I think it's pretty common knowledge in the US that many folks go to other countries to adopt babies, largely because of the difficulties with the US system. (I had some wonderful friends who adopted a little American boy, we baptized him at church, then the birth mother took him back. She could do that. It was devastating.)
Have any of you seen the excellent National Geographic documentary by Lisa Ling called "China's Lost Girls," about the phenomenon of widespread abandonment of Chinese infants (particularly girls) and adoption by people from other countries?
Highly recommended...
Anyway, my friends Cynde and Allen, who as you know from this blog if you are even a little bit alive, are in China getting Josie, their new daughter, and Cynde relates an interesting experience:
"Saturday night we were approached by a university student. We assumed she wanted to practice her English. She asked why we were in China and we told her we were adopting J. She got a bit verklempt. She asked if she could take "moving pictures" of us. We found out she and a couple of other students were sent out by their teacher with a camera and told to find a story. They interviewed us about adopting from China. They had NEVER HEARD of people coming to China to adopt babies. As we walked with them toward our hotel, they kept seeing more and more families and saying "there's another one!""
I find it utterly fascinating that the Chinese girls had never heard of this phenomenon. It is HUGE. In fact, in the Lisa Ling documentary they have a part where a family returning to adopt their second Chinese child posts a sign in a train station. It has photos and information in Chinese about their first adopted daughter, and is intended to notify the person who abandoned her there, should they possibly see it, that she is well, happy, and greatly loved. In the segment, local people come up to ask what is being done, and express much humiliation that adoption by foreigners is necessary.
Hmm.
Send the people out to "get a story" and who knows what they will come back with!