CHINA ADOPTIONS ON OPRAH TODAY

[NEVE and TRISTAN]

late notice for east coast folks...I just turned it on...
the person being interviewed is Lisa Ling (former View hostess) now National Geographic journalist!!!!!
Neve and Tristan born Feb 25, 2003
* EDD 3/19/05 Baby girl BRONWYN
* Adopting siblings in Ukraine 12-10-04
http://home.nc.rr.com/ourbabytristan

[mamaturk]

It also comes on here in NY at 7pm....
Looks like it'll be good!

[redhookmom]

Lisa Ling seems like a very cool person. I loved how she expressed the great justaposition of how in China these baby girls are considered absolutely worthless and how thier adoptive parents think of them as the greatest gift. I enjoyed so much watching "gotcha day."

[Kimberly H]

I didn't see the show today but watched Lisa Ling's National Geographic special when it came on the first time and purchased the DVD for Mia. That said, I have to strongly disagree with the comment about baby girls being considered "worthless" in China.

It is illegal in China to abandon a baby, girl or boy. By leaving a child in a place where it can be found, the birth parents risk heavy fines (several years of wages) and imprisonment. In Mandarin, the term "abandon" as it pertains to these children actually means "left to be found". Bringing a baby to a safe place where he/she will be found and taken to an orphanage or foster home is as close to a birthplan as a Chinese birthparent can get. Mia's birthparents hid her for a month before leaving her to be found. She was healthy when she arrived at the orphange - can you imagine caring for a newborn on the run?

I understand Lisa Ling's point and I really enjoyed her special. I also feel it's my duty as the mother of a Chinese adoptee to educate others about a situation they may well know very little about. Hopefully I'll never again be asked the question "how much did she cost?" or be told "they kill girl babies in China because they don't want them. They hate girls." - yes, right in front my daughter.

Thanks for listening...

[KBecks]

I held Alek in my lap and cried through nearly the whole episode. The "dying room" in the orphanage was too much, I guess. Glad that now many babies are adopted, but I wonder how many are left behind.

I'm an adopted kid and would like to adopt or foster when Alek is a little older.

[hjdong]

There's a book called Wanting a Daughter, Needing a Son that is written by someone who has acutally study this issue as opposed to a reporter on it that expounds on Kimberly's post for those who are interested.

[jd11365]

Kimberly...I thought of you and Mia the whole time I was watching...and sobbing. I loved watching the families meet their new daughters...how excited they were. Thanks for the clarification about abandonment, very interesting.

Jamie
Mommy to Kayla
May '03

[Kimberly H]

Thanks, Jamie! Mia saw the Gotcha Day part of the Natl Geo special and kept saying "baby... mama. Baby... mama, daddy." She got it too :)

I was afraid someone was going to think I was going off the deep end or attacking Jessica with my post and I'm SO glad no one seemed to take it that way.

[AngelaS]

I cried. I told dh I want a bunch of China babies! He's Japanese...lol :D

[icunurse]

Maybe this is why I was getting a lot of questions about adoption yesterday (even though I did domestic). I had mentioned to DH that there many people were asking about the process, etc. Ahhh, the power of Oprah. :)
Don't ever worry about clarifying adoption. We need to do it for our children and to get society to understand how it has changed, what it is all about, etc. I have found that a lot of people don't believe me when I tell them certain things (like no, really, his birthmother can't come back and claim him), while others try and make me out to be some saint who saved him from some horrible doom (uh, no, I did it for the "selfish" reason of wanting a child and to be a family). I'm glad that there are adoptive parents out there like you who take the time to explain and educate.
Traci
~Connor's Mom~
http://lilypie.com/baby1/050204/1/0/1/-6/.png (http://lilypie.com)

[redhookmom]

I didn't feel attacked just naive. I knew/know very little about adoptions from China. Or anywhere else for that matter. (I know a little about Ukrain!) I would love to see that whole Natl Geo special. I will have to check to see if we get that channel.

[crl]

I didn't catch the Oprah, but I saw the Nat'l Geo. special. It was actually weird for us to watch as we had just gotten our referral. We adopted a BOY from China. No special needs. We asked for an infant of either gender (or twins) and got our wonderful son.

It's always a bit funny to me now to hear the standard spiel about what to expect. Girl, small, a bit behind developmentally. Nope. Boy, BIG, a bit ahead in everything but language (and was the day we got him).

Oh, and our gotcha day was completely different as we were the only ones in our group to receive a referral from Hubei Province. So we were there with our guide and no other adoptive parents when we got ds.

Just had to share our experience as it is so different from the "standard."

[Momof3Labs]

I stayed up late (11pm-midnight) last night to catch it - I really wanted to see this episode.

It is always hard to see children suffering so badly, but milleniums harder to watch that as a mother - knowing that is someone's baby, or that in a different situation that could be MY baby.