctly emphasizes that before an adoptee does anything, they should gain the information about their particular orphanage. Understanding what was happening in an adoptee’s orphanage is crucial to building a search “platform” on a solid foundation.

Wes’s final chapter, “Our Story – Xinyi Under My Skin,” is a tremendously informative and enjoyable chapter. It should really be read first. It is here that we see the doggedness and determination of the author on full display. I was left wanting more at the end of the chapter. He confirms, for example, that the Xinyi orphanage had a baby-buying program in place, something we confirmed in 2019 when we matched an adoptee from Xinyi with her birth family in Wuchuan. But Wes deprives us from knowing what he learned about how his daughter came to be in the orphanage. The revelation of these reunions is important, I believe, to allow later adoptees to know what their story may have been. (In private correspondence Wes relates that the birth family has no idea how their daughter ended up in the orphanage, which information also informs other searching adoptees).

Wes has compiled an impressive book on searching. I would encourage searching adoptees and their families to use “Searching for Your Chinese Birth Family” as a springboard for researching their own search strategies. It is a valuable resource.

What Is "Wide-Net" Searching"?

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 11:54:00 +0000

There has been a lot of discussion on adoption groups about our initiative launched two weeks ago regarding a new approach to birth parent searching. Like anything new, there are a lot of questions. So, here are some answers. If we don't cover your question, let us know in the comments and we can add it to this article.

1) What is a "Wide-Net" Search, and how is it different from traditional methods of search?

Traditionally adoptive families have searched for a single birth family in China: Their child's. For the past six years, DNAConnect.Org has used a different approach: Search for any birth family in the area, and hopefully that birth family will be the direct birth family of an adoptee, or will be related as an aunt, uncle, first or second cousin, etc., to an adoptee. This approach, which we have coined a "wide-net" method of searching, has many benefits over the old way. First, under the old model if a birth family came forward with a child that was born in 1995, they would not be tested or even pursued if the child doing the search was born in 2001. Unquestionably, this resulted in missed matches, since it may be that the 1995 birth family was related to the searching adoptee more distantly. By testing the 1995 birth family, it would have been discovered that they were a first or second cousin, for example. This would then allow the adoptee to locate their own birth family by way of this other family. Fully 20% of all of our matches are a result of this kind of networking.

This presupposes, of course, the use of autosomal DNA testing, which detects these non-direct relationships. So, when any birth family comes forward, rather than trying to match them to one of the adoptees in a project, they are simply tested. It is hoped that this birth family will be related to an adoptee as a birth family member, first generation relative, or second cousin. We usually test a birth sibling (not the birth parents themselves) because then we have access to relatives on both sides of the birth couple. This is important: If you test only a birth mother for example, you will, of course, not detect any relatives on the birth father's side of the family. Thus, siblings are always tested when possible.

So, since we are searching for any birth family in an area, the posters and social media stories don't contain any specific finding, birth, or other identifying information. The posters, for example, just contain faces of adoptees from that area, ranging in age from a few years old to an adoptee in their mid-twenties. The idea is to present faces that will get the most response from as many different birth families as possible. Thus, a project participating adoptive family is not joining the project with the goal of locating their child's specific birth family, but any birth family in the area. It is numbers game -- by having as many birth families test as possible, it is hoped that the "genetic net" will catch a lot of relatives for all adoptees from that area.

The advantages are obvious in implementation: Traditionally search adoptive families have included personal details on their search posters, information that usually is inaccurate. A birth family might be looking for their child born on March 20, and look at a poster that has their child on it, but with a birth date of April 3 since the orphanage changed or misestimated it. They pass it by, assuming that the child can't be theirs. Or an aunt, who relinquished a child in 1998 may not pass or pay attention to a poster with a child born in 2002, not realizing that her brother also relinquished a child in that year. For these reasons, child-specific posters don't gain much "viral" traction, and thus are not seen by as many people.

By reformulating our goals as a search community from the one to the many, more birth families will be located, tested, and matched to adoptees. And the more that do, the most success we will all have.

2) How much does a "wide-net" search cost? Does DNAConnect.Org charge anything for organizing and helping a project?

DNAConnect.Org is in contact with over 600 birth families from all over China, as well as birth parents we have "friended" on various search groups scattered across China. Sadly, we are not in a position to put the necessary energy into all of these areas. But we can easily help an organized group get into touch with these area contacts to facilitate searching. There is no charge for this, as it furthers our mission to "maximize the efficiency of DNA collection for searching adoptees in China."

But the projects will cost families some money, although it will be a small fraction of what individual families pay for searchers currently. Costs of reproducing color fliers and paying a local person to go to area villages to distribute those fliers in a market, by a school, etc. would be divided up among participant families, but would seldom be more than $100 per family. Some groups are hiring Jane to do these, which would increase the costs greatly, but this is not necessary. Lan can often help find a local birth sibling that can be hired for a lot less. But the project leader will work with the project group to determine how they want to conduct the search. We offer strategic support.

So, as a bottom-line answer: Each project group decides how much a search in their area will cost.

3) How does one join a project, and am I limited to joining just my child's orphanage group?

As is now well known, children moved around China prior to adoption. Thus, some families often wonder if joining another group might be helpful. A family whose child is from Changning, Hunan, for example, may want to join the Wuchuan, Guangdong search project, since so many children originated there. While we understand that impulse, keep in mind that we are not searching for specific birth families, but all birth families. Adoptive families in Wuchuan will be searching for birth families in that area. Thus, there is little need to join more groups than the one your child is from.

To join a project, simply email us at "BrianStuy@Research-China.Org". We will put you on our list and send you a confirmation email. If there is an established search group already up and running, we will forward your email address to the group leader, who will get you up to speed on the project. If you are among the first to write us from a specific area, we will let you know when enough families from your area have registered to form a group. Either way, you will be in a group. While some of the smaller orphanages are still needing participants, most of the larger orphanages have already got groups up and running (30 groups are already formed and operational).

4) How long does a project run?

While most traditional search projects involve hiring a searcher to go into an area, put up a bunch of posters, and then leave, "wide-net" projects go for a long time, at least a few years. We call this the "Wuchuan Effect." We started with a single birth family in Wuchuan and through repeated social networking, leveraging successful matches, etc., have over 100 birth families located in that single area. Other areas such as Ningdu, Jiangxi and Quzhou, Zhejiang, have seen great success in the same way. So, this project runs for a long time, with new methods being employed, new and fresh social media campaigns being created, etc. Once set up, a "wide-net" project needs never to end. It is up to the families of the project.

5) How is DNA collected once a birth family is located?

To maximize efficiency, and to make it easier on the project families, all search posters, articles, etc., have Lan's WeChat code imbedded in it. Thus, a birth family is put in direct contact with Lan once they scan her code. Lan then starts the dialogue with them -- when was your child born? How was the child relinquished? Does the birth family have any knowledge of where the child went? Was the child born in a hospital or through a midwife? Lan then arranges for a member of the birth family to be tested using an autosomal test.

By having a native Chinese person interfacing with them directly, the birth family is much more likely to conduct a test. All birth family DNA is then processed and uploaded to GedMatch. Any adoptee interested in searching should get themselves tested as soon as possible (23andMe is the dominant DNA testing data base for Chinese adoptees) and upload their DNA to GedMatch no matter which company they use.

I understand the attraction of hiring a searcher to search for your child's birth family, but it must be understood that due to the fabrication that took place in most situations, such an expenditure of large amounts of financial resources truly benefits only one person -- the searcher. In the vast majority of cases, this route provides little of use to the individual family, and certainly not to the adoption community itself. By pulling our energies together -- fishing with a net rather than a hook -- we will reap far more success as a community than if each of us fishes individually.

Evaluating Your GedMatch Results

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 02:05:00 +0000

You have submitted your DNA to 23andMe.com, and have uploaded them to GedMatch. You have your relative's list, and you wonder, what does it all mean?

This essay will hopefully help you make sense of those results, and help you to use them to further your search. But first, it is important to know what GedMatch is, and what its limitations are.

GedMatch is an open data base, as opposed to 23andMe, Ancestry and others, which are a closed data bases. "Closed" means that you can't put DNA from another source into 23andMe, for example, but you must buy their kit to be included in their data base. GedMatch is an "open" data base since you can upload DNA from a wide variety of processors, including 23andMe, Ancestry, MyHeritage, etc. This is a huge benefit, since it allows people to just upload their results from 23andMe, Ancestry, etc., and be able to compare their DNA profile with thousands of samples processed by other companies. This saves a ton of money, since we don't have to purchase more than one test. This feature is the primary reason we upload all of our birth parent DNA samples to GedMatch.

So, let's take a look at the results of one of our kits and see what typical results may look like (click on image to enlarge).

So, the basics: Column 1 is the kit number of your relative. You can click on this link to see THEIR relative's list. Column 2 (The "A") prefills your kit and the profile to the left into the one-to-one comparison. You can run different tests to see what segments of your DNA match, etc. It is not necessary to really get too involved with this feature, but just know that it is there. Column 3 is the name of the profile, column 4 is the email contact for the profile. This is valuable information if you decide to contact this person (more on that below). Column 5 ("Largest Seg") is the largest continuous segment of DNA you share with the person. Generally speaking, each time a person's DNA is "mixed" through reproduction the DNA is fractured into pieces. Thus, the further away from another person you are biologically, the smaller the fragments of the shared DNA you both received from your common ancestor will be. Column 6 ("Total CM") is the total common DNA you share. In other words, it is the sum of all common DNA segments, the longest segment from column 5, and all of the smaller segments. Both of these metrics will be larger the closer you are in relatedness to the other person.

Both column 5 and 6 are combined to arrive at the most important column in your list: Column 7, the "Gen" column. This is the most imformative column for searching purposes, because this number tells you an estimation of how many generations separate you from the other person. For searching purposes, you are looking for a "Gen" number of less than 3. Without getting too technical, a "3" means that you shared a great-grand parent as a common ancestor, meaning that you are second cousins (A great resource for interpreting GedMatch's "Gen" numbers can be found here). Depending on who was tested, a match of "3" or less could possibly be leveraged to locating a birth family, depending on how familiar the other person is with their family tree. But assuming the other person has parents still alive, and those parents know their first cousins, it would be possible to network and test the various branches of that small tree to locate birth parents.

Column 8 ("Overlap") is a fairly technical column, and is explained here. We don't use this column at all, but if you wish to get into the weeds it gives value. Column 9 is the date that your sample and the other persons were first compared. When you first upload your sample to GedMatch, every one of your relatives will have the same date -- the date your kit was processed. But, over time, new kits will be added to your list as new samples of other people are added. So, if a match appears with a later date than your upload date, that is an indication that the new match is a recent addition to your relative's list.

Column 10 is also a very important column, and you may want to refer back to the image I included above. I already mentioned that the ability to compare DNA from various platforms is one of GedMatch's strengths, but in a sense it is also a weakness. In computer programing, this weakness is called "GIGO," or "Garbage in, garbage out." Not all DNA processing companies are created equal for matching purposes. The gold standard is 23andMe, which currently tests 640,000 SNPs (segments of your genome that are different among people). The more SNPs that are tested, the finer the "resolution" is for your DNA. It is like a TV -- the more pixels, the better the picture. 23andMe has the highest number of "pixels" (SNPs) in the industry. Ancestry, FamilyTree, and MyHeritage compare a similar number, but there is small variation between companies as to which "SNPs" are tested. For matching purposes, it doesn't matter because with that many data points being compared, true relationships can be accurately determined. Thus, if you match to a relative that used 23andMe, or Ancestry, or one of the other premium testing companies, the match you see will be a solid, accurate match.

The problem is when the match is to a non-US company like 23Mofang or WeGene. When you look at our listing above, our top match is with *Anna, at 3.1 generations. One might normally think this is a solid match, just outside our search window, but close! However, when we see what company *Anna used for her DNA processing, we see that she left it blank. Without knowing which company she used, we can't determine how reliable that relationship is. Why? Let's take a look at our second match to see.

"Theo" tested with 23Mofang, and is our second closest match at 3.5 generations. Why does this name look familiar to most Chinese adoptees? Because this sample appears of many lists.

He Qian is a birth mother living in Hengyang City, Hunan, while Yang Ping lives in Wuhu, Anhui and Yang Man Xiu, the sample at the beginning of this article, lives in Ningdu, Jiangxi. None of these people are related, but all three share "Theo" as a common relative at around 3 generations.

How can this be?

The problem lies in the fact that 23Mofang and WeGene look at different SNPs than 23andMe, Ancestry, and other western processors. As 23Mofang detailed it, "We undertook modifications to some of the loci of the array to improve its applicability to the genome of the Chinese population." In other words, 23Mofang (as well as WeGene) tests different genetic markers than 23andMe, Ancestry, etc. That is why kits from these Chinese data bases often show up near the top of Chinese adoptee's relatives lists. But sadly, these relationships are almost always exaggerated.

So, when you get your results, you should probably ignore any matches that show a blank testing company, or that list 23Mofang and WeGene. Assume these are not valid matches. Common names that appear over and over include:

Acheng Zhaoye (WeGene)

Anna (Blank)

Chinese Korean (Blank)

Dongguan Chen (Blank)

Guangzhou (WeGene)

Huangxin (23Mofang)

Theo (23Mofang)

Zhao Ruming (23Mofang)

So, after eliminating suspect matches, the next thing to do it reach out to your top 5-10 relatives (4 generations or closer) to ask them what part of China they originated from. You are not looking to utilize these matches for searching purposes (only <3 generations will help with that), but seeing if your somewhat near relatives are from the same area of China as you or your child. We all realize by now that just because an adoptee was adopted from orphanage X in no way makes it certain that the birth family of that adoptee is from that orphanage area. The movement of children from one area to another for adoption was/is prevalent. So, if you contact five near relatives and they cluster around Western Guangdong, for example, and you or your child was adopted from an orphanage in Hunan, those relatives suggest you were not born in the immediate orphanage area. It is not certain, of course, but suggestive. But it may help you expand your view of where to search.

To summarize: GedMatch relatives closer than 3 generations are useful for birth parent searching. Most families inside China are aware of first and second cousins in their families, so networking close relatives is possible to locate a birth family.

Matches more distant are helpful for triangulation purposes, to suggest other areas of China that a birth family may have lived or at least originated from. We have seen this in our own family's search activity -- our daughter's first cousin match (an adoptee) is from a small orphanage at the other end of the Province. We are now focused on locating this other adoptee's birth family because we know if we locate hers, we will locate our own daughter's.

And matches from 23Mofang and WeGene are not commonly usable for either purpose.

It Is Time For the Adoption Community to Take Searching Seriously

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 14:00:00 +0000

Last week we were informed that one of the birth parents we tested had died. While most of the birth families we have met are between 30 and 60 years old, as time moves on the number of birth parents passing away will only increase. It is time that the adoption community collectively begins to take searching seriously, and take steps to maximize the efficiency of our collective efforts. Today, the searching has been by-and-large a collection of single efforts to locate specific birth families, with each adoptee and their family expending valuable time and efforts for their own search, with little attention being paid to the needs and success of the community as a whole. This must change. This essay is written with the desire to reframe the search efforts of everyone searching in China. The goal is for all of us to work so that the maximum number of birth families can be reunited with the largest number of adoptees, including our own.

The following essay was originally given in the 2015 Heritage Camp of adoptees and their parents in Colorado. It is hoped that the steps presented here will help any family in their search.

____________________________

The idea of searching for our child's birth family is fraught with all kinds of emotional and financial currents. What will happen if we are successful? How much will it cost? Should I conduct a search before my child expresses an interest in searching? While most of the answers will depend on variables unique to each situation, some basic foundational principles nevertheless apply to all searches. I have composed a list of ten commandments that everyone should consider before beginning a search. These commandments are largely chronological, in that the early commandments address concerns at the beginning of a search, and later commandments address issues that arise in a search itself. While targeting the adoptive parents as the primary audience, adoptees are also an important component and can easily place themselves into the intended readers.

Put Aside Your Own Fears

First, we need to acknowledge that searching, and finding, birth parents can be scary. “Will they want my child back?” “How will finding my child's birth parents change my relationship with my child?” Anyone that has considered searching have had such questions run through their minds. But the thing to keep in mind is that these fears are often about our fears as adoptive parents. They don't address the importance this may have for our children. In other words, it is about our own insecurities, not what may be best for our children. Thus, the first commandment of searching is to put aside our own fears, and focus on what may be most important for our children. If we keep their needs (now and in the future) in the forefront, these decisions become easier.

Adoptees tell us this. Zoë Halbeisen, a recent adoptee that we matched to her birth family in China, describes her experience thusly:

"I never felt like I had a piece of myself missing. I accepted the fact that I would probably never know my birth parents or my true origins. You can imagine my shock when a spontaneous DNA test turned into the biggest adventure of my life. I just wanted to find out if I was really 100% Chinese, and I ended up finding out much more. Connecting with my birth family has been an amazing and fulfilling journey. As an adoptee it’s hard not to question your history or wonder why you weren’t wanted. But I realized that I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was loved by a whole family an ocean away who never gave up or forgot about me. The best thing has been getting to know them and getting to know myself. I’ve loved learning about my history and culture. After meeting my family in China its all the little moments that are my favorites. Just staying up late talking to my birth sisters, going shopping at the mall, eating way too many dumplings, all these normal things were so extraordinary. Being loved by parents so far away, having similarities with sisters I’d never met, walking the streets where I was born, visiting the village of my grandparents, these were all things that I never thought would be possible. On an existential level its made me feel more whole and connected with who I am. By having all these questions answered I feel a sense of peace that I didn’t even know I needed. It feels good knowing I’ve given that peace and closure to my birth family as well. I could’ve never taken that DNA test, and I could’ve gone my whole life not knowing my birth family, but I would’ve never felt this level of acceptance with myself, or had known how much love one can feel. Now my family has doubled in size and I can’t wait to keep making memories with them."

As we talk to other adoptees, we repeatedly hear what Zoë communicated: It is not a replacement of family, but a growing of it. There are no downsides to being reunited. No family in China has asked for anything, no adoptee has ever been pressured or even asked about returning to China. It was for most adoptees just a filling of the emotional and intellectual hole of not knowing so much about their early history.

Start Now, Not Later

There is an unfortunate meme in the adoption community that searching for birth parents should be instigated by the adoptee, and not the adoptive parents. Many who embrace this idea are themselves afraid of searching, due to fear. But the reality, especially in China, is that waiting until a child is 15 or 18 years old to decide to search will almost certainly doom a search. China's population is very mobile, with huge numbers of people moving to cities for work, marriage, or other reasons. Buildings are torn down, new ones built, nannies retire or quit, finders forget details. Keep in mind that even if an adoptee (or her adoptive parents) are not ready to have contact with a birth family, gathering information early, rather than late, for when and if an adoptee is ready for contact, will make later contact a possibility, when and if desired. In addition, a birth parent’s heart may receive healing simply by knowing that their child is alive.

Time is the enemy of successful birth parent searching.

The problem lies, I believe, in the assumption that an adoptee must know that a search is taking place, that they need to be aware of every development. As I wrote about on our blog, for many it is an all or none undertaking – either I don't search and wait for my child to indicate a desire, but probably dooming our search, or I do the search now and involve my child against their will.

The correct path, I believe, is a middle-of-the-road approach. This involves searching, and stockpiling any information you learn until your child expresses an interest. So you search, but wait to inform your child until they desire it. For me as a parent, it is risk mitigation – Would I rather search for the birth family and have my child never express an interest in learning about her birth parents, or would I rather wait until she expresses an interest before searching, and having the waiting doom the chances of a successful search, leaving my child wondering for the rest of her life “what could have been.” In my mind, the first risk is small, the second quite catastrophic.

To put a finer point on the question – I view my job as a parent generally as primarily one of doing everything I can to help my child be happy in life, to be a whole person, to be in control of their own destiny. If I do (or don't do) anything that might impede that end result, I feel that is a dereliction of duty as a parent.

So, how would it go? You search as much as possible, and if successful (or even if not) you periodically tell your child something like “You know, if you ever feel you want to know more about your time in the orphanage or your birth family, just let me know, and I can help you find answers.” This empowers your child to make the decision of when they want to know, how much, etc. They are in control. You don't need to say, “Listen I know who your birth parents are, so if you want to know what they look like or who they are, just ask.” This does not empower a child, but takes away their control, since you have already pushed information onto them.

This “middle path” allows you to take advantage of the opportunities available by not waiting a long period of time, but retains an adoptee's right to control her pursuit of information. As a result, the risk of having a failed search due to lost opportunities is greatly reduced.

We experienced this first hand with our youngest daughter. Adopted in 2004 at three years old, we learned who her birth family was when she was eight. Around dinner one evening shortly after learning the birth family's identity, we asked all three of our daughter's if they had a desire to learn about their birth family. My youngest said she didn't care. So we waited. A few more years went by, with us sending occasional letters to the birth family, but Lan and I not tipping the hand to our daughter. We would touch base occasionally. Finally, at eleven, our youngest expressed an interest to know what they looked like. Lan showed her a photo of her birth family. We totally expected a flood of questions like "How did you get this photo?" "What are their names?", etc. Nothing. Our daughter was satisfied for the moment. For a long moment. Finally, at eighteen, she asked if we knew who her birth family was. She was ready, ten years after we had located the birth family.

We allowed her to decide when, if ever, she was ready to learn of her birth family. But we began searching as soon as she was adopted so that we would not miss any opportunity to be able to help her when she was ready. Adoptees want control of the information and when it is presented, but few that understand the search issues in China truly want their parents to do nothing for eighteen or more years.

Discount Everything You Were Told

You have thought about it, and are ready to begin searching. The first actual step to a successful search is to discount everything you were told by the orphanage about your child's finding. I am not saying it is all a pack of lies, but approach all of it with an open mind, making no assumptions that any of it is accurate. This can be very, very hard to do. The adoption trip is an emotional experience. There is a huge feeling of love and bonding that occurs between ourselves and our child. We emotionally bond with our guide, who takes us on this wonderful journey, and we often experience an emotional connection to the orphanage director, nannies, etc. As a result, we feel a loyalty to them. We come home and often fund-raise for the orphanage, we send letters and pictures back, etc. We feel like we have a relationship of trust, that we are all on the same page.

But the reality is that this is rarely the case. Many directors are actually actively lying to you with a smile on their face, working behind the scenes to prevent you from learning the truth about your child's origins and early life. They will take you in the orphanage van to your child's finding location, point to where she was found, even bring forward the person that found her in a basket with some powdered milk and some clothes. All of this is to assure you that what you have been told is true.

It may be. But it probably isn't.

Your job in searching is to see beyond the frequently fabricated finding stories and find the truth. Keep an open mind. Don't accept anything as fact until you have tested it. Don't let your emotional connection cloud your judgment and the search steps you undertake.

I experienced this first hand in my search for the birth family of my oldest daughter. Her adoption paperwork listed two female finders who supposedly found her at the Civil Affairs Bureau one Summer morning in 1997. I discussed this experience in Nanfu Wang's "One Child Nation." When I went back to her orphanage in 2000, I asked the orphanage if I could meet these women. When I got there, one of the women was there waiting. I had my guide interpret for me as I asked her how she had come to find my daughter. She said that she and her friend were on their way to work one morning, and as they approached the entrance to the Civil Affairs Bureau they heard a baby crying. They walked over to a large tree, and found a cardboard box with a two-day old baby inside. She was dressed in a red and white dress, "like those worn by farmer families," and had some cash, an empty bottle, and some powdered milk with her. As this finder told me her story, I could see exactly what she was describing, as I had been to the Civil Affairs Bureau many times. When I asked about the other finder, I was told she had since moved away. I treasured her recounting of my daughter's finding, appreciating the immense detail she had given me. I was absolutely certain, given the unprompted details she had provided, that my daughter had actually been found as described.

Ten years later, my wife and I began to dig more deeply into my daughter's orphanage data, and began to notice patterns that caused us to question our daughter's story. So, Lan returned to the orphanage area, and dropped in on the women I had met ten years earlier. My wife noticed that the finder was nervous when Lan began asking her questions, and kept asking if Lan had already visited the orphanage and gotten permission to talk with her. Lan brushed these concerns aside, insisting that all she wanted to know was how she had found our daughter. The woman professed no recollection of the details. When Lan asked her about the other woman, she again insisted that she had moved away. "Do you have her cell number?" Lan asked. Yes. After leaving, Lan called the number, and told the woman on the other end of the call who she was, and that she would like to take her to dinner. When she told the woman she was in Dianbai, the woman excitedly told Lan she was about 15 minutes away. "I understood you had moved away," Lan told her. "Oh no, I am just returning from a meeting in Maoming, about 30 minutes away."

A few minutes after Lan hung up with the second finder, she called Lan back. "I am sorry. I can't have you take me to dinner. We never found your daughter. Our names were simply put into the finding document by the orphanage. We had nothing to do with your daughter's finding." As I reflect on my experience with the woman I had met in 2000, I realized that the orphanage had carefully prepped her before I had gotten there, given her a story to tell, and for ten years I had assumed it was the truth.

Which leads us to the next commandment.

Get to Know Your Child's Orphanage

So, how does one go about assessing the validity of their child's orphanage information? This is challenging for one main reason: Most adoptive families have been convinced by their agencies and the adoption community in general that their child's history should be private, and not to be shared with others. This mentality makes it difficult to gain a broad view of the overall orphanage landscape. As a result, you see one tree (your child) and don't see the forest of all findings. You are unable to answer questions such as how many kids were found at the same location as your child (important to ascertain validity), how many children were found the same day as your child (helps determine if Family Planning was a factor), etc. By gaining a broad view of your child's orphanage you can assess the likelihood that their finding info is accurate or not, and whether the orphanage is engaged in unethical behaviors that will have an impact on your search.

Let's take a look at how this would work in practice. Imagine that you surveyed a thousand families in your city or town, and asked them where they would leave a child of theirs if they needed to. A few of these families might say a neighbor who they know is childless, others might say an area school. Others might choose a small business that an area resident owns, others might choose a hospital. Most would probably avoid government offices, since that would decrease the odds of being caught and punished, but certainly a few might choose these kinds of locations. Of the 1000 answers, you would have a wide spectrum of answers. Not all would be unique, but if you mapped out the finding locations it would appear something like this.

Now, let's compare this pattern to what we see in many orphanages. Here is a three-month listing of children found in the Fengcheng orphanage in Jiangxi Province. What do you see? One sees many of the locations being used over and over again.

One can see the same thing in another orphanage, this one in Guangdong. The Jiangcheng orphanage has the same pattern of repeated locations. In fact, when one maps the locations in Jiangcheng, one sees that they are almost all found within eyesight of two main areas – the orphanage and the People's Hospital. There is little question that these locations aren't accurate.

Research-China.Org's goal is to provide adoptive families with the “forest” surrounding their child's finding to prevent them from wasting valuable time and money using search strategies that will be useless at best, and counter-productive at worst. Many families approach their search assuming that their child truly was in fact found on the side of the road, and therefore they feel that they need to do posters, news stories, and other ideas to reach as many people as possible. While those adoptive families are employing these strategies, the orphanage could be contacting the person who brought the child into the orphanage to alert them that the family is searching, telling them not to cooperate, and to make sure the adoptive family doesn't meet with success. Thus, it is very important to know what you are dealing with before doing anything. Our "Birth Parent Search Analysis" looks into the patterns described above, and provides you with an assessment of how reliable the finding information is, whether Family Planning was involved, etc., as well as giving you a roadmap of the most effective steps to take if you decide to conduct a search.

Befriend Foster Families, Nannies, etc.

Wouldn't it be great to have someone “on the inside” that could help give you the true information about the orphanage and your child? Perhaps this person had records that contained the names of your child's birth family. Many adoptive families overlook a primary source of usable intel in their search: Foster families and nannies.

Foster families are usually hired by the orphanage to care for children in their homes from the time they arrive until they are adopted. They are uniquely qualified to know what is going on inside the orphanage. But usually the orphanage treats them so poorly that they have no loyalty to the orphanage and especially the director. For that reason, they are great sources of information because they know a lot, and aren't afraid to talk.

That was what we found in Yifeng, Jiangxi. When we met with foster families, many of them had vaccination booklets for children they had cared for. Although they were supposed to give them back, one foster mother had “accidentally” lost it, and still had it in her drawer. This vaccination record showed that the child had been born in another Province and brought to Yifeng. It also had the names and residential information of the birth parents.

Foster families we have met have reported being visited by birth families while they cared for their children prior to adoption. The truth is that foster families are one of the most important avenues of information. They may not know a lot about a specific child, but they always know information about what is going on in the orphanage, and that can be very important info for a searching adoptive family.

Start Small

As you may have noticed, we have started discussing how to search and have not even talked about posters, news stories, etc., commonly used by adoptive families. That is for a very good reason: Such methods rarely work. I didn't say NEVER work, but rarely. Unfortunately, these methods get a lot of play in the adoption community, so more effort is made to incorporate such “shotgun” ideas than they deserve. Additionally, using such methods too soon can damage your search success by needlessly alerting the orphanage that you are searching, allowing them a chance to contact and command a finder, foster family, etc., to refuse to cooperate should you then track them down.

In your search, you should always start small and work larger. It is much more effective to interact with a finder/foster mother/nanny, for example, and find out that the majority of children come from hospitals outside the city, than to blanket the city with posters that the birth family will never see. Recently we spoke with a foster mother of a closed orphanage who told us that almost all of the children adopted from the orphanage had been brought in from other cities in the Province; few originated in the area. But the problem is even larger than that. A lot of birth families are told that their child will be adopted by a local family. These birth families could look at the smiling face of a child on a poster and think, “That can't be my child, since this child was adopted to the U.S. My daughter was adopted by a local family,” and walk away. Combine this general problem with the fact that most searching families use incorrect birth dates, finding locations, etc. Posters and news stories may make it feel like something is being done, but they should only be attempted after every possible “discreet” method is tried.

Use Social Media

You have a lot of info about the orphanage, and you are ready to start a search. One of the first steps is to get QQ International and WeChat and start contacting people in your child's orphanage area. Often the people on social media are young, mostly college students, and eager to help. They may not get you to the finish line, but they can help you locate people, get behind the scenes information, look for records, etc. QQ/WeChat is a great way to get in touch with people who live in the area, and will be able to help you understand factors that you face in searching.

One mistake searching adoptees and their families make is to spread information about themselves that is not accurate (on posters, etc.).

Birth dates, finding dates, finding locations, and other information contained in a finding ad or adoption paperwork may be, and probably is, inaccurate. Keep the information vague to get the attention of as many birth parents as possible. Not only will your posting get more attention, but you will increase the chances of actually being seen by the birth family. By including inaccurate or falsified information, you are only making it more likely that the family you are searching for will pass over your posting thinking that since the finding location was not in reality used, that you must not be their child. Using a wider social media net will increase your chances of success, and will also allow other birth families to be located, helping the search community.

Be Careful Who You Use to Search and Their Issues

There are several “searchers” inside China that are very willing to assist an adoptive family in searching, but some are more effective and trustworthy than others. Like directors, these searchers are very friendly, beloved by many, but largely ineffective in actually locating birth families, especially if general background research and analysis of the orphanage history and the reliability of the adoptee’s finding place has not been conducted in advance. Private searchers are much more likely to be successful, if such advance research has been done. Some of the problem lies in the previous relationship many of these searchers have with orphanage directors, and the significant conflict of interest these relationships represent. Since a searcher relies on the goodwill of the orphanage staff, their loyalty will be with the orphanage if problematic issues are discovered. This "split loyalty" should be kept in mind when considering a searcher. We have written about a few of these searchers on our blog, so won't go into too much detail here. Whoever you use, make sure you get a clear idea what will be done for the money, and make sure it overlaps well with what you know about the orphanage. In other words, don't pay for posters when interviews are called for.

Submitting DNA to 23andMe/GedMatch

Whatever your position relative to searching, at a minimum you need to submit your child's DNA to 23andMe and then upload the results to GedMatch. 23andMe is the largest data base of Chinese adoptee DNA in the world. GedMatch is a free "consolidation data base," where DNA from 23andMe, Ancestry, MyHeritage, etc., can be uploaded for matching across platforms. Our sister company, DNAConnect.org, submits all DNA that we collect from birth families to GedMatch. Aside from a ton of fascinating information, you might find a connection to a sibling, cousin, or even a birth family. Trying to save a few bucks by purchasing an Ancestry.com or other company's kit is ok if you have done 23andMe already, but don't hurt yourself and your search by not getting 23andMe as the first test. Just don't do it.

An area where the China adoption search community is significantly hurting itself is in the collection of birth parent DNA of families located during searches in China. By not focusing our attention on getting birth parent DNA into the most effective autosomal data base, we make searching more expensive and less successful for everyone.

There are a few autosomal DNA companies that can be used to test a birth family, but the most important thing to remember is to make sure whatever company is used, that the DNA is uploaded to GedMatch. The most widely used data base for birth parent testing is again 23andMe, but this company explicitly states they will not knowingly accept a sample that originates in China. Several alternatives exist, however, if you find this problematic. MyHeritage, Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA all accept DNA samples from China, so sending those kits to China to collect birth parent DNA is possible (MyHeritage will even ship the kit to China for you). The primary objective with ANY birth parent DNA is to get it into a data base where it could be most easily matched to adoptees. Those are 23andMe and GedMatch. As long as you test the birth family with an autosomal test that allows you to upload the results to GedMatch, it will be most easily accessible for adoptees to match to.

But why is an autosomal test so important? To understand the power of autosomal testing, imagine you are walking through a dark forest with just a small pen flashlight. You can only see a super limited area in front of you. Now imagine instead you have a large, big-battery flashlight which lights up the entire area in front of you. That is the difference is power of simple paternity/maternity tests using allele technology when compared to autosomal tests. With the allele tests used by MyTapRoot and others, the only possible match is with a parent to a child. In other words, the match must be a direct hit; sadly, extended family members are not detected with these tests. With autosomal testing such as 23andMe, Ancestry, etc., not only is a direct hit detected, but also near misses such as siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Additionally, even further relatives such as second cousins can be detected and networked to locate birth families. Quite simply, autosomal testing magnifies the detection "flashlight" hundreds of percent. Instead of detecting just one match, it can result in the detection of 20 or more possible matches. As an adoption community we simply should not be supporting ANY effort to put Chinese birth parent DNA into any non-autosomal data base. If a birth family agrees to be tested a second time (many won't), then other alternatives can be explored. But the first time a birth family is found and tested, we MUST get them tested with autosomal technology and uploaded to GedMatch for matching with international adoptees.

The problem is deeper than just relationship detection. Chinese birth parents are very skeptical of going to the police to be tested, often with good reasons. Not only are they skeptical of the police in general, but experience has shown that the police are often not on the same page when it comes to reuniting separated parents and children. As one searching birth father wrote Lan, "Families who have lost children are almost all the people at the bottom [of the social ladder]. It’s very easy for [illegally obtained] children to be brought in to be registered, and you can spend money to do that. Suppose I were the director of the police station, and I helped many families who bought [from traffickers] their children to register the children illegally. I would not send the blood samples of these children to [the data base], because a match is evidence of a crime." (See here and here for well-known examples of this kind of story). This is one of the main differences between eastern and western experience -- the police in China often bury evidence, secretly throw away blood samples, etc., to protect the government and each other, as well as the financial business they receive from registering black-market children. The buying side of the black market are usually wealthy families, while the other side, as pointed out above, are the poor and uneducated. Thus, the political power resides with the buyers of trafficked children. One birth father that we met had himself tested five times with the police. Each time, the police apparently told the father his sample would be included in the police data base, but in each instance his sample was thrown away. It was only when he tested with a sixth police station, that did submit his DNA (because he insisted that he witness the entire process), that he located his son inside China.

It is this skepticism that will prevent the police data base from ever being a successful matching tool for international adoptees. The dominant population inside China that does go to the police are those whose children were kidnapped, since legally they are on the "right side." Those who relinquished children illegally, the vast majority of the birth parents of our children, will not submit their DNA of their own accord to the police data base. Since most of us are looking for just this segment of the population, using an inside-China allele test will fail to locate the birth parents we are searching for. Of course, it doesn't cost much for us to send in our child's DNA through MyTapRoot to compare, but it truly is the longest of shots, and is the reason that success has been limited to mostly targeted matches -- ones where the birth family came forward with information regarding the identity of the adoptee (adoptive parents names, etc.), the adoptee was contacted and told to put their DNA into the data base, and the match made. The adoption community must understand that ANY DNA data base can make "targeted" matches. To be viable for the Chinese search community, the data base must be able to make random matches, where the birth family and the adoptee are not known prior to the match. This is the way most adoptee will locate their birth families, and as a community we must make sure we all contribute to that data base. Right now, that data base is the combination of 23andMe and GedMatch, but primarily GedMatch.

Again, this is not meant to slight any particular program, but to promote "best practices." Because autosomal DNA tests are absolutely the most successful at locating birth parents (fully 20% of our matches began as "indirect" hits that we networked to the birth family), as a community we should make sure that any birth parent we locate inside China is first tested autosomally. While 23andMe is the best data base since so many adoptees have already tested there, any autosomal DNA company will work as long as the results are then uploaded to GedMatch. Only after this test is done should a birth family be told to do other tests. Only then.

I call on everyone that interfaces with a birth parent in China to first collect a sample for autosomal processing. If the birth family agrees to doing a second test, an allele test inside China is fine. But no birth family should be sent to the police station or other location to be tested with an allele test if the autosomal test has not been done. Doing this damages the search efforts of all, and is not good searching practice.

To re-emphasize: The largest component of the search community inside China are birth families whose children were taken from them, either by a kidnapper or by Family Planning. Relatively few of the families who relinquished their child willingly will be actively searching. As a percentage of the international adoption pool this is a small segment of the birth parents we are searching for (Although Family Planning confiscations are not rare, as a percentage of the total it is smaller than willfully relinquished children, and kidnapped children are a smaller segment still). The birth families that we are looking for are the "silent majority", those who relinquished children and are not even searching. These families will not go to the police to put their DNA into a data base, because culturally they have no right to do so (They view themselves as having given up their child for another family to raise, and most Chinese families keep these adoptions a secret, even from the child. Thus, there is no point to searching, these birth parents believe). The only way these families will be tested is by locating them, letting them know their child is possibly searching for them, and asking them to spit into the autosomal DNA vial. This is the best and most successful method of searching, and the one that will result in the greatest number of matches for the community. Conversely, most adoptees will never do an allele test and submit it to a Chinese data base. Nearly all adoptees do 23andMe as their first test, and most never do another.

Allele tests suffer from a triple downside: Poor matching characteristics, poor participation by the Chinese birth parent side, and poor participation by the international adoptee side.

If you do go to China to search and meet a birth family, even if they are not your child's birth family, get contact information so that DNA can be collected for inclusion into the GedMatch data base. Either arrange yourself for them to be autosomally tested, or contact DNAConnect.Org and we will arrange for them to be tested for free. Do not encourage or facilitate birth families to test with allele testing inside China until AFTER they have submitted their DNA for insertion into GedMatch. Since many will refuse to do a second test, this insures that their DNA is put into the most effective and likeliest data base that will locate their child, and allow other matches to be achieved. In this way, over time, more and more searches can be successful. There is no cost for doing so, and you just might change an adoptee's life!!

Stay in Yearly Contact

You have searched, and have successfully located your child’s birth family. Now what?

First, realize that the birth family is just as uncertain as you are. They never thought that anyone would try finding them. They are not interested in having their birth child back, and they are thrilled that she will have a better life than they could have provided.

But now that they have been contacted, they will want to know that their child is doing ok. In our research, many, many times we have been asked if the kids adopted by Westerners are healthy and happy. This is because there is an idea, especially in rural China, that foreigners adopt Chinese babies to use for nefarious reasons such as organ harvesting, the result of a story from the late 1980s. So, you should do everything you can to reassure the birth family that their child is happy and healthy. This need not involve your child directly, but may be as simple as a yearly letter with some updated photos. This will allow you to remain in contact, but also allows your child the space needed to determine when, or if, they want to make direct contact.

There are community benefits to doing this. Many of the birth families we have located were found as a result of a successful match to a family member or friend. In other words, birth families talk to other birth families, and if the matching experience was a positive one, then the matched birth family will "spread the word." This is critical for the adoption community. If we are to ever locate a majority of the birth families inside China, we need the help of people inside China, especially first-hand witnesses like birth families, to help us. So, as an adoptee/adoptive family who has been successful, the burden is on you to magnify that success by encouraging that word is spread.

So, to recap:

1) Test your child or yourself with 23andMe first. Don't go for the cheapest option, go for the most effective one.

2) Educate yourself about the reality of the China adoption program. While many of us entered the program assuming that our children were abandoned at some location, we now know that such a scenario is seldom based in fact. In fact most children arriving at orphanages were brought there directly, often by relatives or professional intermediaries and sometimes by family planning officials who had seized the child. Communicate with your child that the information provided by the orphanage is probably inaccurate, and that films like "One Child Nation" and other sources of data show that their adoption story may be much more complicated than previously assumed.

3) Learn about your orphanage before you start a search. We just matched an adoptee from Huazhou city orphanage with a birth parent in Wuchuan City, some distance away. All of the searching, posters, etc., will not work if this is the situation you are in.

4) Require searchers inside China to provide you with the contact information for ANY birth parents that come forward. Make this a requirement to hiring them. Test all located birth families with an autosomal DNA test and get that DNA into GedMatch. This can be done yourself (if you buy the kits and agree to remain in contact with them for the next two decades, as well as work the "near hits") or send the info to DNAConnect.Org for free testing. We have the infrastructure inside China to make it all very easy. If you provide such contact information, any future match to your child through DNAConnect.Org will also be free of fees to you.

5) Open your heart to the benefits of reunion. Every adoptee that we have matched has been benefited by knowing their actual life story, not the myth that the orphanage provided, which is emotionally damaging. Many adoptees are understandably angry and reluctant to search/make contact with birth family due to internal anger and grief that mistakenly are based on orphanage fabrications. We saw this first-hand this week when we attempted to contact an adoptee whose birth family we have located in China. After forwarding a letter from the adoptee's birth sister to her, the adoptee's father angrily wrote back: "We have told you my daughter doesn't care to have ANY interaction with or about these people who left her to die. Inform the lady who sent you the letter that if [our daughter] is her sister she should consider her dead. Because that is what her biological parents did to her. They left her to die on a street corner." We know, of course, that this never happened since we have interviewed the birth parents, and the midwife involved in the delivery had connections to the orphanage, but that is the damage that fabricated orphanage finding stories can have.

In all your searching, work to benefit the rest of the search community. If we all exercise "best practices," we will bring greater search success. You may find my daughter's birth family, and I may find yours.

A Recent Search Article Inside China, and What it Means About the Chinese Government's Desire for Reunions

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 15:29:00 +0000

One of the avenues of searching for birth parents in China are "search articles." Although most often these are very narrow in their search scope (looking for a single birth parent), the articles that gain the most traction inside China are "wide-net" articles -- those that search for literally any birth parent in China who may have had a child brought to an orphanage and adopted internationally.

Research-China/DNAConnect focuses mostly on producing "wide-net" articles. Over the past few years we have had several such articles published by various new and social media organizations. These experiences have resulting in a data set of which articles were allowed to remain available (not shut down), and those that were almost immediately forced to be taken down by the national government. When we look at these experiences it becomes clear that the driving force is how popular the article becomes. If it is not seen by a lot of readers, the government will let it pass. If it "goes viral," the government quickly steps in squash the article, although Chinese media have gotten very adept at moving stories from one platform to another.

It is clear that the Chinese government is still very, very sensitive about problems in their international adoption program. Articles must avoid, in order to even get permission to be published in the first place, any reference to Family Planning, baby-buying, or other issues that would make the government lose face. As a result, articles already must be somewhat vague as to who is searching and being searched for. But by remaining non-accusatory and vague, search articles can avoid front-end censorship and end up on a media webpage for viewing.

But, in our experience, if the article becomes a popular media event, and begins to show rapidly increasing viewership, the risk returns. Our most popular articles have later been removed as more and more people inside China have read them. This becomes a game of cat and mouse, as one iteration of the article is shut down, and another is created on another platform. One could see this happen in real time with the excitement over Nanfu Wang's "One Child Nation." The national government tried, ultimately unsuccessfully, to hide the film's very existence from the Chinese people. One link after another were taken down, only to have others pop up. Eventually efforts to suppress the film tapered off.

We saw this cycle again yesterday. Lan has been working with a reporter for several weeks, putting together a "get to know who Lan is" kind of article. One of the big barriers to getting birth families to test is to convince them that we are not out to scam them. So, we have been working to do PR pieces to help us become more well-known and trusted inside China. Yesterday's article was an effort to do just that.

Overnight the number of hits on the WeChat channel of the article and on the main web article spiked to over a quarter million viewers, by far the most viewers we have seen for such an article. By this morning, the WeChat links had been deleted, but as of this writing the webpage version is still available.

Below is the article. We may try to get it translated, but Google does a descent job. We just want to reaffirm that despite the trappings of cooperation displayed by the Chinese government, they still want searching done on their terms and with their knowledge. This has implications when it comes to DNA testing, etc.

我34岁嫁到美国，和老公不生育，领养三个女婴，全家没血缘关系

原创自拍2020-11-27 10:28:56

兰妮（@兰妮爱心寻亲）/口述

祖一飞/撰文

我叫兰妮（@兰妮爱心寻亲），今年50岁，是一名美籍华人。2004年，我远嫁重洋，从广州移居到了美国。我的家庭情况比较特殊，老公是美国人，三个女儿都是从中国福利院领养的孤儿，一家五口没有任何血缘关系。

但是，我们之间比亲人还要亲，如果家庭也有幸福指数排名，那我家保准能排前几。

2006年，我们一家人在登山时的合影。

都说父母的爱是无私的，我和老公向来把孩子当亲生的看待，一个挣钱养家，一个相夫教女，日子过得悠哉悠哉。

我从来不跟女儿隐瞒她们被收养的事，还让她们看领养时的录像。也许是年龄太小，她们在六岁之前从未觉得自己有什么不同，慢慢懂事后却有了身份认同的困扰，特别想知道自己的根源在哪。于是，我决定帮她们寻找亲生父母。

我已经十几年没出去工作，当完全职妈妈又当家庭主妇。

我总觉得冥冥之中自有天意，某些事好像注定会由某些人来做。帮女儿寻亲，对我来说就像是重新改写自己的童年——小时候的我和女儿们一样，也曾离开原生家庭，被别人领养。

我出生于上世纪七十年代，父母都是生活在广州郊区的农民。当时重男轻女比较严重，为了传宗接代、养儿防老，没有几家不想生个男孩。虽然我家穷得经常连下锅米都没有，但爸妈还是“搏”了一次又一次。

结果，我妈连生了六个女孩，在最后一个孩子因病夭折后，才因为伤心体弱不再生育。

我家的老房子，当时满满当当住了一家七口。

村里人都知道我们家有“五朵金花”，一些人见到我爸总开玩笑，说你生那么多女儿不如过继一个给我。也许是因为实在养不起，同时还想再“搏”个儿子，爸妈曾先后把我大姐、二姐和我送人。

大姐被过继给我爸在广州城区的一位好友，后来她不小心打死一只鸭子，怕养父母怪罪，死缠着我爸要回家，到家就再也不愿意回去了。

二姐被送养的人家要去新疆定居，来我家领人时，二姐听说以后不能吃米饭只能吃窝窝头，哭着闹着不肯走。爸妈又一次心软了，没舍得送走她。

我们姐妹几个的合影，大姐出嫁后很少能和我们聚在一起。

我小时候懵懵懂懂，只听说两个姐姐曾被送人，却一直不知道自己也被送养过。直到上了中学，我发现隔壁班的一个班主任总盯着我看，回家跟我妈说起这事，她才告诉我这位老师曾经收养过我。

那是在我出生后不久，老师找到我家说想要个女儿，爸妈觉得老师家庭好，就让他抱回去了。过了几个月，我爸找到老师商量能不能不改我的姓，人家不同意，我爸本来也有点舍不得，就又把我抱回了家。

我早已忘记当时听到这番话自己是什么反应，成年后再和父母谈起这件事，倒一点不怨恨他们，只觉得父母用心良苦。

童年熬过的那些日子实在太苦，所以我很能理解父母把我们送人的初衷：不是不爱，而是希望孩子有一条更好的生路。我后来早早踏入社会打拼的经历，恰好从反面印证了这一点。

1987年，在广州打工的我。

由于家里条件不好，17岁那年没考上重点高中的我决意弃学，独自离开家乡来到广州城区。没有文凭和工作经验，我处处碰壁，最终还是在父亲好友的帮助下进入一家酒店做服务员，月薪只有120元。

为了改变生活，我只能努力追赶，下班后经常要走路半个小时或挤公交车赶去夜校，上各种各样的职业学校班来充实自己。年少轻狂的我也曾经迷茫过，不知何去何从。

我曾换过好多份工作，打字员、电话接线员、电脑输入员，文秘......

1996年，厌倦了工作的我重新走进校园。那年学外语比较流行，我在中山大学报了一年制的日语班，想着以后可以当一名日语翻译，毕业后，却阴差阳错地做起了生意。

我拿着跟亲友借来的几万元，在旅游区开了家工艺礼品店。后来发现来店里经常有欧美人光顾，其中有很多是来中国收养孩子的家庭，为了能和他们交流，我又自学了英语。

1996年，我在中山大学校园里的留影。

我现在的老公，就是礼品店的顾客之一。他那时订了张油画肖像，寄货的时候我们互留了邮箱。之后的一天，我突然收到一封邮件，他说自己要和美国朋友来中国参加义工活动，知道我会英语，想请我当临时翻译。

这是善事，我很爽快地答应了。

我在工艺品店的照片，当时雇有两名店员，所以我的时间比较自由。

交流中，他告诉我此行来中国是因为了解到福利院没有空调，所以和其他国外收养家庭一起来捐赠。我当时挺不理解，孩子都领走了怎么还管福利院缺不缺钱，这些外国人也太善良了吧？

聊着聊着，这个美国男人还坦然地跟我谈起了他和前妻的婚姻故事：他们俩都认为地球人口过多，对环境造成负担，所以共同决定不生孩子。

三十多岁时，他自己跑去医院做了节育手术，和妻子一起到中国领养了一个九个月大的女婴。因为观念不和离婚后，他又独自收养了第二个女婴。

相处中，我了解到他的为人，也理解了外国人在养孩子和做公益上的观念，心里很是敬佩。我们之间的陌生感越来越小，不经意间陷入了一段浪漫的跨国恋爱。

为了追求我，他每隔两个月就从美国飞过来一趟，好几次大早上突然出现在我家门前，让我很感动。

认识他的时候我已经32岁，三年前就靠自己在广州买了房。当时追我的男生不少，却都是擦肩而过，我这个人在感情上又比较执着，本来已经想好碰不到真爱就孤身一生，结果他的出现让我改变了主意。

2003年，热恋中的我们在云南泸沽湖旅游。

2004年，我跟老公在美国举行了婚礼，回国探亲时还是会一起去福利院做义工。有次我们在一家福利院参加捐赠，院长组织孩子们表演唱歌，其中一个小女孩唱的是《小燕子》.

我觉得她好可爱啊，不理解她为什么三岁多了还没被人收养？当时我就动了心思，想带她回家。

院长劝了我，说这孩子有癫痫病。我和老公都觉得没什么，坚持走完领养手续，2005年把孩子带回了美国。幸运的是，后来她一次癫痫也没犯过。

为了让老三和她的两个姐姐了解自己的身世，每年，我都带她们参加领养家庭聚会，和其他小孩一起过中国春节，让她们知道自己根在中国，身体里流淌的是炎黄子孙的血脉。

三个女儿在放风筝，我告诉她们，“无论你能飞多远，都别忘了你来自何方。”

稍微长大一些后，她们意识到肤色和身边人不一样，甚至和自己的爸爸也不一样，特别想知道自己是从哪里来的。老三的反应最强烈，有一天她突然很生气地跑到我面前质问：你为什么把我丢在福利院？你知道被抛弃在福利院是什么感觉吗？

听到她的伤心责问，我才知道原来孩子误解得这么深！她对领养没什么概念，还以为是我丢了她，后来又把她领回家。

从那时起，我就下定决心要帮三个女儿寻找亲生父母，哪怕只是见一面，看看彼此长得像不像也好。

老三的捡拾证明上写的是她是在民政局门口被发现的，我联系上了福利院的院长，却没能得到更详细的信息，后来又想办法联系上老三曾经待过的一个寄养家庭，那家人如实告诉我，孩子是他一个亲戚的女儿，当年听说孩子去福利院会被外国人领养，将来能上好大学，他才瞒着老三的亲生父母悄悄把孩子送进去。

寻亲途中，我在村子里张贴的启事。

一听我在找他们，那对夫妻立马同意见面。和老三相认的时候，他们哭得很厉害，解释说当年是因为没生出男孩又不想结扎，只能把孩子送到亲戚家，后来被送去福利院的事压根不知情。

老三虽然没有哭，但很理解他们，她终于明白了自己当时并不是被故意抛弃，回到美国后整个人自信了很多，也变得更爱笑了。

直到现在，我们一家还和老三的亲生父母保持联系，每个月都会约时间打视频电话，聊聊最近过得怎么样。孩子们中文不太好，我就在旁边一句一句翻译。

看到老三找到父母，老大和老二也有点眼馋，寻亲心情更急切了。可惜到目前为止仍然没有结果，离成功最接近的一次，我通过DNA比对发现了老二的一个表姐，偏偏那个女孩也是被领养的，所以找到她也还是找不到亲属。

我带女儿们（前排左一至左四）参加领养家庭群体举办的夏令营活动。

有寻亲想法的，不只是我的三个女儿。1992年中国开放涉外收养渠道后，很多福利院儿童都拥有了海外家庭。随着年龄增长，他们也都想知道“我来自哪里？”，渴望见到亲生父母。

有些外国领养家庭听说我在帮女儿寻亲，而且既懂英语又懂中文，就把孩子的领养资料发给我，托我帮他们打听。最开始找我的都是领养家庭团体里的熟人，虽然我也有想到寻亲很难，但还是想帮他们，反正也要回去给女儿寻亲，顺带帮忙看看也没什么，我就都答应了。

利用回国探亲的机会，我（右三背包者）去了很多山村走访，向村民打听弃婴信息。

2004年，我第一次帮别人寻亲。求助人是一个被领养到美国的江西女孩，按照收养材料上的地址，我找到了一位住在村里的老人，收养材料指明就是这位老人捡到的孩子。

见面之后，他跟我说了实话，孩子其实就是他的亲孙女！原来当年他是因为想要男孙所以把孙女送去了福利院，假装是自己捡的弃婴。

这之后，我手里又攒了六七十个江西地区的寻亲线索，第二次回国寻亲，我竟然成功找到4个。当时很意外，帮别的家庭团聚也没想象的那么难嘛。

后来我就知道自己错了。因为国内很多人根本不理解我在做什么，沟通起来太难了。记得当时帮一位在西班牙的中国孩子找到了父亲，那个男人情绪很激动，说当年明明是隔壁村的哥们说亲戚要收养个女儿，他才把孩子抱给对方，怎么可能会到西班牙？

他一直在质问我，好像是我卖了他女儿，怎么解释都不听。

报纸上的弃婴认领公告，除了身体原因，还有很多是送养之后被转手送进福利院。

我接触到很多中国父母都是这样，他们不相信自己的孩子已经被外国人领养，即便找也是在国内找，这就像在淡水湖找一条海鱼，怎么可能找得到呢？

很多父母知道DNA，但实际上了解有限。他们不知道的是，即便两个样本只有第一代表亲、第二代表亲关系，国外的一些机构也能检测出来，而国内大部分机构仍然只能进行父母和子女之间的直接配对，和海外的数据库也不相通。

所以我经常要说服父母一方做DNA采样，再送入海外库进行比对。万一孩子的DNA已经在库里，一下不就对比上了。

寻亲途中，我陪领养家庭一起在医院找线索。

为了确认孩子在不在国外，我简直把自己锻炼成了侦探。听说福利院在送养孩子之前，都会给孩子刊登一份寻亲公告。找到这些信息说不定能帮到忙，为此我走过全国19个省、3个直辖市，去各种报刊杂志上“寻宝”。

我每年回国两三次，每次回国待五个星期，除了和家人短暂相聚，剩下的时间几乎都用来做这件事。哪个地区有领养儿童到了国外，我坐火车、转汽车也要去。

老公留在美国照顾女儿没办法陪我一起，每天要打七八个跨洋电话，就怕我遇上危险。

皇天不负苦心人，十几年跑下来，我收集记录了十几万条信息，回美国后再亲手输入到电脑上建了个数据库。里面详细记录着大量弃婴的出生年份、失散年份、地区、身体特征等等。

虽然这些信息不一定完全属实，但如果能找到某个孩子，确认他的出生年份、入院时间和捡拾地区，再对比有相似经历的海外弃婴，我还是可以推断出孩子被收养到国外的可能性。

我收集到的报纸，上面登满了弃婴认领公告。

只要有百分之七八十的可能在国外，我就会给父母一方寄去DNA采样容器，他们只需要吐口唾沫，再封好寄给我们等待配对结果就行，连邮费都不用出。

这笔钱也不是我来出，而是成百上千个海外收养家庭在分担。在美国，几乎每个地区都有收养家庭团体。为了支持寻亲事业，他们每年都会通过募捐的方式筹集资金，一家捐几美元到几十美元不等，聚少成多。

然而，即便有这笔钱免费支持寻亲，要说服一些父母配合做DNA也很不容易，他们有的失望过太多次，有的是被骗怕了......

大部分人都不相信我说的，有的不听完就认定我是骗子，直接将我拉黑，还有的甚至要报警抓我，真是气得我没话说。

前不久，我又一次被寻亲者删除好友，他认为我在冒充华人。

今年6月，我帮浙江衢州的一位父亲找到了失散25年的女儿。她女儿生于1995年，而我接触的几位来自衢州地区的弃婴也都是同一年份出生的，所以判断她们极有可能是同一批被领养到美国。

一开始这位父亲怎么都不信我说的，坚信自己孩子在国内，他觉得多年前就已经做过DNA，没必要再做一遍。

我反复劝了七个月，又发动已经寻亲成功的人现身说法，他才同意重新做DNA采样送入海外库，没想到几天后就配对成功。

原来三年前，他的女儿就因为对自己根源感兴趣，将DNA入了海外库，但当时并没有和亲生父母相认的打算。配对成功后，我花了很长时间讲述她父亲的情况，她最终同意和父亲视频，还计划疫情之后见面。

七个月的努力总算没有白费，我打心眼里为他们父女高兴！

这是衢州本地媒体采访我的画面截图。

十几年来，我总共帮助了近200个海外弃婴和中国家人团聚。寻亲成功后，经常有人发红包给我，我一概拒绝，告诉她们我是义务寻亲，不收费。

有人以为我特别有钱，或者嫁了个富豪老公，所以才做志愿者。其实并不是，我一直在家当全职妈妈，老公只是一家公司的普通职员，每个月工资4000多美元，养活一家五口，我们完全是普通家庭。

这些年做下来，我也会累，经常疲惫不堪，心情总是不自觉地跟着寻亲进展“坐过山车”，时而哭时而乐，导致常年失眠，身体状况越来越差......

有时候我都问自己：干嘛要做这个，图什么呢？

老公和女儿觉得我和他们相处时间不够，经常把我的手机藏起来，他们支持我做这件事，就是觉得我花费的时间精力太多。我试过强迫自己一个星期不看手机，却从来没有坚持到底，因为每天都会收到一些家庭的寻亲信息，总忍不住要回复。

我在后院开辟的小菜园，现在得从繁忙的寻亲工作中挤出时间才有空打理。

以前，我是个热爱户外运动的人，现在几乎变成了“宅女”，还不得不放弃外出工作挣钱的大好机会。我经常和女儿开玩笑，说你们三个都比我都有钱。

孩子们一边上大学一边在饭馆兼职，一小时能挣14美元，现在经济独立且都有自己的存款。而我因为常年做义务跨洋寻亲，完全没有收入。

我也想过像常人那样出去工作，做一份自己喜欢同时又能挣钱的事业。但心里始终放不下寻亲这件事，因为我不做，那些家庭可能永远不会团聚。

虽然没有金钱和物质回报，但我还是收获了满足感和成就感。赠人玫瑰，手有余香，我相信有些东西远比金钱宝贵，所以我还会继续做下去。

Searching Family Overseas: Blood Ties and Hopes

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 17:39:00 +0000

9/25/20 Update: After a long struggle, our friend's article was finally published:

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/63q3eAkdPpj1d_AltHe5BQ

____________________

We have been working with a student inside China who grew up under the One-Child Policy. She decided to write a "search" article for an adoptee (Anna) who is searching for her birth parents in Hunan Province. Our student/reporter friend also grew up in Hunan. The intent of the article was to encourage Chinese birth families to contact us for testing and assistance in locating their relinquished children. After almost a year of research and writing, our reporter (Tian) approached several media outlets to publish the article.

Sadly, none were willing to.

"I have talked with editors and reporters of several news media. They all said that the current censorship is very strict and the topic is very sensitive. Media units generally will not publish it publicly, because the domestic news environment is also very cautious. Huge pressure. After the journalists and editors have patiently communicated with me, I can also understand, so I think the probability of being able to publish in the news media is still relatively low."

Bottom line: If Family Planning or orphanages are involved, there will be no love from the Chinese government.

Special thanks to Liuyu Ivy Chen, who volunteered to translate Tian's article into English for free. If Tian is able to post her article on a Chinese blog or other space down the road, we will link it here.

______________________________

Searching Family Overseas: Blood Ties and Hopes

by Yue Tian

Now that the One-Child Policy is becoming a bygone memory, we are facing the broken lives of 150,000 abandoned Chinese children and hundreds of thousands of torn families. “Reunite family members” has become an eternal theme in their lives.

Anna, 23, has healthy sun-kissed skin. When she smiles, her brows arch and her lips spread warmly. If you run into her in the streets of South China, you’d mistake her as one of many friendly girls living in the neighborhood. But when she speaks, you’ll immediately realize that she is different.

Anna, with Asian features, was raised by an American couple. She spoke fluent English and clumsy Chinese. Now that she’d grown up, she wanted to return to her hometown to find her biological parents.

According to data released by China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption in 2016, since the implementation of foreign adoption, China has established partnerships with 17 countries. Nearly 150,000 Chinese infants or young children have been adopted by foreign families. More than a decade later, they’ve grown up and many have chosen to return to look for their families in China.

In the summer of 2018, accompanied by her American parents, Anna took a 20-hour flight from Louisiana to Changsha, China, and began her family-searching journey. Coming back to her homeland after 20 years, Anna was filled with curiosity and found the place both strange and familiar.

“Changsha is much more developed than I thought! Modern high-rises stand in lines; the streets are broad and clean; every restaurant I pass by waves at me.” Anna was excited and eager to take her American parents to taste Hunan gourmet at a local restaurant. The family used chopsticks skillfully and enjoyed the spicy Hunan dishes. Anna’s adoptive mother Mary said: “Anna was born in China and we felt she should understand the culture of her motherland. That’s why when she was very young, we helped her learn to use chopsticks, and together we learned about China as much as we could.”

When the waiter brought a bowl of Hunan rice noodles to the table, as if touched by a fragile memory, Anna winced a little. “I think rice noodles might as well be the umbilical cord connecting me with my hometown,” she quipped. “When I was little and had rice noodles for the first time, I teared up. I had no idea what China and Changsha was like then. My Chinese friends told me that Hunan people love rice noodles and spicy food. It’s very interesting because my American parents have a light diet––salad and lasagna are their favorite food––but I’ve always loved spicy and hot food since I was a kid. I’m still a big fan of spicy food.”

Joy and pride filled her voice. “I have a precious Hunan tummy.”

Anna’s adoptive parents were over 60 years old. To help fulfill Anna’s wish, they insisted on traveling long distances to Changsha with her to search for her biological parents. “We respect Anna’s decision and don’t want her to live with regret. So, we’ll be with her no matter how far the road. Her family is our family,” Anna’s adoptive father David said with a smile.

The Only Trace

Anna was a little nervous when she arrived at Changsha Social Welfare Institute, standing at the turning point of her life. With a serious look, she glanced around, trying to conjure a distant memory. But she was just a one-year-old baby when she left, having no knowledge or memory of what happened.

The employees who took care of little Anna 20 years ago saw that the baby girl in a swaddle had become this healthy grown-up now standing in front of them. Overcome with complex emotions, they wept. Among them, Aunt Wang tenderly held Anna’s hands and said, choking with sobs, “In the past, I often held you, a little bundle. You didn’t cry or kick. Now we’ve grown old. I never expected to see you again. How have you been all these years?”

Before a staff member could translate Aunt Wang’s words, Anna looked at the old woman with gray hair and a hunched back, now weeping for their reunion. Anna felt deeply moved. She realized that she had come back too late. “I can’t believe anyone here remembers me.”

With enthusiasm, the staff helped Anna find her adoption file and said they’d do everything in their power to help her find her biological family.

“Anna, female, born on April 9, 1997. Abandoned on Changsha Station Road on January 3, 1998. Sent to Changsha Social Welfare Institute by the local police. Adopted by an American couple in June of the same year.” This passage written on her adoption paperwork was the only information for Anna to trace her family.

“The Lucky Child”

“I knew I was adopted when I was little. I’d ask my American parents why I looked different from others, and they always explained why to me kindly and patiently, helping me approach the topic of adoption with a very positive attitude. But whenever I thought of being abandoned by my Chinese parents, I couldn’t stop feeling sad. I wanted to know if I’d done anything wrong.

“I really miss my biological parents even though I don’t know anything about them. But after I learned more about Chinese history and culture, I felt they might be people with very strong hearts, but had to give me away for reasons outside of their control. Perhaps for survival? I couldn’t help but imagine all kinds of possibilities. Only the truth could give me peace of mind.”

Anna left her DNA sample at the Changsha Police Station and posted the information obtained from the welfare institute on family-search websites in China, hoping for a reply. But all the comments she received either discouraged her from searching. One comment said: “Every time I see a foreigner searching for her Chinese family, I feel speechless. What’s the point of finding someone who ditched you.” Others expressed envy towards her: “I really envy your good fortune. I also want to be taken to the United States and live a cool life.” Someone even remarked, “Now your biological parents are going to strike it rich!”

Every comment confused Anna.

But even before this, she’d received many seemingly thoughtful pieces of advice. Except for her adoptive parents, it was very hard for others to understand why she insisted on finding her Chinese family.

“Some think I live a very happy life and should look forward rather than dwell on the past. Others often say that I’m very lucky to live in the United States and have two doting parents. I agree with them. I am very fortunate. But I believe only by understanding my past can I move forward.” Anna explained with a serious expression, but what she didn’t have the courage to say was, “Isn’t it lucky for you to never have to experience the pain of being abandoned by your biological parents?”

“I feel very conflicted because people always tell me that I’m lucky, but it’s hard for them to understand the pain and loss I’ve gone through in my life, regardless of how lucky I am.”

Childhood—Feeling Inferior

Anna lived in an urban area of Louisiana with very few Asians.

In junior high school, she was the only Asian student in her class and bore the brunt of constant mean jokes, such as, “Anna, did your parents ditch you in the trash can or the sewer?” “Look! That’s Anna whom nobody wants!” “How shameful it is to be adopted.” This kind of mockery stabbed the girl’s heart. Anna felt very embarrassed, fighting back her tears and lowering her head without a word.

After school, she ran home with a tear-streaked face. For the first time, she confided in her adoptive mother Mary: “I don’t understand why my parents abandoned me. Whenever I think of how my own parents don’t love and want me, I feel very hurt. I always slip into the mental trap of ‘I’m a child unwanted by my own parents’, pitiful and inferior. It’s impossible to fit into my surroundings. Am I American? I have yellow skin and black hair. I’m different from all the kids around me. And I’m different from my parents. Everyone is curious about me and asks me many questions––I always have to answer those embarrassing questions. But who can answer them for me? Am I Chinese? Why am I growing up in America? Why don’t my Chinese relatives come to take me home? Where are my parents?...”

Mary held Anna in her arms and gently stroked her back with her warm palms, trying to calm her. She kept promising her, “Regardless of your past, we’ll always treat you as our own child. We’ll always love you.”

When recalling this distant memory, Anna smiled with a bitter sweetness. “When I was young, for some reason, I always had a lot of angst coming from nowhere. I later realized that the reason I bore so much anger in my heart was because I was wounded. My American parents never made me feel I was adopted; they always gave me all their love and care, protecting me in their own ways. But outside of their wings, I had to face the cruel reality on my own.”

Young Anna and Her Adoptive Mother Mary

Entering high school, Anna saw more Asian faces on campus and no longer felt so out of place and helpless. But when she hung out with her new Asian friends, she realized that the transparent barrier was still there. “Growing up in America, I didn’t understand their culture. To them, I was ‘not Asian enough’.”

Like Anna, most Asian children adopted by white families would encounter identity crisis and ethnic discrimination when growing up. Some children find it particularly hard to cope with and choose to end their lives. According to the New York Daily News, Emilie Olson, a Chinese girl adopted by American parents, fatally shot herself at age 13. Her adoptive parents said that their daughter had long been a victim of school bullying against her Asian identity.

Lan, a Chinese-American volunteer helping worldwide clients find lost family members, said that she once received a phone call from an American adoptive mother whose Chinese daughter had just been found after making her fourth suicidal attempt. As her daughter was being rescued in the hospital, she called Lan in a dejected spirit.

Professor Margaret Keyes from the University of Minnesota pointed out in her report that the suicide rate in transracial adoption families is much higher than that of same-race adoption families. For small children, the trauma of having been abandoned while having trouble fitting in their social circle can easily trigger psychological disorders. They are far from being lucky.

Accompanied on the Family Search Journey

Through the internet, Anna met many Chinese adoptees who, like her, were adopted by families in the United States, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Japan, or Canada. The members in this group far exceeded what she’d expected. When she first joined, there had been 1,655 members; now there were 8,000 and growing.

The abandoned babies, now grown-ups, desire to find their Chinese families, completing the missing puzzles in their lives. Lily, a Chongqing girl adopted by an American family, said: “It’s very sad not to know who my biological parents are.”

Members of oversea support groups share their life experiences and family search stories, and organize volunteer trips to aid Chinese orphanages, providing love and support for other orphans. Close friendships blossom during the journey. Anna smiled: “This is a great way get to meet friends all over the world, thanks to the families around the globe who adopted us. I always feel comfortable to meet another adoptee because we share similar experiences and feelings––we don’t have to answer any demoralizing questions concerning our origins.”

Many adoptees have started learning Chinese, studying Chinese culture, and discovering a hidden part of themselves. “Searching for family is a healing process. Hopefully one day we will calmly answer the question ‘Who am I’.” Members return to the orphanages to do research, post online inquiries, enter their DNA sample into the database, cooperate with media reports, and spread hopeful seeds every step of the way.

The Chinese children raised overseas have very remote and blurry impressions of their Chinese parents. They ache to find out why their parents abandoned them, how their parents have lived, and what they really feel. They want to know if their parents miss them as much as they do. Anna admitted: “Because we rarely see coverage on Chinese parents searching for their children, I once thought that perhaps these parents are indifferent to their lost children or have long forgotten them. That’s why I felt really uneasy before I came to China to search for my family. Then, my friend Lan told me the story of Li Guoming’s family from Jiangxi province, which gave me great courage and strength to follow through.”

Lan said: “After contacting the oversea adoptee groups, I’ve also seen many Chinese parents worrying about and missing their lost children. I hope more parents can step up to look for their children, so that more adoptees can hear stories from the Chinese parents’ perspective.”

Story of a Chinese Family Searching for Their child––“We Have Never Abandoned You or Given up Looking for You.”

When registered with the orphanage, Li Guoming’s daughter was given the name Lv Er [er: second], a random name jotted down by the village head who had carried her there. In the orphanage, the girl was called Jiang Li [li: beautiful]––Jiang was the last name of the orphanage head at the time; all the orphans were named after him. Li Guoming had named his daughter Li Mengyan [meng: dream; yan: beautiful].

Li Guoming, a shy speaker, hesitated for a long time before he explained the name, blushing up to his ears: “I named her Mengyan because I dreamed of my daughter leaving me and hoped to see her when I woke.”

Passing Down Ancestral Lineage During the Family Planning Era

Wuli village in Jiangxi province is home to a rural community with a deep-rooted patriarchal tradition––sustaining ancestral lineage through male heirs remains a sacred creed. The family planning policy implemented in the 1980’s struck the village like a thunderbolt, shattering the rigid feudal nerves. Villagers made observations and plans.

“In the village, if you don’t have a son, you’ll forever be shamed. You’ll be called ‘that extinct one’, meaning your root is cut, a terrible things to say. Everyone knows that daughters are more well-behaved than sons, but you can’t change a rural mind.” When Li Guoming’s older brother had two daughters, he threw a banquet at home to celebrate. But Li Guoming’s father, after a few drinks, ran out to cry in the mountaintop where no one was around, save for sagging graves everywhere. The old man’s wailing pierced the sky. “We were all tormented seeing the old man so sad.” Li Guoming decided to shoulder the responsibility of passing on his family’s line.

In the 1990’s, the family planning policy carried out in Jiangxi allowed a rural household to have a second baby if the first one was a daughter, but if the family already had two daughters––it was called a “two-daughter family”––the mother would be persuaded to have a sterilization procedure. In Wuli village, in order to secure a male heir, many families hid their second pregnancy like soldiers fighting a guerrilla warfare.

Having had a daughter, Li’s family decided to take the risk [of hiding the second pregnancy] to save the second and last legal opportunity for a possible son.

Li Guoming’s wife Li Fen’s stomach swelled as the grip of family planning regulation tightened. “If caught, they would not only destroy our house and burn the furniture, but also abort my baby with force and sterilize me––no hopes for more babies.” When hiding at her mother’s home, Li Fen lived in fear and anxiety every day during her pregnancy. On the due date, December 9, 1993, she endured severe pain to give birth to her second child, a translucent and beautiful baby girl.

The joy of welcoming a new life and the anxiety about an uncertain future overwhelmed the family. Li Guoming’s brother-in-law proposed an idea: “My brother-in-law’s family have always wanted a daughter, why don’t you entrust them to look after your baby girl?” The mentioned brother-in-law was the head of a neighboring village a couple hundred li away.

At the time, the officials searched every household for law breakers; a newborn’s cry would be an unmistakable loud whistle. After looking after their daughter for a week, Li Guoming and his wife decided to send the child to be cared for by the village head. At the break of dawn, the baby girl wailed. Li Fen––recuperating in bed––also cried, and Li Guoming quietly wiped his tears outside the house. The family cried in waves. Li Guoming’s brother-in-law urged: “Don’t be late or others will see it.”

The couple prepared cash, baby formula, clothes, shoes, nursing bottles and other necessary items for their daughter. According to local customs, when sending a child away, the adults should buy noodles and rice candies so that the child will remember her way back to eat home-made meals in the future––Li Fen prepared these as well. At the time, she was convinced that the separation was only temporary, and she would bring her daughter home as soon as the political whirlwind quieted.

Li Guoming carried his sleeping daughter and walked to the village head’s house with his brother-in-law. Li knocked on the door three times. The village head then opened the door and took the baby. Li and his brother-in-law turned and left. Without extra words, Li Guoming quietly suffered from the pain of separating from a loved one––described as “flesh peeling off bones” in television dramas.

In order to make a living and to dodge the family planning officials’ search, Li Guoming and his wife decided to go to Guangdong as migrant workers. While in Guangdong, they regularly called their brother-in-law to check on their daughter, and always received reassuring news.

Lifelong Regret

In 1998, the couple returned home. They bought new clothes, toys, and snacks to visit their daughter, but were told that the village head’s family had sent her to the orphanage after looking after her for just two days.

Li Fen broke into tears: “Why did they send her away after just two days? Oh, my daughter.” Li Guoming immediately ran to the orphanage to look for his daughter, but was stopped by employees.

While his wife cried from dawn to dust demanding to see her daughter, Li Guoming stood all day long outside the orphanage, inquiring whenever he saw someone walking in. Nobody said anything. He stood there until dark, and returned the next morning.

A week later, one of the staff members asked Li Guoming for his daughter’s birth date, searched for it, and told Li Guoming that she went overseas and was living a life ten thousand times better than him, advising him not to worry.

Li Guoming stood there in shock, his legs turning into jelly. He’d never thought that he’d forever lose his daughter.

The remorse of losing the child tormented the couple day and night. Whenever Li Fen thought of her, she wept. She’d thought the pain of labor had pushed her physical limit to the extreme, but the pain of losing her daughter was beyond what her body could take. Li Guoming began to suffer from insomnia, worrying that his daughter would be mistreated by her foster parents, that she would be discriminated and bullied in a foreign country, and that she would resent him… He swore that he would one day find his daughter: “Even if she doesn’t want to acknowledge us, as long as we know she is healthy and happy, we’ll feel relieved.”

Never Give up

A small village is a small society. Every son and every abandoned child in a family is public knowledge. But in this village, the only couple that never gave up looking for their child were Li Guoming and his wife.

They went to the village and town government offices to explain the situation, wrote a letter of regret, and showed willingness to pay the fine. Li Guoming said: “To us, the fine was an astronomical amount which we couldn’t pay off right away. We both toiled as migrant workers far away from home. Every time we saved a little money, we went to the government bureaus to pay the fine, and slowly we paid it off.”

Others mocked Li Guoming for being unnecessarily honest. He answered not without embarrassment: “What if my daughter comes back to look for us? We registered our information at the government bureaus so that she can find us.”

Li Guoming also contacted the city’s newspapers and TV stations, hoping to publish a missing person notice, but was rejected every time. He was told: “Given your situation, how dare you make it public?” Li Guoming explained with grievance that he had never abandoned his child; he left her to someone else’s care only temporarily, but never thought she’d be gone. He wouldn’t rest in peace without finding his child.

He left his cell phone number and home address to the newspapers, TV stations, orphanages, government bureaus, and hospitals. He never changed his number or turned his cell phone off for 25 years, fearing he’d miss any useful information.

The couple worked in remote towns as migrant workers for seven years before they finally paid off the fine. Li Fen’s health deteriorated. With borrowed money and a loan, the couple opened a car wash shop by the road leading to Wuli village. “Because I only have an elementary school education and know very few people, I figured I could meet more people from different backgrounds by washing their cars and filling their water. I’ve met officials, foremen, and tourists; the more people I could meet, the more chance to find my daughter.” Li Guoming printed out stacks of missing person flyers and handed them to whomever entered his shop. Some people found it bizarre and teased him: “I’ve seen parents giving their children away, but never saw any looking for them.” Some ridiculed him: “If you want a daughter, go pick one from the temple.” At the time, many unclaimed babies littered the village; walk through the temples and ancestral halls and you’d pick up seven or eight abandoned babies,” said Chen Yi, who worked at the local orphanage in the 1990’s.

Hearing these biting remarks, Li Fen would comfort her husband: “There is nothing to be ashamed of to look for our own child. No matter how awful the stuff they say, we’ll keep looking. What’s there to be afraid of when looking for our own daughter?”

Whenever he had time, Li Guoming went to the orphanage. He didn’t bother the employees, but stood at the gate, looking if any foreigner was bringing a child back. When his financial situation improved, he bought a cart of baby clothes worth 11,116 yuan and donated them to the orphanage. It was the first time he entered the orphanage. Babies filled the hallway, some crying, some sleeping, some sucking pacifiers--the sight greatly depressed Li Guoming.

It was the first time someone donated so many things to the county orphanage. The staff enthusiastically pulled Li Guoming and his wife aside and said they could call a reporter to publicize their good deeds. Li Guoping said: “No no, I’m terrified of that. I only plead that you tell me if my daughter returns one day.”

First Glimpse of Hope in Ten Years

For Li Guoming, searching for his daughter was like walking in the dark––without direction or light. But he insisted on going forward, to find his daughter when he was still alive. “Home is where parents are; if we’re gone, our daughter will have nowhere to return to.”

It wasn’t until 2008 that Li Guoming’s decade-long search saw the first glimpse of hope.

A regular customer at his shop admired Li Guoming’s character and was moved by his persistence. He told Li Guoming: “I have a good relationship with the current head of the orphanage. I can help you get your daughter’s adoption profile, but I’m going to need some cash.” Li Guoming immediately understood. He withdrew a stack of cash from his savings and gave it to the customer. As long as he could find his daughter, he was willing to pay any price.

The next day, Li Guoming received his daughter’s adoption profile, which he held like a fragile treasure while happy tears filled his eyes.

With a new hope, Li Guoming searched online for updates on oversea adoptees every day. He’d type in the key words: hui guo xun qin (return to China in search of family members). “To be honest, I didn’t even graduate from elementary school, but I learned to explore the internet using my cell phone in order to find my daughter.” He felt envious and sad whenever he saw oversea adoptees returning home to look for their parents.

He thought that as long as he paved the way, when his daughter remembers to look for him, she wouldn’t be disappointed.

Sometimes, Li Guoming left comments online to encourage oversea adoptees and send them good wishes. He reflected: “Whether it’s the adopted child looking for parents or the parents looking for their child, it’s not easy for anyone.”

In 2016, Yang Bing, a Hunan girl who returned to China to look for her parents, contacted Li Guoming. She told him: “I’ll recommend a friend to you. She can help you find your daughter.”

This friend was Lan, the Chinese-American volunteer with 18 years’ experience helping oversee adoptees to find their biological families. With her help, more than a hundred families around the world have reunited.

Blood Ties and Hopes

Lan, who lives in the United States, followed the address on the adoption profile and found Jiang Li’s American adoptive mother’s email address. She wrote to her and collected Li Guoming’s DNA sample. While waiting for a reply, Lan felt Li Guoming’s anxious expectation. She often received messages from Li Guoming between one to three in the afternoon (one to three in the early morning in China): “Hello, is there any news about my daughter? Please help me!” Every time, Lan felt sorry to disappoint the father on the other end.

Sometimes, Lan felt Li Guoming on the fringe of a breakdown. His message read: “Greetings, Ms. Lan! Are there still no updates on my daughter? Should I give up? I feel exhausted looking for her. It’s all my fault. It’s been too painful thinking about her day and night for more than ten years. I feel guilty. I shouldn’t have given her away. Sorry, please help me. Thank you!” But he didn’t give up. He collected himself and continued looking.

Five months later, Lan received a call from Jiang Li. With great excitement, she asked: “Is everything you wrote in the email true? Have my parents been looking for me all these years? Is it true?” Lan, choked with tears, answered: “Yes, it’s all true.”

Lan had thought the story would have a happy ending. But since Jiang Li was raised by her American mother alone, to respect her adoptive mother, she decided not to contact her Chinese parents. “Thank you for telling me that my biological parents didn’t abandon me and have been looking for me. This fact is very important to me!”

From 1998 to 2018, for two decades, Li Guoming had never stopped looking for his daughter.

At first, he felt shocked and surprised when hearing about her. Slowly, he tried to understand her decision. He said: “Parents should never blame their children. She has her concerns and we won’t disrupt her life. But whenever she wants to find us, we’ll always be here.” Upon hearing the news, Li Fen broke into sobs at home: “I want to kneel down in front of her [American mother] and kowtow to her, thanking her ten thousand times for raising my daughter. She is my life savior. But we’ve never given up on our daughter; we’ve been looking for her all these years. We understand her. As long as she is doing well, we’ll accept any conditions.”

Lan often remembers the story and feels deeply moved by the kindness and persistence of Li Guoming’s birth family. “Searching for one’s family is an arduous, long process. Hopes are slim and challenges abound. Many people give up halfway. It’s really remarkable that Li and his wife carried on for twenty years.”

After visiting different parts of China and contacting tens of thousands of broken families, Lan learned about the many reasons that forced parents to abandon or give away their children, or find a temporary lodging place for a child as in Li’s case. “Some parents feel it’s impossible to find their child, so they don’t look. Some parents feel guilty and conflicted for having ‘abandoned’ their child in the first place, so they avoid the topic. If Anna’s birth parents think this way, Anna will never find her parents. How pitiful and sad that would be! Yet most parents don’t know how to begin the process because they live in rural China with little education or information. I hope more and more parents will contact me to help them. I’m willing to do my best to support them.”

Family Search Continues, Hopes Gleam in a Sea of Crowd

“It is the blood ties and the hopes for family reunion that have guided us to arrive here. But only when both parties––parents and children––reach out to each other can they finally hold hands.” Whether it’s oversea adoptees or Chinese parents, the journey of reunion has never been a one-way odyssey. Only when both sides step up can they hope to see each other again.

Five Questions about the Duan Family Trafficking

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 14:56:00 +0000

The recent interest in the Hunan scandal, and the Duan family specifically, spurred by their being featured in Nanfu Wang's "One Child Nation," prompted some questions after we posted an essay on our subscription blog. The article, "Two of Duan Yue Neng's Statements in 'One Child Nation'", dealt with two assertions Mr. Duan made in the documentary: 1) That he and his family trafficked over 10,000 children; 2) That he commonly found children along the road, and that he and his family began trafficking to save the lives of these foundlings.

We felt the answers to these important questions might be of interest to families.

1. Did the Duans only traffic children from Wuchuan/Guangdong or did they also traffic them from other provinces and if so, do you have any sense of the approximate percentage?

In our conversation with Chen Zhi Jin, the mother of the Duan family, she indicated that about 50% of the kids came from the Wuchuan area, and 50% came from the Changning area itself. The Duans had contacts with area doctors and midwives that provided local children. Although the question addresses the source of the children obtained by the Duans, we know from DNA matches and other evidence that the children obtained by the Duans ended up in many orphanages scattered across China.

2. Could you share the typical purchase prices from the ledgers that the Duans charged the orphanages and if they changed over time? The logs presented at trial contain various amounts of information to specific children, but some payment trajectories are visible.

Qidong’s logs contain prices of 2800 yuan being paid for children starting in July 2004, and monies paid per child increased to 4100 yuan by November 2005. Hengdong County’s logs show a similar trajectory: 2900 paid in June 2004, increasing to 4300 in November 2005. Hengshan begins showing payment amounts in January 2005, when 3500 yuan were paid for each child, increasing to 4500 in November 2005.

3. Could you share more about the notice posted by the police in Qidong? Maybe a translation of the notice? Do I understand correctly that the police was paid off to create and sign off on police reports of baby findings and they wanted better pay for that? Is that why the Duan sister got arrested or was the notice in the newspaper and signal to the orphanages to pay more if they wanted to avoid further arrests of their sellers?

The following is taken from my article “OpenSecret: Cash & Coercion in China’s International Adoption Program”:

On Friday, November 18, 2005, at approximately three o’clock in the afternoon, Qidong County police surrounded two women at the Hengyang County railway station, confiscating three young female infants. Duan Mei Lin and Duan Zi Lin, two sisters from Yiyang Town in neighboring Changning City, were arrested for baby trafficking. The story of the Duan family trafficking ring became known in adoption circles and in the Western press as the “Hunan baby trafficking scandal.”

Initial press reports indicated that “orphanages in central China’s Hunan Province” had bought “at least 100 babies over the past few years,” and had resold the children to other orphanages or childless couples for 8,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan.” While the earliest report did not connect this buying by the orphanages to international adoption, later press coverage began to make the connection. Xinhua News, in an update published the following week, stated that officials involved indicated that “some of [the children] were even sold to foreign adopters.”

The trafficking scandal was quickly picked up by the Western media. Reuters reported on November 24, 2005, that “Hunan Province [police] arrested 27 people, including the head of an orphanage, in another child-trafficking crackdown the official People’s Daily said on its Web site . . ..”Chinese officials, realizing much of the Western media was simply republishing articles originating inside China, responded to the increased attention to this story by shutting down media coverage two weeks later, preventing any additional information from being published in China.

The Chinese press accounts, and as a result the derivative accounts published by Western media outlets, presented the story as an orphanage-trafficking ring being discovered and shut down by diligent Chinese police investigators. “This August, the public security bureau of Qidong County was informed that some infants were being abducted from Zhanjiang and Wuchuan in Guangdong Province to neighboring Qidong and Hengyang counties in Hunan Province,” reported Xiao Hai Bo, deputy director with the Hengyang City Police Bureau.“Qidong County police in Hunan Province, China, uncovered a situation of babies being sold. This discovery led to the exposure of a scandal involving some people in the Hunan social welfare institutes, who were buying and reselling babies.” Police revealed that “at least 100 babies, between several months and 4 years old, have been traded between the orphanages or sold to others.” The Western world was meant to believe through these accounts that Qidong police had investigated and broken up a trafficking ring that involved “about 100” children being bought and sold by a handful of orphanages and that “the government was investigating the allegations and would punish anyone found guilty of breaking the law.”

Behind the scenes, court documents detail a different story. The trial records show that, rather than the orphanages being discovered by Qidong police through anonymous tips or police investigations, the scandal was the result of a small-town power struggle over money between the orphanages and the traffickers, and the Qidong Police Bureau and the area orphanages. The Hunan scandal was revealed because of a calculated attempt by the Qidong police to get a bigger piece of adoption revenues.

By 2005, the Duan family in Hunan had established a professional and personal relationship with Liang Gui Hong, an elderly woman in Guangdong’s Wuchuan City. The relationship formed, as most relationships in China do, as a result of personal relationships between members of the two families. The Duan family had a long history of providing children to the Hengyang City orphanages. In 1996, Chen Zhi Jin, the matriarch of the Duan family, brought her first child, a two-year-old girl she had found as an infant, to the Qidong orphanage. The orphanage paid her 700 yuan. Chen was told that if she could find more children, the area orphanages, specifically the Changning orphanage, would gladly receive them. Since the Changning orphanage itself was not yet performing international adoptions, it made arrangements for these children to be internationally adopted by orphanages in Chongqing Municipality, Guangdong Province, and other areas of Hunan Province.

The orphanages began offering incentives to their employees to find and recruit children to bring into the orphanage as early as 1996. According to insiders interviewed by reporters following the scandal of 2005, orphanages initially paid 200 yuan for each baby, but that amount quickly escalated:

Towards these ends, the Hengyang County Welfare center once clarified the mission for lower levels: an employee that was responsible for the adoption of three children within that year could be said to have completed their work duties for the year and was able to receive an extension of their salary and also a bonus at the year’s end.

By the time the scandal broke in 2005, orphanages were routinely paying more than 3,500 yuan for each child procured by orphanage employees, the Duan family, and others. “Some welfare center employees even went so far as to urge the human traders to secure infants with complete disregard for any sense of morality or legality.”

The operation was not without risk. In 1998 or 1999, and again in 2002 and 2003, members of the Duan family were arrested by railway police after suspicious passengers reported the two women feeding six or more children kept in boxes under the train seats. Each time the women were released after having the orphanage directors vouch for them. Chen recounted:

I was just honest with the policemen. I told them that I was bringing all the babies to the Changning orphanage. I told them that I was just making a little money for a living, and that I got paid 10 yuan per day per baby by the orphanage to take care of those babies. My job is to take care of babies for the orphanage. Then the policeman called the Changning orphanage director and asked if my story was true. They went to Liang’s house to investigate also, to make sure that that part of my story was true. After they investigated, and they learned that I didn’t kidnap those babies, they let us go. The director of the Changning orphanage told the police that the babies we were bringing were for the orphanage. The director told the policeman that the orphanage needed those babies because there were so many babies in Liang’s house, so he sent us to get the babies. As soon as the police learned the true story, they let us go.

After the Duan’s third arrest in 2003, they were ready to quit the trafficking, but the orphanage directors, by this time accustomed to the huge profits flowing into their orphanages as a result of the adoption of the Duan foundlings, aggressively worked to keep the Duans in the game. “See, that wasn’t much trouble,” the Changning director reassured the Duans after one of their arrests. “As soon as the police found out the truth, there was no more trouble. You are fine now.” Chen recounted that

the director told me if I saved a person’s life it is worth thousands of yuan, and you know that there are people who want those babies. If you were to let those babies die, it would be a pity. Then, after the director talked to us, we decided to keep sending babies to them.

By 2005, the Hunan orphanages grew tired of paying the Duans for the children, and began working to make arrangements with the Duan’s Wuchuan contact, Liang, directly in order to remove the need to pay the Duans for what, in the eyes of the orphanages, amounted to simple transportation needs. In November 2005, unknown to the Duan family, the assistant director of the Hengyang County made a trip to Wuchuan to form a partnership with Liang. But Liang refused to cooperate with the orphanages. “You are an old customer of mine,” Liang reassured the Duans, “so I will give the babies to you. I won’t give the babies to them.”

When the assistant director returned to Hengyang empty-handed, the orphanage director, Zhang Jian Hua, was livid. “So,” according to Chen,

they called the police. The assistant director had a family member working for the government office, and they had a relationship with the Qidong Police Bureau. So, the Qidong police set up a sting, waiting for us to come back to pick up babies again. When we went back to Guangdong, we picked up three babies, and the police followed us. The babies were supposed to go to the Hengyang [County] orphanage.

On November 18, 2005, Duan Mei Lin and Duan Zi Lin were arrested as they returned from Guangdong with the three children.

Although the Hengyang City orphanages intended the Duans to simply be removed from the trafficking pipeline to Wuchuan, the Qidong Police had other ideas. After the arrest of the Duans, the police demanded that each orphanage pay 600,000 yuan in order to conduct business as usual. According to Chen,

At a closed meeting [of the Hunan Provincial Civil Affairs Bureau] the Qidong County Police Bureau request was discussed, in which they demanded that the six orphanages in Hengyang City pay the police a fee of 600,000 yuan each for a total 4.8 million [sic]. First, they arrested several trafficking people [the Duans] who were helping the orphanages collect abandoned babies. Next, they hired a reporter [Li Ling] who was unfamiliar with the actual story, to write an article reporting that the orphanages were buying babies.

Li’s article was published on November 24, 2005 in Hunan’s Sanxiang City News.

It is certain that no one from the Qidong Police Bureau expected that the small article would be picked up by other newspapers in China, including the China Daily,^xx and then by media outlets outside China. But in the age of the Internet, the article was instantly picked up, and its publication grew exponentially with every passing day. As the planted story was being picked up by various newspapers and websites across China, Qidong police again asked “each of the orphanages to pay 600,000 yuan as a fee.”

With the story rapidly becoming an international scandal, Hengyang City Municipal Party Secretary Xu Ming Hua

was afraid this news would explode and arouse strong reactions. The Party Secretary told them if each of the orphanage employees paid 30,000 yuan bail, they could be released after 30 days. Assistant Deputy Director General Lei Dong Sheng of the Qidong County Police Bureau was reluctant to accept this offer since he felt he was about to get much more from the orphanages.

When the directors refused to pay the demands of the Qidong Police, the police arranged for another article to be published on December 2, 2005. While the first story did not mention that the trafficked children had been adopted internationally, this article made it specific: “Some of them were even sold to foreign adopters, said the official, adding that they are now looking into the hometowns and whereabouts of the trafficked infants.”

The articles were designed to increase the pressure on the orphanage directors and they apparently succeeded. Of the six orphanages implicated, only one director was sentenced to any jail time, Chen Ming, director of the Hengdong County orphanage, who served only three months. Chen Zhi Jin, the mother of the Duan children, and no relation to Chen Ming, offers her belief regarding this seeming discrepancy:

Let me tell you why they only charged Chen Ming. Chen Ming was sent to jail, along with my family, but the other orphanage directors, they also bought the babies and sent them for adoption. All of those orphanages belonged to the government. Those people all worked for the government; they all are supposed to follow the formalities of the government. Some of the directors said to us all those babies will be sent for outside adoption. They will have foreign parents. But those families will all have legal adoption documents, so what [the orphanages] are doing doesn’t break the law. Why Chen Ming was the only one to go to jail is because Chen Ming didn’t cooperate with the other orphanage directors; the money he paid was not enough. That is very clear. For our family, we are just common people — we had no power and no money, and no one to back us up. Actually, with the police when they caught us, it was about money too. If the police catch you, it is about money. Our family didn’t have money to pay the police, but some of the orphanages paid lots of money to them.

The Hunan scandal was intentionally limited in its scope by Hengyang City Civil Affairs officers to prevent the Beijing government from getting involved and to prevent further scrutiny of China’s international adoption program. Thus, while initial press reports implicated other orphanages in Hunan, Guangdong and Guanxi Provinces that had been purchasing babies from the six Hengyang City orphanages, because they had no direct dealing with the Duan family when the story broke, they were not prosecuted. The narrow focus of the trials prevented Zhuzhou City orphanage, for example, from being pulled into the scandal. Zhuzhou had had direct dealings with the Duan family in 2002, but the orphanage director, Zhang Hong Xia, tried, in an act that would be replayed in 2005, to impose a financial kickback system on the Duans, which they rejected. The director then called her husband, an employee of the Zhuzhou Police Bureau, to arrest the Duans as they made their way to the railway station. Chen Zhi Jin explained that episode:

[Zhang] paid us the money [for the three children], but it seems that since we didn’t pay her a “commission” — she is a very bad person — also her husband worked for the police station, so for him it was important to solve a case to show he was a successful officer — the husband tracked us down, took the orphanage money from us, and put us in jail for a month. After that happened, I would never do business with her anymore, no matter if she died or rotted away.

Despite this extralegal behavior, Zhuzhou’s director was recognized in 2009 as one of the “Hundred Excellent Orphanage Directors” of China.

In the end, the Hunan trial was an exercise in damage control by Hengyang City official Xu Ming Hua. After having the scandal break due to ill-advised publicity brought on by the newspaper articles placed by the Qidong Police, Xu simply wanted to present a show of getting something done. Xia Jing, a defense attorney involved in the Hunan trials, wrote,

The Beijing officials were not familiar with what really was happening, so they sent a document telling the Hengyang City Municipal Party Secretary to not obstruct the Qidong Police Bureau from investigating the case. The Hengyang City Municipal Party Secretary Xu Ming Hua wanted to close the case quickly, so he arranged for the traffickers to be convicted and sentenced to jail for fifteen years.

Yuan Bai Shun, defense attorney for Chen Ming, explained, “The Hunan scandal was not about the orphanage buying babies. It was more about how Chinese government officials can turn the law upside down.”

This experience shines a little light on something that is often missed by Western families. By and large, police are looked upon favorably by citizens in the U.S. and other Western countries. We feel the police largely have the best interests of the citizenry at heart. This is, in many ways, the opposite of how things are in China. In China being a police officer allows one to tap financially into the various “processes” that allow one to enrich themselves extra-legally. Whether it is spot inspections of businesses, payments for traffic violations, or fees paid by orphanages to produce finding reports, the police in China are viewed by average citizens as corrupt and self-serving, which, as the Qidong example illustrates, they often are.

To illustrate with an example that concerns all searching families: It is widely believed that putting an adoptees DNA into the national police data base, ostensibly used by “Baby Come Home” and other organizations inside China to search for lost children, is something that may bring success. Sadly, however, the birth parents, through long history and experience, avoid the police data base due to skepticism as to the police motives. Simply put, they are afraid of the police: that they will be shaken down, arrested, harassed, or otherwise abused. Additionally, birthparents understand that in many, many instances the police will work against them in their search. It is this last point that should be understood.

When a domestic family wants to adopt a child inside China, they must first go to the police if they want to register that child. To get a “hukou” for the child, the police need to be paid for this service. It represents a significant source of money for the police generally, and individual offers in particular. But, if the child is later found to have been kidnapped, the registration process represents a significant source of potential trouble for the approving officer down the road.

Thus, in practical terms, the police are anxious to tap the registration funds, but slow to assist birth families to locate lost children. We have interviewed birth families who have gone to multiple police stations to submit DNA, paid the fees, given the DNA sample, only to discover later that the police did nothing with the donated DNA. They buried it. For these reasons, the police are not seen, in China, as reliable and committed helpers in the search process. Quite simply, the police in China rarely benefit from successful reunions, and often work against allowing them to happen.

4. As to your comment that very few children were abandoned, while I suspect you are right, I wonder how much that changed e.g. from the 80’s and early 90’s compared to later. Nanfu Wang’s uncle did indeed abandon a baby and she died, and Liang does mention that some she just “found”, although there is no elaboration on that. Xin Ran also describes outright abandonments and killings the 80s. I guess we may just never get the numbers.

“One Child Nation” really documents two periods in the one-child policy: the period from 1979 to 1990, when the policy was brutally enforced to slow the population train and redirect the Chinese people’s thinking on the need for many children; and 1990 through 2015, when the thinking had been changed and the market for children from domestic and international families exceeded the slowing supply of over-quota children. The family planning official, midwife, and even the stories from Nanfu’s family all took place in the early period (Nanfu herself was born in 1985). How much impact the international adoption program had on the change in policies is unclear, but we know from Family Planning confiscation stories that confiscations increased after the start of international adoption.

But the abortion side of the equation seems to have also changed. While gender-reveal ultrasounds were prohibited by Chinese law, the law was frequently broken. This allowed orphanages to make connections with area doctors and midwives to coax expectant birth families of girls to not abort their child, but rather bring her to full term and relinquish her to the doctor for adoption by another family (usually a well-to-do local family, although that was usually a lie). We recently was told the following story by a birth mother from Changde, Hunan:

“When I was five months pregnant with my second child, I went to my doctor friend who worked at the city hospital. I did a B-mode ultrasound with my doctor friend’s help and found out my baby was going to be a girl. Because of the one-child policy, I told my doctor friend that I was thinking about terminating the pregnancy. My doctor friend asked me to keep the baby and told me that she knew someone who wanted the baby.

“Then, on May 1, 1996, the same day I gave birth to my baby girl at the city hospital, my baby girl was taken for an adoption arranged by my doctor friend.

“About a month later, I went to see my doctor friend in the hospital. I missed my baby girl so much, so I asked my doctor friend for information about my baby. But I was shocked when my doctor friend told me that my baby girl didn’t survive because she had all kinds of health problems.

“I was ill for several months. Over a year later, I went to see my doctor friend again in the hospital. My doctor friend finally told me that actually my daughter was in the USA. . . .

“I was shocked when I heard this news. I have been to the Changde orphanage to try to find out any information about my daughter, but the orphanage people told me to stop looking for my daughter, that I was guilty of abandoning my daughter and that I would get into trouble and punishment by the government if the government found out. They also told me to wait for 20 years and then to come back, and then I might able to find my daughter. But it has been more than 20 years, and no results about my daughter.”

There were, no doubt, many instances like this one, where a birth family would have terminated a pregnancy through abortion, but was convinced not to by a friend, doctor, or other person. Thus, the international adoption program can be seen as having saved lives. When one considers the program in its entirety, the pluses and minuses, it becomes more difficult to assess, as there are also instances where poor villages were turned into baby mills, with women getting pregnant in order to sell the child for adoption.

5. I seem to remember at the time that the Chinese authorities claimed and international adoption agencies confirmed that no children from the trafficking (or maybe only a handful?) had been adopted internationally. Do I remember correctly? The stats you share very clearly contradict this.

Yes, the stats do contradict the statements by the CCAA. Again from “Open Secret”:

With the trial concluded in February 2006 and the Duan family sentenced to fifteen years in prison, all that was left for the Chinese government to do was quell fears of the international adoption community as to the integrity of its adoption program. This need was exacerbated in March 2006 when Wash. Post published an article titled “Stealing Babies for Adoption.” The article attempted to tie the recently concluded Hunan scandal with China’s epidemic in trafficking, including kidnapping, of children for adoption. “[S]ources familiar with the investigation said many children were abducted. The court ruled that the director of the Hengdong County orphanage ‘was cognizant of the fact that he had purchased babies that had been abducted,’ according to the verdict, which was read to the Washington Post.” The article created panic in the Chinese adoption community for two reasons: it increased the number of children involved in the Hunan scandal to “as many as 1,000 babies,” and it led adoptive families to wonder if their children had been kidnapped in order to be adopted.

The Chinese government responded to the Wash. Post article by issuing a tightly worded pronouncement to each government involved in their international adoption program: “The CCAA [China Center for Adoption Affairs] informed us that it had concluded its investigation into all of the children from Hengyang adopted by Americans and found that all of these children were legitimately orphaned or abandoned and that there are no biological parents searching for them.”

A similarly worded statement replacing the country of destination was issued to each government participating in China’s international adoption program.

As indicated by an unnamed U.S. State Department official, “The Chinese government has told Washington that an investigation found no children involved in a recent baby-trafficking case were adopted by American families.” Maura Harty, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, echoed that finding in a letter to The Washington Post:

The State Department has sought to determine whether any Chinese child adopted by U.S. parents had been bought or sold. We have not confirmed any such case to date. Meanwhile, the CCAA says it has concluded its investigation into the origins of children from Hengyang adopted by Americans and found that all were legitimately orphaned or abandoned and that no biological parents were searching for them.

Beijing had given it to Harty, and adoptive parents generally, to understand that no children trafficked by the Duan family had been internationally adopted. But court documents presented in the Hunan trials show such a conclusion was unwarranted. Chen Ming, Hengdong orphanage director, indicated that

there were 85 babies involved in our case. Our orphanage [Hengdong] had bought eighteen of those babies. There were five other orphanages that bought the other sixty-seven babies: Hengnan County orphanage bought 22 babies; Hengyang County orphanage bought 11 babies; Changning orphanage bought 7 babies; Qidong county orphanage bought 15 babies; and Hengshan County orphanage bought 12 babies.

Court-submitted orphanage records, however, provide a much more detailed accounting of how many children were brought to the six orphanages and undermine the conventional understanding of the Chinese government’s above statement. Court documents show that the Changning orphanage, for example, purchased 274 children from the Duan family between December 2001 and November 2005. Nearly all of those children were adopted internationally and represented 90% of all international adoptions from the orphanage in those years. Chen Ming’s orphanage, Hengdong County, purchased 356 children from the Duans between May 2002 and November 2005, with almost all of those children being internationally adopted. These children represented 92% of all of Hengdong County’s adoptions in that period.

A similar situation is seen in the other two orphanages for which detailed logs are available. Hengshan County, prosecuted for having officially purchased twelve children, had in fact purchased 132 children between January and November 2005 alone, representing 85% of all children submitted for international adoption by the orphanage in that period. The Qidong County orphanage, officially charged with purchasing fifteen children from the Duans, in reality purchased 122 children in the period between August and November 2005. These children represented more than 90% of all adoptions from the Qidong orphanage in that period.

The Changning orphanage trafficking logs from 2002 through 2004 also detail into which country each child was adopted. Between January 2002 and October 2004, 191 children were brought into the Changning orphanage by the Duans. Orphanage logs show that these trafficked children were adopted to the following countries:

Canada – 32

Ireland – 6

Netherlands – 9

Norway – 4

Spain – 25

Sweden – 4

United States – 111

It is unknown whether the Chinese government intentionally sought to mislead the United States and other national governments about the origin of the children sent abroad by the six Hunan orphanages. Taken at face value, the statement by Chinese officials simply indicates that none of the children had been kidnapped (an assertion reported in Goodman’s Wash. Post article). It did not say that none of the children had been trafficked.

Is Zuyuan a Viable Option for Birth Parent Searching?

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 13:32:00 +0000

This essay was originally published on our subscription blog, but several readers felt it was important enough to be shared publicly.

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Imagine you are wanting to set up the perfect database to locate and reunite Chinese birth parents and adoptees. Imagine that the birth parents relinquished their child illegally, and could face potential fines or jail for doing so (at least in their own minds if not in reality). How would you go about doing this? How would you get the birth parents and the adoptees to submit their DNA to your database to be matched? And how would you do it on a large enough scale that matches would be likely?

Several logistical questions arise: What database? Who processes the DNA? Who pays for the database, DNA processing, advertising, etc.? How are matches made? How are the matches communicated? In which country would the database be managed?

These questions are important, especially when it comes to China. As you research, you learn that any DNA database that sets up shop in China by definition must partner with the national Chinese government, and that the government will "oversee" your operations. You learn that most of the current DNA databases don't use the most current DNA technology in order to save money. You learn that Chinese birth families are inherently suspicious, afraid of the government, afraid of being discovered for having relinquished a child.

So, how do you locate birth families and convince them to participate in your project? How do you convince an adoptee to participate? How much do you charge, and to whom?

Adoptive families have sought a perfect solution to this problem for years. In 2014, we set up DNAConnect.Org as an attempt to provide a solution to the DNA problem. We structured our protocol based on the following assumptions:

1) Privacy -- Since birth parents are terrified of being discovered and "outed" to the Chinese government, it was important that no one in China have access to any information about birth families. Aside from DNAConnect and the adoptee, no one would know that a birth family was searching for a child, no one but the birth family would know when a match was made, and it would be impossible for the police or government to ever know that a birth family had relinquished a child.

2) Cost -- Due to the very real economic differences between China and the West, we felt the burden of the testing should be borne by the adoptive families, not the Chinese. This was a consideration both economically and practically: Chinese families are financially disadvantaged when compared to Western families, and their natural instincts would make it more difficult to convince them to test if there was a significant cost involved.

3) Transparency -- If a match is made, we felt having an impartial mediator was important to insure that all parties were protected, and that no "qualifying considerations" would impact the decision to introduce the parties to each other. This is critical especially in cases where Family Planning or kidnapping may have played a role, as these matches represent a potential scandal should word get out. In cases of impropriety, there is a significant incentive for the Chinese government to hide these matches. Thus, transparency is critical.

These three considerations: Privacy, cost, and transparency are essential to creating a successful data base, and to safeguard the participants.

Recently, families have been made aware of a new player in China, Zuyuan. Zuyuan is a private enterprise soliciting the DNA from Chinese adoptees, and ostensibly working to recruit birth families to also participate so that matches can be made. Zuyuan itself is affiliated with a DNA company in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province called "Gene Town." "Gene Town" is apparently a general purpose DNA processing company, with no focus on birth parents or searching (even references to this company are sparse, and we could locate no official company website). It appears that Zuyuan is simply utilizing Gene Town's DNA processing abilities, but has no official ties to the company. In other words, Zuyuan appears to using "Gene Town" to give itself credibility.

Let us take a look at how Zuyuan has structured its program to see if there is a good probability that it will be successful, success being measured by random matches being made between unknown birth families and adoptees. Any DNA company can take two identified people and process a DNA sample for matching and confirmation. What is needed is for unknown families to be matched "randomly," without prior knowledge of their existence.

First, Zuyuan has created a website directly targeting Chinese adoptees. Adoptees are presented with two choices: Purchase a DNA kit for $99, or upload already processed DNA from 23andMe, Ancestry, FamilyTree, etc. There is no apparent cost to uploading. Thus, Zuyuan's test costs the same as 23andMe and other U.S. companies. Since most adoptive families have already processed their DNA with 23andMe, Ancestry, or similar U. S. data base, we can't imagine that many adoptive families will purchase another kit; rather they will upload their child's DNA to Zuyuan. Thus, little revenue can be expected to originate from the adoptee side of the process.

Things get tricky when one looks at the Chinese side of the company. A Baidu search reveals virtually no web presence for Zuyuan inside China: A Baidu search for "Zuyuan" (祖源寻亲) brings no results for the company on the first fifteen pages of results, although one press story of a Dutch adoptee's search is seen. But results bring no Chinese website, no company information, nothing. It is invisible in China. As a result, no one that we have talked within China had even heard of them. This is a problem, at least in the short term.

Zuyuan has set up a WeChat account that allows a birth family (if they ever were to come across it) to attempt to order a DNA kit. Clicking on the WeChat icon takes a birth family to a questionaire. Before they can order a DNA kit (supposedly), a family must answer the following questions:

1) Your name (Can use an alias)
2) Who are you looking for? Check a box next to "Daughter, Son, Older Sister, Younger Sister, Older Brother, Younger Sister, Other family member."
3) Where do you live? (Drop down menus for Province, City, etc.)
4) Your birth date (Year, month, day)
5) Your phone number
6) WeChat ID (optional)
7) Do you remember the birth date of the child you gave for adoption (Yes/No)
8) Do you remember the date you gave your child for adoption? (Yes/No)
9) How you gave up your child for adoption? (Sent to orphanage/government, put in public place, gave to "finder", gave to middle person, missing/kidnapped, other.)
10) Do you remember the exact location where you gave up your child for adoption? (Yes/No)
11) Does the given up child have any siblings? (Yes/No)
12) Do you agree to have your contact information shared in public? (Yes/No)
13-15) Upload family photo(s)
16) Tell your search story, including emotions, search experience, etc. (300 words or less)

The first question one should ask is why would Zuyuan want to know a lot of this information, and would a birth family complete this questionnaire if they ever found it? Adoptive families are already reticent to put their child's actual name on their 23andMe profile, for example, out of fear that in the future some insurance company might get the data. Imagine the anxiety a Chinese birth family would feel if asked "How did you give up your child," "what is your phone number?", your birth date, etc. In other words, most birth families will not complete this questionnaire. To get a phone in China one must show a government form of ID. Thus, requiring a family to put their phone number is demanding that they identify themselves to the company and the government. This is not a small risk, like an insurance company knowing some disease characteristics of one's DNA. This is the government learning that a birth family committed a crime.

Nevertheless, we asked five birth families inside China to complete the questionnaire with their actual information, including their actual phone numbers. After taking several minutes each to answer each question (most require answers to continue), when they entered "submit" at the end all five received an error message saying "Your phone could not be verified." We are not sure what this error message means, but again it will cause birth families considerable anxiety to realize that Zuyuan is "verifying" any of the information they entered.

One must wonder why Zuyuan has most of the questions on the questionnaire. Given that it will, without a doubt, cause many birth families to not participate, one must wonder what the benefit is to Zuyuan? Why the need for the information on how a child was relinquished? Is it to allow Zuyuan to filter out which families they will or will not assist? Who knows. But these invasive questions are a significant red flag, and would prevent me, who does not even live in China, from encouraging a family to answer them.

Cost is also a significant disincentive for a birth family to test using Zuyuan. It is expensive (699 yuan) for a birth family to order a DNA kit (assuming the birth family ever was made aware of the company) and Zuyuan encourages birth families to test both birth parents, doubling the fee. Zuyuan did admit to us that if desired only one birth parent needs to be tested, but the default option is to encourage both to test. This also betrays a "profitability" incentive on the part of Zuyuan. Combined with the need to have the birth family complete a questionnaire that asks questions and demands information that could jeopardize the privacy and security of the birth family themselves, several large and significant hurdles to participation by birth parents appear.

But Jamie, one of the "founders" of Zuyuan, and probably an employee of "Gene Town", also creates issues. While in China Lan was contacted by Jamie through WeChat (it is unknown how he got Lan's WeChat ID, but probably from one of the many search articles that have been published). At first, he simply asked for us to send him the DNA results of one of the birth mothers we had tested. Lan asked him why he needed it, and he answered that he worked for Zuyuan. He indicated he was working with the Chinese government on a big DNA data base to help with the search. When Lan didn't answer his messages immediately, he became aggressive, sending Lan the "new rules" concerning DNA collection inside China, telling Lan she was breaking the law, etc., etc. He asked if she worked for DNAConnect, again insisting that our work was illegal. These messages came through non-stop for days.

The birth mother whose DNA Jamie sought was put in touch with Jamie by an adoptive family that contacted her as a result of seeing her search story on Facebook. The adoptive family sent her contact information to Jamie without any permission (we had already collected her DNA). Jamie contacted the birth mother through WeChat. As she tells it the following occurred:

"[Jamie] sent a request to add me. He said he could help me find my daughter. If anyone says they can help me, I always add them as a volunteer. He asked me to pay for DNA. I said that I have already done it, and I have done it inside China and abroad. He asked me how I did it in the United States. I said the same way as he told me to. Then he found out on the Internet that my daughter’s information is on your platform. When Jamie asked me, I would tell them that I had entered the DNA in the United States, and no one ever told me that I couldn’t say anything about it. No one besides Jamie told me that it was illegal. I can only say that the government sold my daughter to a foreigner. The government didn't help me find my daughter, ignoring me for three years. When I got in touch with Lan, I found out my daughter was adopted outside China. I am relying on my own for finding my daughter. I have to try whatever method I have. Otherwise, how can I feel at ease? My daughter has been missing for 18 years. I am uncomfortable in my heart. Ah, because of long-term anxiety, my body has been bad, now I can't walk for a long leg. I can't be heavy. I can't be too tired. I have been recuperating my body. Jamie asked me again and again to pay for DNA. I promised I would do it, but I really don't have the money to do it now. I said that I can make money when I am better. If you have money, you must do it. As long as there is a little bit of hope, I will not give up."

Jamie continued pushing this birth mother to pay for a DNA test, even when she told him she had already done one. That is why he hit up Lan asking for the results.

So, what is the bottom line regarding Zuyuan? Several important points need to be emphasized:

1) If this birth mother had wanted to do some research on Jamie and Zuyuan before spending the money to get tested, there is nothing in Chinese available regarding the company. No website, no media stories, nothing that would give her any confidence that this is a reliable and serious data base. This could change with time, but at this moment Chinese birth families have no way of hearing about Zuyuan, or learning about it. For adoptive families this is a significant concern.

2) Assuming the birth mother decided to go forward, she would have needed to register with Zuyuan to order the DNA kit (ignoring the apparent website issues). The invasive questions in Zuyuan's questionnaire would no doubt give her pause, and make her second guess her decision. Since it is common knowledge that any DNA data base inside China must be overseen by the government, she would question if she wanted to expose herself by giving the circumstances of her child's entrance into the orphanage. Give the government her name? Phone number? Most would opt out at that moment.

3) The fees associated with doing the test provided a significant barrier to this birth mother, as it will no doubt be to most. On am income adjusted basis, the 699 yuan to a Chinese family is the same as $2,510 for a U.S. family (doubled if both parents are unnecessarily tested). Adoptive families must ask themselves how likely it is that a birth family will spend that kind of money. Few will.

4) It seems clear that Jamie is one of the primary sources for the current misinformation regarding DNA collection inside China. The recent "rules" relate to the commercial collection of DNA for profit and study by pharmaceutical companies. "The licensing framework treats genetic materials as unique resources for the nation’s collective good and places them under stringent state control," write Yongxi Chen and Lingqiao Song in their analysis of the new rules.

"This robust state control is mainly grounded on biosecurity considerations and the desire for national competitiveness. Anxiety over bio-piracy was triggered by media coverage of the Anhui incident in 1997. Two occupational epidemiologists affiliated with Harvard University collected blood samples for a genetic project from over 16,000 Chinese peasants in Anhui Province without appropriate informed consent, and were subsequently disciplined by the university. Prominent Chinese scientists, in particular Chinese geneticists, called for the government to undertake actions to protect the nation’s genetic resources against foreign exploitation. The enactment of the Interim Measures was a prompt response."

I wrote Lingqiao Song, asking her how the new rules would apply to adoptive families testing birth families inside China: "Does the regulations of China outlaw the personal collection of DNA from a birth parent and transport of that DNA sample to the U.S. for processing by a non-Chinese DNA lab?" Lingqiao's response was short: "From my understanding, I do not think collection of blood outbound for parentage purpose is under the regulation of the interim ordinance of human genetic resource."

In other words, the "new rules" do not impact, affect, or have anything to do with the private collection and transportation of DNA outside China for birth parent searching.

But Jamie, who is trying to get into the search market, is telling people, searchers, and adoptive families otherwise in an attempt to scare them into not testing located birth families, but rather have them pay Zuyuan. However, it is cheaper, insures greater privacy, is more transparent, and presents a much better chance for success to test a birth family through 23andMe or similar, and uploading it to GedMatch. There is, in fact, no obvious benefit for a birth family to test with Zuyuan, and considerable downsides.

Jamie inflates the relationships he has with other search groups on his webpage. Before today (July 22, 2019), his website asserted that Codis DNA from adoptees would be "transferred to all major Codis DNA databases operated by family member search Volunteer Groups in China." According to Jamie these groups include "Baobeihuajia, Help For Family Reunion, Di'An DNA Reunion and Jiangyin Tracing Volunteers."

When we asked our friends at "Baby Come Home" (Baobeihuajia), "Help For Family Reunion" and "Jiangyin Tracing Volunteers" if they had ever dealt with Jamie, all three denied any cooperation, had not had DNA from Jamie uploaded to their databases, and were upset that Jamie was associating Zuyuan with their groups. Within four hours of our inquiries, Jamie had removed all mention of their groups on his website. It is unknown what databases Zuyuan utilizes, if any.

I don't know why Zuyuan is marketing so hard to the adoptive community, and spending so little resources gathering DNA from Chinese birth families. Perhaps it is to try and again fragment the search community with yet another shiny bauble, or perhaps it is to allow the Chinese government to control the search narrative, and prevent "face-losing" stories from coming forth. Perhaps Zuyuan (Jamie) is sincerely wanting to help the search community, but is just loose with his facts and bad at business. But there is no doubt that they are making it easy for adoptees to send in their DNA, but very, very difficult and expensive for birth families. The invasive nature of their registration process, the high cost of processing, and the lack of transparency ensure that few birth families will participate. That should be a big red flag for adoptive families.
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One final comment: We would love for a perfect solution to come about. We spend thousands of hours searching for birth parents, maintaining contact with those that have been located, shipping and processing DNA, etc., all for free. We do not take a single dime for this work. Thus, we would LOVE it if another option presented itself, to allow us to be free from this very real burden. We do it because we want to provide answers and solace to both birth families and adoptees. And we hope that one day it will help us locate our own children's birth families. But another solution would be very, very welcome.

"The Truth About Intercountry Adoption's Decline"

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 13:04:00 +0000

A recent article by the Chronicle of Social Change entitled "The Truth About Intercountry Adoption’s Decline" attempts to rightfully refute assertions made by the National Council for Adoption (a pro-adoption lobbying group) that the decline in international adoptions is a result of increased regulations imposed by the U.S. State Department. After chronicling episodes that resulted, possibly, in fewer adoptions from countries such as Russia, South Korea and others (I say "possibly" because my area of expertise is not in those countries, and thus I am unable to ascertain the validity of those contentions), the article cursively mentions the declines seen in China, the adoption elephant in the room for the past two decades.

Susan Jacobs, the article's author, makes the following assertion:

"Domestic adoptions have increased in some countries like China, resulting in a decrease in international adoptions."

Ms. Jacobs is not alone in making this assertion. In fact, the idea that domestic adoption is the reason for the decline in international adoptions has been promoted by "Love Without Boundaries," Holt International, and others. That the decline in international adoptions is a result of an increase in domestic adoptions from the orphanages is the conventional wisdom of the at-large adoption community.

And it is wrong.

What were the reasons for China's substantial decline? When did it start, and why did it happen? We have a lot of data that detail when it started, and we can rule out many reasons proposed by the adoption community and others as to why, including Ms. Jacobs' theory.

First, let's establish some basic facts regarding China's adoption program. Receiving countries, including the U.S., publish annual adoption figures for all children arriving from foreign countries through adoption. This data show that intercountry adoptions from China peaked in 2005, when 14, 481 children were adopted to the U.S., Canada, Spain, and other countries (Graph has 14,397 due to my ignoring very small country adoptions. I include in the graph the U.S., Australia, Italy, Spain, the U.K., the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Canada and France). That number declined to 10,759 in 2006, a decline of 25%, and fell nearly 20% the following year to 8,744 total adoptions. By 2017, only 2,211 total international adoptions were done from China, a decline of 85% from the program's 2005 peak.

To quickly eliminate one possible reason for the decline: Provincial finding ads mirror the declines after 2005, and thus it is known that the reason for the decline in China adoptions is "supply" related, not "demand" related. The increasing wait times, etc., prove that the declines are a result of fewer children being submitted for international adoption, not a result of fewer Western families wanting to adopt, an arrow in the heart of the "State Department is to blame" contingency.

So, it is clear that something happened between 2005 and 2006 that dramatically altered the number of children coming into China's orphanages and being submitted for international adoption. Is it possible to "zoom in" and see what month the change occurred?

When we compile the findings by month of the top six adopting Provinces in 2005 (Anhui, Chongqing, Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi), we can clearly see when the decline began. Looking at submissions for the twenty-four months between January 2005 and December 2006, a noticeable decline began in December 2005, when findings dropped from about 897 findings per month between January and November 2005, to 608 findings per average between December 2005 and December 2006. Findings continued to drop beyond 2006. What occurred in December 2005 that can explain the nearly 33% drop in one month?

Long-time adoptive families will remember that on November 25, 2005, the Hunan trafficking scandal was revealed inside China and around the world. Prior to that event, families inside China were largely unaware of the international adoption program, and realizing that children were being "sold" to Western families angered many.

Families can debate the "why" behind the Hunan scandal's impact on international adoption numbers -- Was it birth families avoiding the orphanage, or was it orphanage directors changing their programs, for example -- but there is no question that the scandal forever changed the face of China's program, both in numbers of adoptions, and the gender and health status of those adopted. The Hunan scandal is the dominant force behind the decline in China's adoption rates.

But to return to the original assertion. Has domestic adoption had any significant impact on the international adoption program? Have children been adopted to domestic families, resulting in fewer children being adopted internationally? It depends on how you look at the numbers.

China's National Civil Affairs Bureau compiles the total numbers of children adopted each year from China's orphanages, both internationally and domestically. The following graph (drawn from data published here and here) shows the number of domestic adoptions logged by all of China's orphanages (whether they participate in the international adoption program or not) between the peak in 2005 and 2015.

One can clearly see that domestic adoptions from orphanages have also trended down over the past ten years, but did see a small increase in 2006 and 2009. These increases did not, however, make up for the declines experienced in the international adoptions. Clearly, total adoptions from China have declined, not simply a movement of children from international adoption to domestic adoption on the part of China's orphanages.

So, if the children were not adopted domestically or internationally, where did they go?

It seems likely that the collapse in international adoptions after the Hunan scandal resulted in birth families inside China being more cautious when relinquishing a child. In other words, children that could not be parented that may have gone into an internationally adopting orphanage prior to 2005 were now placed in extra-legal domestic adoptions. Although it is doubtful that the agencies quoted above had this in mind when they stated that China's domestic adoption program was growing (it is not), they are still partially correct that more children were being placed informally, rather than allowed to enter an orphanage, even if that orphanage did not participate in international adoptions.

To summarize: The single greatest reason why China's international program declined following December 2005 was the reporting on the Hunan trafficking scandal. Whether it was a result of increased awareness that domestic families inside China got that orphanages in China were adopting children to Westerners outside China for money, or whether orphanage directors changed their programs is not known with certainty, although orphanage-by-orphanage experience tilts probabilities to the former. What is known is that orphanages with known incentive programs saw the steepest declines in adoptions, and many of those orphanages continue offering rewards for children to this day. China's domestic adoption program was also negatively impacted. Thus, a statement that China's international adoption program declined because of an increase in domestic adoption from orphanages is incorrect, unless one attaches "informal" to "domestic adoption" and removes the orphanages from the statement.
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The Back Stories of Happy Reunions: Digging Out from the Darkness of Searching

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Fri, 08 Feb 2019 12:59:00 +0000

The following essay was written by Lan relating her experiences with searching and a recent twin match that was widely publicized.
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“Can you give me a picture of your child that is on the poster? I am searching for it right now.” Recently, an adoptive mom got in touch with me on WeChat, and was hoping I could help a birth mother who came forward and contacted her Chinese guide during her daughter’s search in China. The birth mother is illiterate, and was thus unable to read or write message. As a result, all communication needed to be by voice. I left her a voice message through WeChat, convinced the birth mom to do a DNA test. The adoptive mom invited me into a WeChat search group chat that the adoptive mother had created and with over a hundred adoptive families (a poster group). She was nice and offered her help if I had a poster for my daughter’s birth family search I wanted to broadcast inside China.

“I have been helping my other two daughters’ BF search for decades,” I replied to the adoptive mom, “I know posters won’t help at all with their search.” I wrote her back thanking her for the offer to help, and continued sending her messages.

I wrote further, “I think after we started to search, we all learned and realized that it’s not that simple as we may have thought in the beginning”. “Yes!” she messaged me back, agreeing.

Back in 2000, my husband was able to interview the finder of our oldest daughter in China with the orphanage director’s assistance. He was able to learn all the details about our daughter’s abandonment at the Civil Affairs Bureau, as he was told by the finder.

In 2003, Brian printed out thousands of posters and packed them in his luggage for his trip to China. We planned to return to our daughter’s orphanage town, and we believed if we put up those posters all over her town, especially at her finding spot, those posters could guide us to her birth family.

We also told the orphanage director about this idea for our daughter’s birth family search, and asked for his advice. He laughed and answered me that the poster was not going to help our daughter’s search.

We found out years later why he may have felt that way. We learned that our daughter’s finding location was false, and her “finders” had not even really found her: Their names were just put into the finding document to keep things simple for our daughter’s adoption paperwork. In other words, literally everything we knew about our daughter’s finding was false. Thus, any poster that we could create would have nothing in it that a birth parent could recognize. This is the situation in most cases.

I have often received posters sent from many adoptive families or adult adoptees in their search. I can imagine how much hope and excitement they have at those posters for their search, because I was one of them when we started our daughter’s search. I really wish the birth family search was as simple as I thought 16 years ago when Brian and I started searching.

“Lan, I have a child with anxiety and depression, and a likely missing twin. Should I pay someone to go to the area and plaster the place with posters? When I went with Xixi, we gave them out in person but we didn’t cover a lot of territory. I believe that finding her sister, if she exists, will help her to heal. I want to find her birth mother and let her know that [Lily] is alive, but honestly, her sister is much more important to [Lily]. I’m just stuck now, and getting up every night at 3 or 4 am with her doesn’t help. This is the reality of having a child who has lived a life of trauma and neglect.”

I have received messages from adoptive parents like the adoptive mother above that messaged me at 2 am in the morning, very frustrated, asking for advice about how to use posters to continue her daughter’s search. I had met this adoptive mother, who I will call “Mary”, online through a search project about two years ago. Days and days I have been working with Mary for the search project, I have often found myself near tears every time I heard her daughter’s story.

“Lily’s” sleep disorder really got Mary’s concerned and she started travelling back to Lily’s orphanage to searching for Lily’s history and birth family years ago to try to find answers for her daughter. She wanted to understand what happened to Lily and why. Then she found there are many kids like Lily. The abuse and neglect in Lily’s orphanage had done a lot of damage. “That makes me feel better--in a weird way. At least I know I’m not crazy for thinking it’s possible.” My friend was honest and told me how she felt during our search together and discovered that her daughter was likely a twin.

I believe many adoptive families might have heard or learned the story of “Twin Sisters Separated at Birth Reunite on “GMA” in January 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHeNKMxsqYE

“...... adoptive mother found a photo of the two girls as babies together, leading her to hire a researcher to look for more information about her daughter's past.” This is what was written in the “breaking news” story of this twin sisters’ reunion. It was just a simple sentence as you read the story, but the fact is the “photo of the two girls as babies together” wasn’t easy to find.

In late 2012, some Tonggu adoptive families contacted Brian and requested to put a search project together to try to find out some answers for their Tonggu children. We spent months working and gathering all the paperwork together for the Tonggu search project.

In March 2013, I finally arrived in Tonggu County in Jiangxi province. After a week, I was able to locate many foster mothers who had foster cared kids for the Tonggu orphanage for many years. Many of those kids had been sent for international adoption, and the foster families had never heard any news from the kids any more. One afternoon, one of those foster mothers, was very sweet and nice, arranged dinner at a private local restaurant gathering of over ten foster mothers to meet me. Everyone was so happy and excited to show me the pictures of the babies that they had foster cared, and eager to find out if any of their kids were on my list to find out any news or information about the kids. It appeared that I was the first person to come to Tonggu to look for them all these years.

That was a very exciting and memorable night for me, to have dinner together with all the foster moms who came, and chat with them. Some of the foster mom had tons of questions and didn’t want to believe I came all the way to Tonggu from the USA. One of the foster moms started to cry, and told me that she had been living in the fear for years because she heard that kids adopted outside China were used to selling for organs.

Back at the hotel later that night, I saw that there was one foster mother on my list that I had not located yet. The next morning, after I had packed and checked out of the hotel, just as my driver turned at the intersection to leave Tonggu , I asked my driver to stop. I wanted to give a last try to locate my missing foster mother. Hours later, after speaking to many local people in the town, I was finally able to find out where this foster mom’s living apartment building was. But no one was at home when we knocked on the door. I waited, and after a few hours finally the foster mom returned home from morning shopping. After my explanation as to why I was there, the foster mom invited me into her apartment and excitedly show me the baby pictures of the kids that she had foster cared from the Tonggu orphanage. My driver was waiting for me in the car, parked near the apartment building. “You have to leave Tonggu! Hurry!” Suddenly, I got a call from one of the other foster mothers that we met the day before. “….The orphanage people just found out you are meeting with us. They are looking for you all over Tonggu! You really need go, right now!!! It’s not safe for you in Tonggu!” the foster mom cried out on the phone with fear.

I finished taking all the pictures of the baby pictures that the foster mother got out from her little treasure box, writing down all the names of the babies in a list in my research note book. I then rushed out the foster mom’s apartment after hugging the foster mom and warned the foster mom not to mentioned anyone about our visit. I jumped into the taxi, and straightly headed out of Tonggu.

That night, I never thought that this foster mom that I had located and met before I got chased out of Tonggu by the Tonggu orphanage people, would lead to the story of “Twin Sisters Separated at Birth Reunite” on YAHOO and Good Housekeeping in December 2016, and on GMA and ABC News in January 2017.

On this Tonggu trip, I also learned that some of the Tonggu adoptees were born in Hunan Province, then sent to Tonggu by arrangement of people in contact with the Tonggu orphanage. I also learned that some of the Tonggu kids were originally from the Tonggu area and foster cared by the foster moms in Tonggu, but then transferred to other orphanages for international adoption. I also learned that some of the Tonggu kids actually had been picked up at the hospital by a Tonggu orphanage employee, and taken straight to the foster mom’s house for foster care soon they were new born, etc.

As soon as I returned home to the States, Brian sent out an email to all the Tonggu adoptive families that he had been in touch with about finding ads, including the adoptive mom who adopted the sister of the twin, and told those Tonggu adoptive families we had foster mom information and baby pictures of their Tonggu daughters if they were interested. But he only got responses from a few Tonggu adoptive families.

Around December 2016, Brian got a finding ad order request from Audrey's mother, and we finally we got a chance to provide this photo of the two girls as babies together being held in the arms of their foster mom, and the orphanage record indicating the two girls were identical twins. Brian had attempted to reach out to the other adoptive family already, since they had also contacted us in the past, but had gotten no response. This time he sent a more targeted email. Again no response (When contact was finally made, it was from a different email, so the early messages may have never been received). Audrey's mother, through some social media sleuthing, was able to track them down and share the news with them. This created this happy reunion with tears and hugs everywhere online later.

After I read the story “Twin Sisters Separated at Birth Reunite on “GMA” on line, I often thought, “What if the foster mom didn’t keep the record of the kids that she foster cared? What if she had not spent her own money to take this picture of her with the twin sisters at the photo store for her memories? What if the adoptive mom had written Brian for the foster mom information back in 2013, or what about if Audrey's mother had never contacted Brian for her daughter’s finding ad? Would this twins sisters' reunion story ever happened?

Less then 10 days after we provided the photos and the foster family information to Audrey's mom, the reunion story was publicized on YAHOO. We had no idea that this story would come out! This story was picked up in China by the Jiangxi Province news in China, and the foster mom got called into a serious meeting and questioned by the orphanage director. The director of the orphanage was getting a lot of pressure from the Civil Affair Department people, questioning him as to how it was possible that the foster mom has let this kind of information out about the twin sisters’ story. “This is serious! What should we do?.....” the foster sister kept messaging me and calling me online at 2 or 3 am for the first two days after the news in China. She begged for my help and advice as to what her mom should to do?

I told the sister her mom had done nothing wrong, and didn’t need to be afraid of the orphanage people. Finally I calmed her down and told her to tell her mom how to answer the orphanage people. About a week later, I got a message back from the foster sister who told me that her mom was fine, besides getting a serious warning from the orphanage.

Mary was exasperated. “Most adoptive parents don’t care and live in a world of blissful ignorance until their hand gets forced,” she messaged me, “I am completely fine with adoptees who make the informed choice not to search. I am not ok with parents preventing the flow of information to their kids due to their own fears, or biases. I see it daily on FB.”

I can feel the pain of my friend, who is struggling everyday with how to find her daughter’s possible twin sister, adopted by another family outside of China. Mary knows that her daughter is too ill to travel back to China in the future to continue the search. But finding the “possible twin sister” probably is her only chance to try to get answers and help her daughter.

I was contacted by one of the Tonggu adoptive families in that search project, and sent a picture that she had received from another adoptive mom who took this picture on her adoption trip. This Tonggu mom was shocked that in the picture a baby girl was being held in the foster mom’s arm, and the baby looked just like her daughter! She assumed it was her daughter!

It was so confusing to her. I later found out this foster mom was from a totally different city and she fostered kids for a different orphanage, far away from Tonggu. The picture wasn’t even from the same year when her daughter was in the orphanage. It was simply impossible for the girl in the photo to be her daughter.

"23andMe has a match!!!! Sisters!" On January 18, 2018, I received an email from this Tonggu adoptive family excitedly telling me that she just found her daughter’s biological sister through DNA testing with 23andMe, as I had suggested her to do before. Well, she was very happy with the results and found out the answer of the mystery of her daughter’s “possible twin sister”: The girl in the photo was indeed her daughter’s biological sister.

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We have compiled a listing of children that may be related, but who were probably adopted separately. We are continuously adding to this list as we produce our orphanage data books. If your child appears on this list, please contact us so that we can put you in touch with the other child.

http://research-china.weebly.com/potential-twins.html

Adoptive Family Reviews of Nanfu Wang's "One Child Nation"

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 20:16:00 +0000

If you have seen the documentary, please consider submitting a review for other adoptive families. We will add new reviews to this page as they come in.

Average Rating of all Reviews: 9.5
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"One Child Nation" Review

by Susan Earl (Utah)

I grew up going to the Sundance Film Festival, but I had stopped going when it got too expensive, too crowded, and too much work. But because of my interest in International Chinese Adoption, one film this year did catch my attention, Nanfu Wang’s “One Child Nation.” My husband and I adopted a little girl from China in 2006 when she was barely one year old. I was so thrilled to see that “One Child Nation” had won the US Grand Jury Prize for Documentary, and would be featured at the Best of the Fest, and I got an e-waitlist number of 57!

I had often felt thankful for China’s One Child Policy because it allowed me to be a mom to the most beautiful and lovely girl in the whole world. She is my Sun and my life revolves around her. I thought I understood China’s One Child Policy. It was a choice that Chinese People made in order to better their lives. I knew that they could choose abortion, they could leave their baby girl in a very safe place, or they could pay a fine if they had another baby. But I guess I forgot that it was China.

I was mostly looking forward to seeing more of China and learning more history, and was pleased to see that Nanfu Wang’s home village was in the Province of Jiangxi, which is also the Province of my daughter’s birth. Nanfu Wang was familiar with the One Child Policy Propaganda; she sang the songs and saw the performances on television. But after moving to the US, and giving birth to her first child, a boy, she wanted to return to her village and learn more about the One Child Policy.

In interviewing village leaders, midwives, and her own family members, she learned about forced abortions and forced sterilizations, babies deserted in markets and covered in flies and maggots, dead fetuses in garbage bags littered throughout garbage dumps, and even extortion by Family Planning Officials. Then in 1992 when international adoption became available in China, Human Traffickers were even introduced. What was happening? This wasn’t how I understood Chinese Adoption. I was feeling as shocked as Nanfu Wang, and even a little uncomfortable thinking I had financially supported this demand for human trafficking. I realized that this was a very personal documentary for Nanfu Wang, and for me, too.

And then Lehi, Utah appeared on the screen, and there was an audible gasp from the audience, but, after all, we were in Utah. And I was watching Brian Stuy and his wife, LongLan, who I had met at several local “Families with Children from China” (FCC) events, along with their 3 daughters who were also adopted from China. I learned more about “Research-China”, the company owned and operated by the Stuy family which was created in response to the Stuys’ daughter’s hope of learning more about her biological family, and then, consequently, being able to offer other parents information about their child’s early story to help “develop a secure sense of self as they grow up.”

In Brian’s interview, he reviewed the many common birth stories that are shared with adoptive families, like, “Your daughter was found at the police station, or at a busy market, or at a beautiful park, or on the front steps of the orphanage.” Wait a minute, that’s my daughter’s Birth Story! You mean it’s not true? I had discovered that the orphanage did lie about my daughter’s vaccination record, after completing her blood work, so I guess they could lie about other things, too.

Nanfu Wang is happy that she has a brother, although her parents had to fight sterilization and then wait 5 years before he could be born legally. Even her brother acknowledges that an empty basket was waiting at his birth, and he would have been placed in it and taken away if he had been born a girl.

When I arrive home from the movie, I wasn’t sure how I would explain it to my daughter. But since all we do is talk, I immediately told her all about it. She didn’t seem too shocked. When I asked if she’d like to find her birth family, she said, “You can do that with DNA.” I asked if she’d like to meet her birth family, and in her pragmatic way, she said “Yes I would meet them, but I wouldn’t love them.”

Nanfu Wang wants to document history because people should not forget their history. The One Child Policy ended in 2015, and Nanfu Wang wants people to remember its terrible impact on China. The truth is that the Chinese People never felt like they any kind of Choice in the matter at all. I know that people can learn from history, but from what I observe in my own Country today, I don’t know that people really like to learn from their past. It’s probably the same way in China.

Reviewer Rating: 8

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Mae, a 24-year old adoptee from Zhuzhou, Hunan, wrote this review of the film:

I think that "One Child Nation" does an amazing job at showing the history of the One Child Policy that I had no idea existed and the harsh climate that all Chinese people were living in, but I really wish they had more stories of people like me who have been impacted by this policy. I know they did not have a lot of time and covered so much material, but I think that focusing on the families in China was a really amazing perspective I never knew. This movie shows how China controlled the narrative when it came to all international adoptions. They knew parents like you, and mine, probably did not know Chinese and completely controlled the system and took advantage of that. The whole human trafficking component and abduction of children was such a shock to me and just shows how negatively this law impacted the Chinese people. I hope this movie becomes mainstream because more people need to know the atrocities that China committed.

I am really happy that your organization Research China was featured because I never thought I would be able to find my birth family but maybe now it’s possible. I could really talk about this movie at length, but after seeing the pain these families had when talking about having to give up their baby really made me imagine my own birth family. I knew that they may have not had a choice, but I did not know how dire the situation was for them so I really hope my family can find out that I am a happy and successful person because of them.

Reviewer Rating: 10

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Barbara Osborn wrote this review after seeing the documentary last Friday in Los Angeles:

Johnnie and I saw One Child Nation last night. I loved seeing you and the girls. It was a theater full of Chinese young people. Not adoptive families. Not Chinese adoptees. The film attracted young Chinese people living, at least temporarily, in the US and they are clearly struggling, bravely, with their understanding of the Chinese government and its history over the last 70 years. I would be proud of American young people who engaged in the same kind of internal struggle as openly as the audience did tonight!

The film reminded me of the very first adoption informational Johnnie and I went to, nearly 15 years ago. The woman leading it said that international adoption was stepping on a moving train, that you stepped on at one station and geopolitical dynamics could take you to another.

What I didn’t realize at the time is that meant that international adoption was also likely to take us into morally ambiguous territory, not because we were bad or stupid people, but because we couldn’t know everything we would eventually know when we hopped on the train. It’s now one of the first things I tell people who are considering international adoption. International adoption: Morally ambiguous.

I liked the film a lot (I think more than Johnnie), because it depicted the moral ambiguity of those who forced women to abort or be sterilized, those who “rescued” abandoned children at the side of the road in the 90s which led to a lucrative marketplace by 2000, parents and children like Johnnie and me and Zoee trying to manage the moral obligation of birth and adoptive parenting, and to you two, and the brave research you have done for all these years which has required you to manage your responsibility to Chinese birth parents, and adoptees and their loving adoptive parents in the US and elsewhere. That is an emotional burden that I’ve often wondered how you carry. I thought the film captured very well that web of obligation that you respectfully navigate each day between birth parents’ yearning, adoptees’ desire for a simple story, and adoptee parents’ fear of losing the dearest thing in their lives. It made me deeply appreciative of your work and your strength.

Reviewer Rating: 10

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The following review was written by a prominent member of the Chinese adoption community, Wendy Mailman:

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the summer of 2009, when I read an article in the Chinese press, which was then translated into English by Research-China.Org, about family planning officials in my daughter’s town of Zhenyuan, Guizhou Province, taking overquota girls from their birth families and placing them in the local orphanage for international adoption. I wasn’t surprised by the article because for years, I was suspicious of my daughter’s finding information, ever since a Chinese friend living in the US, around 2008, had seen my daughter’s finding ad and those of the other 9 children from the same SWI published altogether and told me: “I don’t believe any of these ads, because all 10 ads seemed too similar to be believable.” This led me to purchase the Birth Family Search Analysis from Research-China in 2009, which contained a link to a man posting on a Chinese online forum, complaining about Family Planning in this area taking children from his relatives.

My Chinese friend contacted the man and he got Chinese reporters involved, who interviewed me for a news story. I never thought in a million years that the Chinese censors would allow the Chinese reporters to publish this scandal, blatantly slamming the notion that these children were “abandoned,” and so the only thing I was shocked about when I read the article was that it had actually gotten published in China. But this was an article in Chinese that the vast majority of Western adoptive parents of children from China would never see. Shortly thereafter, an American reporter based in China, Barbara Demick, writing for the LA Times, followed up on the story about Zhenyuan and also reported the same thing happening in a much larger SWI in Hunan province, Shaoyang. This story was in English and in the US press, but since I don’t live on the West Coast where the LA Times is read, no one I knew seemed to know anything about it. But I thought to myself, “The day of reckoning is coming. Someday all this fraud and lies we adoptive parents have been fed about our children's pasts in China are going to come out and it won’t be pretty.” Well, I guess that moment is here with the release of Nanfu Wang’s documentary, “One Child Nation.”

“One Child Nation” is a documentary that I believe every adoptive parent of a child from China and every adult adoptee from China should view, especially if one truly wants to understand what was going on in China at the time that Chinese birth parents relinquished or became separated from their child. The film was amazing. The cinematography was gorgeous; I thought the individual stories were well explained, although I knew about many of them beforehand and hearing all of various stories made you realize how traumatic, destructive and truly inhumane the one child policy was. Everyone interviewed is deeply scarred from this policy and I thought the director did an excellent job of portraying the emotional toll the one child policy took on everyone interviewed, even for people who had to carry out the policy like the village leader, and the healthcare worker who had to perform abortions; you could even see how emotionally devastated they were, decades later, for carrying out the policy. Nanfu was very courageous to make this movie but I also believe everyone who was interviewed and so honest, was equally courageous, including Brian and Lan Stuy who took a lot of flack from some adoptive parents. But for Nanfu to get all these people to talk so openly and honestly with her, was truly amazing. The one big thing I did learn is when Wang was interviewing the trafficker from the Duan family, he admitted he started trafficking children quite early in the adoption program; he stated 1992, which was the year that China implemented a law allowing foreigners to adopt its “orphans.” So the traffickers were there from the very beginning of international adoptions from China. His numbers were much higher than anything I heard before; I believe he mentioned 10,000 children he trafficked. Wang had to repeat this number several times, as if she seemed to not be able to grasp the enormity of his trafficking. Multiply that by other traffickers and you have a significant number of children who were internationally adopted from China, who were trafficked from one area to another.

Wang does an excellent job demonstrating the vast propaganda that went on during the time she grew up in China in the 1980’s and 1990’s, encouraging (or demanding?) families to have just one child, which was so pervasive that it was just part of life and assumed to be normal. It is only after she moves to the West that she can start to understand the propaganda she grew up with. This got me thinking about all the “propaganda” we adoptive parents were fed about the China adoption program throughout the years by our adoption agencies; such as how “transparent” the China program was, how all these children were “abandoned” when there is now overwhelming evidence that this is not necessarily true, etc. So in the end, I wonder who was really brainwashed; the Chinese people about the virtues of the one child policy or the Western adoptive parents about how ethical the China adoption program was.

Reviewer Rating: 10

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The following review was submitted by Evan:

One Child Nation is a moving and important film. The filmmaker takes you through the history and the effects of China’s one-child policy. The film interviews people who were involved in carrying out the policy, from a midwife that performed thousands of abortions and sterilizations to village officials who abducted babies from families. Their stories were horrifying. The film also interviewed families impacted by this strict policy, including the filmmaker’s uncle who left his daughter to die out in the open. Learning how babies were left to die was heart-breaking. The film went on to interview someone imprisoned for human trafficking (selling abandoned babies to orphanages).

I was riveted for 85 minutes, thinking about how this profoundly impacted the Chinese culture and so many families. Through the work of the organization, Research-China, we learned many of the stories of babies being abandoned and found were simply not true. Instead, oftentimes planning officials would take babies from the arms of their parents and bring them to an orphanage. This was gut-wrenching especially as we have adopted a baby from China. While many of us who adopted may never know the exact circumstances involving our babies, the fact that our babies could have been physically taken out of their home is so sad and incredibly emotional.

This film is an absolute must-see, even for families who are not involved in adoption.

Reviewer Rating: 10

Another Matched Adoptee Shares Her Story

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 21:12:00 +0000

This was sent to us by Kim H., an adoptee from Ningdu, Jiangxi that we recently matched. She lives in the Netherlands.
_____________________

From the moment I realized that I was adopted and that the parents I grew up with were not my birth parents, I have always wondered who my biological parents were. However, there had never been a possibility to find them and after many years, I kind of stopped thinking about finding them. I just kept hoping that they were healthy and that there would come an option soon.

That possibility came along a few months ago. One of my mother’s colleagues told me that I should take a DNA test. Her adopted daughter took such a test too, but didn’t find a match, but she said that it is fun to do anyway. So, I followed her advice and did the test. The ancestry report showed that I am 99% Chinese (not really a shocker though). Then I looked at the family tree and I saw that there was a woman that matched my DNA for 50%. When I looked closer, it said that that person should be my biological mother and I was like: “No, that is impossible”. But then I was thinking about it, and a 50% match could only mean a relationship with with one of your parents. So, after a few days of thinking I sent her a message. After a couple of days, I still hadn’t received an answer, so my hopes faded a little again.

But I was a bit too impatient, because after a week or so, I received a message from Brian, a man who cofounded an organization that helps Chinese adoptees find their biological parents and vice versa. After a few times mailing back and forth, I discovered that my biological parents have been in touch with Lan, Brian’s wife and cofounder of the organization, since 2016. After a few days chatting with her, she asked me if I would like to be in a group chat with my biological family. I was immediately like: “Yes, of course I want that, I can’t wait to chat with them.” So, she put me in the group chat with my biological father and older sister. My sister sent a few pictures of their family in China and I sent a few pictures of mine in the Netherlands. It was really weird looking at the pictures, because it was like I was looking in a mirror. My sister and I have been chatting for a few hours to try and get to know each other. Unfortunately, we had to stop due to the time difference between China and Europe. While chatting, I discovered that I have an older and a younger sister, a younger brother, a mother, a father and a grandmother in China. After a few days, I received a message from my birth father too. He probably needed to figure out how to chat with me, since I chat in English and they text in Chinese. The first thing he said was that he was really sorry for giving me away and that I must hate him, which really touched me. I had no idea that he would feel so much guilt. Therefore, I told him that I don’t hate him, because he must have had a good explanation why he gave me away. Moreover, I am just happy to know that my family in China is still alive, healthy and happy. After some time talking, I discovered the reason why I was the only one that was adopted. Just after I was born, I became ill and my parents didn’t have enough money to bring me to a doctor. The only option for them was to send me away to a welfare institute close to their hometown and hoping that I would be adopted by a loving family that could give me the help I needed.

Talking to my biological family in China has always felt to be impossible, but I was wrong, it is possible. For me, it is the best thing that has happened in my life so far. I had the rare luck to find a match immediately and to be able to get in touch with my birth family. Not everyone is as lucky as me and there are still people trying to find their biological family. By writing about my experiences, I hope to inspire other people to do a DNA test and bring families back together. Of course, giving away your DNA could bring some risks, but just knowing that there are people out there that really care about you and love you let me take that risk.

New on our Subscription Blog: When the Trouble Began

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 00:15:00 +0000

The Hunan scandal provided some detail as to when the orphanages in Hunan and other areas began seeing the opportunity to adopt more children by offering incentives. The Duan family asserted that the rewards started in 1996, a year that saw 4,165 international adoptions worldwide.

Now witnesses in Wuchuan City, Guangdong Province assert that such programs began earlier. Much earlier. Additionally, they provided documentation that shows just how much cooperation area orphanages received from the area police and Civil Affairs Bureaus.

A Matched Adoptee Shares her Story

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 15:35:00 +0000

Michelle wanted to share her story of being matched through DNAConnect.Org to her birth family. Thank you Michelle!!
______________________

Last December I took a DNA test to discover my ethnicity and health. All was fine and we found out I was Chinese (Whoah what a shocker!) The following February I received a notification that I was matched with my biological father.

When I first saw that I cried. I was in shock and disbelief. Looking at the computer screen, I thought, “Impossible! This is too good to be true.” I gathered up my hopefulness and curiosity and replied back. There is an organization that travels overseas and collects DNA from families in China. The cofounder Lan is the one who contacted me. She met my birth father and had him do a DNA test. And by luck I was a match! But even though this was amazing, I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Many thoughts crossed my mind. What if it was a scam? Many people have been swindled out of their money and are left with broken hearts. So I decided to take it easy. I began to message Lan back and forth over the course of many months. I received pictures of the family, but I was still apprehensive. I was then told that my birth family wants to contact me and Lan asked if I had Facebook. I thought it couldn’t hurt to send my Facebook profile. I will be careful. I then got a notification from Zhang Jackson, my brother.

At 10:20 PM Sept. 16 I got a Facebook message from him, “I am your China’s brother.” His English wasn’t perfect, but he got the message across. We only had a short window to talk to each other. China is 12 hours ahead of us. For one hour we messaged each other and talked about our lives. He is 23 and is studying IT at Qingdao University. I learned that I have four sisters and two brothers. I also have six nephews and one niece. My birth family was happy to have found me. I even got more pictures. It was surreal. I was actually talking to my brother. I found my family. We had to end our conversation because it was getting late and I had class the next day. Due to China’s censorship, Facebook is technically blocked. He had to use a “work around” to contact me which wouldn’t be easy in the future for the rest of my birth family to message me. I asked Lan if there was an easier way I could contact them.

She suggested to me that I download a texting app they use in China and add her. So I went ahead and got the app. I received a notification that I was added to a group chat with Lan and my whole birth family. I began to talk to my sisters, brothers, and parents. Thankfully the app has a translation option I can use to understand them. I received and sent more pictures. They wanted to know if I was happy and healthy. The answer is yes by the way. For the past week we have been messaging each other back and forth. I am learning more and more by the day. Sometimes I am up till 3 AM talking to them and then I’m up early the next day to talk more. Most of them are busy with their jobs so it is hard to find a good window to text. However it is worth it. To know an answer to this huge mystery in my life is amazing. It wasn’t like a part of me was missing. The thought never weighed me down with the necessity to know the truth. But now I had them right at the tips of my fingers. I wanted to know everything and so I asked them about my birth.

I was born March 23 in Guangdong Province. I was born at home like all the rest of my siblings. My given name was Zhang Guanhong. At that time my birth family was very poor and they could not keep me. A person from a welfare agency [orphanage] had to take me. My sister said she remembered a lady came to take me and my birth mother cried. The agency told my family I would be back in 20 years. However in order for a child to be adopted in China the law requires them to be abandoned. They cannot have a surname or family in China. On my adoption files, from the Wuchuan Welfare Agency [orphanage], it states I was born February 10 and I was abandoned at a hospital’s doorstep. The Chinese welfare agency [orphanage] changed my information so I could be adopted. My birth family came to the agency [orphanage] to find me, but the agency [orphanage] did not know anything. They did not know I was all the way in the United States because of the forged information. Thankfully they did not give up hope.

Talking to them and realizing what really happened is a bitter sweet feeling. On one side, yes, what the agency [orphanage] did was wrong, but on the other side if they didn’t I would not have the life I have in America. What happened is in the past now. We cannot go back and change it. I have the rare and lucky chance that I did reconnect with my family; which is amazing. I am not the only adoptee that has birth families looking for them. There were eight other babies that came to America in the same group as me. I want to help Lan, the other adoptees, and birth families out there to find each other. So hopefully this testimony finds its way to another adoptee out there. I know there is a lot of risk and you don’t want your heart to get broken. But the thought of meeting someone out there that loves you unconditionally makes it worth it.

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 23:06:00 +0000

New on our subscription blog:

In November 2017, DNAConnect.Org partnered with some families from Chongqing Municipality to produce a search video. The video was extremely successful, and as a result of the video and follow-up media articles, more than twenty birth families came forward to be tested. One birth parent stands out as a fascinating example of the challenges faced when searching for birthparents. Lan recounts how things transpired, and what secrets were revealed in a random DNA match.

http://research-china.org/blogs/index.htm

A New Data Base for Chinese Adoptee/Birth Parent DNA

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 01:22:00 +0000

Given the large number of DNA companies that are available for families to use for sibling and birth parent matching, one might be forgiven to being confused as to where to test. This article is designed to guide an adoptee or their family to taking advantage of one of the most popular "consolidation" data bases, i.e., a data base that accepts DNA from nearly all processing labs such as 23andMe, FTDNA, MyHeritage, etc. There is no cost to upload a DNA sample from one of these companies once a sample has been processed. It is hoped that all China-based DNA will be submitted to this consolation data base, so that matches can be made no matter where the sample is originally processed.

After much research and consultation with geneticists and knowledgeable DNA professionals, DNAConnect.Org has selected GedMatch as the best option currently available for collecting and matching adoptee and birth parent DNA from China.

GedMatch.com is known to many in the adoption community. It is no-fee for basic use data base that accepts DNA from nearly every processing company. The first step to uploading your DNA to this data base is to set up an account. You will be asked some very basic information such as your name (they ask that you use your real name, not an alias, and this information will not be available to others), an alias if you wish to have a "handle," and an email for communication. Once you have registered, you are ready to upload your sample.

To do this, you will need to download your genome to your hard-drive (this must be done on a desktop computer, not your phone). In 23andMe, you do this by logging into your account, clicking the profile name in the right-hand corner, and selecting "Browse Raw Data" at the bottom of the drop-down (if this option is not available, go to the search feature at the top of the page and type in "Download". It will be the first option presented). Next select the "Download" tab. Accept the disclaimer and wait for a few minutes. Order the download, get a coffee, and come back and refresh the page and it will allow you to download your sample's entire genome to your hard-drive.

You will now return to GedMatch.com and log in. From the main page after log in, you will see this link on the right side of your screen:

On the right side you will see your registration information, and a list of all the samples you have uploaded. On the right are all your options. You will want to select "Generic Uploads" in the second grouping of links to upload your 23andMe, FTDNA, or other sample into the "GedMatch" data base.

You will be asked for a name, which will remain hidden if you also indicate an alias. We are using the real names of all our DNA donors, but each person can decide what they prefer. You will select the gender of the donor, the name of the originating processing company (23andMe, FTDNA, etc.), if it is you or someone else that the DNA belongs to, and answer "Yes" to the questions relating to authorities and permissions. You will then select the downloaded file (folder) containing your or your child's genome data. Select "upload" and you are done. Upon completion of the upload you will be given a kit code, which you will need to know if you ever have problems or questions about your sample. Write or otherwise record this number.

It takes about 24 hours for the DNA to be processed into GedMatch's data base. You will then be able to see if there are any close relatives. We have created this article to help you determine if the top matches are significant. (https://research-china.blogspot.com/2021/02/evaluating-your-gedmatch-results.html)

That's it!!! Well, almost. Now that you have successfully made your or your child's DNA matchable to all of DNAConnect's samples and those of all the other families, we ask that you promote GedMatch's data base to every adoptive family you know. Send them this article. The goal it to get everyone to upload their DNA to this data base.

We are excited about the use of this new "consolidation" data base in the "GedMatch" data base, because it allows families to test with the cheapest and most cost-effective processing company, and then upload the DNA to GedMatch for matching to siblings and birth parents. This is really a win-win for everybody, and eliminates the need to test in multiple processing data bases, at great expense and trouble.

Please feel free to help the community by posting your experiences and tips in the comments.

A Birth Sister's Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Sun, 14 Jan 2018 18:52:00 +0000

The following experience was told to Lan by a twenty-eight year-old married woman living in Qianjiang, Chongqing. She came forward as a result of Lan's efforts with the Chongqing Families Search Video.

____________________

When I was in middle school [in 2003], my family were selling small stuff by the side of the road. One day, I asked my mom for 200 yuan so that I could buy some studying materials. She was embarrassed, and told me she’d try to borrow some. I was very upset because I didn’t understand why our family was always short of money. Around the same time, the municipal police showed up and fined us 300 yuan for ‘dirtying the city’. I was a fearless rebel back then, so I confronted them, asking whether the city can be cleaned if I pay. They didn’t answer me. Instead, they wanted to destroy our little place. I fought with them, throwing all caution away. What else could I do? I couldn’t even afford school. In the end, I was hurt but we didn’t end up having to pay the fine either.

About half a month later, my mom told me I would be having a brother or a sister. I could tell she was happy about this, but she wanted me to keep it secret otherwise we’d be fined. I was the only child in the family and I was lonely, so she wanted me to have a companion. My mom barely stepped out of the door after getting pregnant, but somehow the Family Planning officers somehow knew. They came to our house and gave us two choices: Abortion or pay the fine. My mom didn’t say a word, but I knew she was unwilling to abort the would-be child. I asked the officers whether it was true that a family could have a second child if the first born died. They confirmed that was true. I was kind of relieved after hearing this because I had already been planning for it.

Only a few days prior to my mom’s delivery, I went to different clinics and bought a bunch of sleeping pills because you are only allowed to buy a small amount at each store. That night I took all the sleeping pills. The only thought that I had at that moment was to do anything that would allow my family to keep my little brother or sister. When my mom tried to wake me up, she found out about it, and called my dad. My Dad rushed me to the hospital, where I had my stomach pumped.

When I woke up the next day, the doctor told me there might be some damage for what I did, and said not to do such thing again, and that I should communicate with my parents more often. The fact that I didn’t die terrified me, because I feared they may not be able to keep my little brother or sister. After I was discharged, my parents convinced me that the only way to keep this child was to send him/her to the orphanage. Then my mom would try to find a job there, so that we could bring him/her home once we were in better condition.

The day my sister was sent into the orphanage, it was so hard for my whole family to let her go. She was so little, hadn’t even had a sip of breast milk. I did everything I could to stop them, going crazy, trying to grab her back to stop them from taking her away, but in the end my sister was taken away.

The next day, my mom told me my sister had been sent into the orphanage. My mom got a job at the orphanage less than a month later, but she could not identify my sister. She cried every day when she saw the babies. My mom was devastated, spent every day in tears, nursing these kids but not hers. One day, my dad couldn’t bear seeing her like this, so he asked her to quit her job and come home. She did, but in doing so we lost the only chance of getting my sister back.

We have never spoken one word about this ever since, but I know my parents have been suffering too from the first day that we gave her away. Recently, I saw the video that you posted. I feel that this might be our last hope. I want to find her, even though she may hate us. If it weren’t for the Family Planning policy, I would still have her around, and be able to watch her grow up. I wouldn’t let her drift outside all these years. I don’t care if life becomes harder, as long as we are altogether as a family. It’s okay if she doesn’t want to come forward, I just want to know whether she’s happy now.

Search Videos: Another Avenue for Searching

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Mon, 25 Dec 2017 14:57:00 +0000

The success of a recent search video organized by some Chongqing adoptive families with children from that area highlights some important lessons on how to produce a "viral" video.

The Chongqing video was uploaded on November 28, and as of this writing has been viewed over 8,400 times on Youku, as well as an unknown number of views on other uploads of the video (several in-country newspapers, TV and other sites have uploaded the video to their sites). A half dozen newspapers and TV stations have broadcast stories about the search. So far, nearly three dozen birth families have come forward, and activity surrounding this search video is still growing. Some of those that have come forward are from other Provinces, such as Anhui Province. One of the video's participants, "Lilly", is being interviewed for a serial print and web feature promoting the search. As the Global Times exclaimed, the video "has gone viral on the Chinese Internet, prompting calls for a rethink of China's welfare system and gender equality."

It is impossible to predict with certainty which videos will be successful, and which ones won't, but several things done by the Chongqing families increased their project's visibility. The Chongqing video contained no Chinese names, no child-specific information at all. The preface of the video states "you may think your child was adopted by a family inside China." The Chongqing video intentionally avoid giving any clues, other than the orphanage of origins, as to which birth parents are being sought.

This is, in my opinion, one of the main reasons why the Chongqing project video garnered so much attention inside China. Rather than focusing on locating the birth parents for specific children, the Chongqing video said, "You are all our parents." The Chongqing video was apparently designed to appeal to everyone. Not only were the children from all parts of the globe, but they represented disparate orphanages within Chongqing itself -- Xiushan, Youyang, Qianjiang, Fuling, etc. This gave it a very broad geographical appeal. Additionally, the children themselves ranged in age from 2 years old to children in their late teens or early twenties, twins, boys, etc. The project was all-inclusive. It represented, in a literal sense, every child ever relinquished in Chongqing. A viewer in China would be much more inclined to pass on this video because the birth parents being sought could be literally everyone. The Chongqing video, to use a fishing metaphor, is like taking a large net from shore to shore with the design to capture every fish in the river, with the hope that one of those fish is the one sought after.

So, future search videos would do well to learn from this project. A few key takeaways that seem to give a video "legs" are":

1) Rather than focus on locating specific birth parents, make the video to locate every birth parent. The "wide net" model will gain more interest, since it speaks to more people, and thus gets more media attention.

2) Use the video to educate a birth parent that even though they think their child was adopted by someone in a neighboring village, in fact that may not be true. Create a sense of doubt. This is critical to get past the story many, if not most, birth parents were told about the destination of their child after relinquishment. The video must penetrate the significant mental barrier that exists in the mind of many birth parents that the images seen "can't be my child, for she was not adopted internationally." Without accomplishing that goal, the search will fail.

3) Avoid giving specific dates and details that are not known with certainty, as that will only cause potential birth families to not come forward. It must be assumed that the information -- birth dates, finding dates, locations, etc. -- is inaccurate, and thus providing them may cause potential matches from not coming forward since they will feel that the match is not theirs.

4) Try to incorporate something into the video that gets one's attention. The Chongqing project created a very smooth and cute transition technique with the "high fives" that each child did to move the video to the next child. With the disparate ages and physical locals of each child, this was extremely effective. Although separated by time and space, one felt that the kids were actually a unified group.

5) Before launching a search video, do some ground work. Recruit volunteers on the ground and in the area media to promote the video after it is launched. Promote the video to various news outlets. Your goal is to force the video into the public consciousness as soon as it is released.

6) Include as many different children as possible, speaking as many different languages as possible. There is a fine line between too long, too short, and just right. Have friends watch it. Did they remain engaged through the entire video? Was it interesting? Did it make them want to forward it to others? Do some pre-release test marketing to fine-tune the video for maximum impact.

7) Lastly, provide WeChat (preferable) or email contact information at the beginning and end of the video. Many viewers may not watch the entire video, so placing it just at the end of the video risks losing some potential contacts. Do not have the viewer have to go to another website, etc., to get contact information -- most won't cross platforms.

The Chongqing search video, among others, have provided all adoptees and their families with valuable techniques to make a successful search video. If every search video learns from the experience of these groups, more birth families will be successfully located going forward. But the adoption community must recognize as more and more videos are produced that the attention paid to such videos inside China will decrease. Media fatigue may set in, making it harder and harder for future projects to garner the needed attention. Thus, it is important that every project be crafted to produce the greatest success possible.

In the end, a search video should be seen as an absolutely last resort in a search. Other steps can and should be employed prior to publicly announcing a search. But once all of the "discreet" methods have been employed, a search video is a last "hail Mary" option. The goal then is not to search for a specific birth family, but to search for every birth family.

Research-China.Org Subscription Blog Contents

noreply@blogger.com (Research-China.Org) — Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:30:00 +0000

For families wondering what is available on our subscription blog, here is the current listing. We will be doing a "what is happening in China adoption" soon.

Subscribe here: http://research-china.org/blogs/index.htm

Blog Contents:

General

“Where Was My Child Found” (Fuling Orphanage Patterns)

What to Tell – And When (Telling your child their history)

“Modern” Dying Rooms (Dianjiang Orphanage)

Why Birth Parent Searches Are Simple (And Why Most Adoptive Families Will Never Succeed With Them)

Police Reports: Why They're Important & Why They Are Not

"The Missing Girls of China" -- David Smolin

Putting the "Quota" Myth to Bed

When Problems Come Home

One-on-One with an Orphanage Director

Creative Searching Techniques by Chinese Birth Families

"Feeling, Reason & the Law of China are Contradictory"

Changing the Birth Dates of Adoptees

Birth Parent Search Results -- LePing, Jiangxi

The Dark Side of China's "Aging Out Orphan Program

Time to Change the Usual "Story"

Selective Abortion in China: A Personal Experience

A Research Project Ride-Along

How & Why an Orphanage Joins the IA Program

The History of China's International Adoption Program (NYU Presentation)

The Wide Cultural Divide

LWB and the Demographics of China Adoption

Open Secret: Cash & Coercion in China's IA Program

Lan's Journal of Life & Research (Part I)

Lan's Journal of Life & Research (Part II)

What an Actual Finding Can Tell Us About Our Own Child's Finding

Covering Adoption Corruption from Inside China

Last Night of an Abandoned Baby Island

Are There Issues with China's SN Program?

Shedding Tears, Real and Fake

Trafficking

Promises, Promises! (Lying to Birth Families)

The CCAA’s Tacit Approval of Trafficking

"Adoption from China is a 'politically sensitive issue'"

"If you don’t pay any money, how will you find any babies?"

Unwinding an Adoption?

Poyang, Jiangxi: China's New "Orphan Program"

The Fuping Scandal and China's Increasing Special Needs Program

The Fuping Scandal & China's IA Program

Baby Trafficking Network: Who Sells Babies That Have Not Yet Been Born? -- Part 1

Baby Trafficking Network: Who Sells Babies That Have Not Yet Been Born? -- Part 2

A "Type and Shadow" the Guixi Orphanage Scandal

Analysis

The Devil is in the Details (2009 Orphanage Submissions)

A Look at the Provinces I: Chongqing Municipality

A Look at the Provinces II: Jiangxi Province

A Look at the Provinces III: Hunan

A Look at the Provinces IV: Guangxi

A Look at the Provinces V: Guangdong

A Look at the Provinces VI: Jiangsu

A Look at the Provinces VII: Anhui

A Look at the Provinces VIII: Henan

Birth Parent Searching

Why Birth Parent Searches Are Simple (And Why Most Adoptive Families Will Never Succeed With Them)

Birth Parent Search Results -- LePing, Jiangxi

Another Wrinkle in Birth Parent Searching

10 Commandments of Birth Parent Searching

Utilizing Searchers Inside China for Birth Parent Searching

Searching Birth Parents I

Baby Come Home -- A Valuable Tool for BP Searching?

Is Zuyuan A Viable Option for BP Searching?

Is Taking DNA Out of China Illegal?

Birth Parent Stories

Birth Parent Stories I (Hunan/Jiangxi)

Interview with a Birth Mother of a SN Child

A Birth Father's Very Lucky Message

Hunan Scandal

“Information from Hunan I: Thirteen Case Studies”

II: Changning Orphanage Director Police Interviews

III: Director Chen Ming's Rebuttal of Trafficking Charges

An Interview with the Duan Family Matriarch

The Duan Trafficking Logs

Bringing the Hunan Scandal Into Focus

The Impact of the Hunan Scandal on China's Adoption Program

2003 Hunan Scandal Interview

When the Trouble Began