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The following story was in today's newpaper. I thought it might be of interest to those that are involved in the international adoption process.

Sunday, June 1, 2003
Complete happiness
20 months after the adoption process began, Maureen and Yenny Ng of Tustin return from China with young Meilyn.

Becoming a parent is always a risky proposition, but the chances of something going wrong seemed especially high for a couple adopting a child from a faraway land in the midst of a deadly disease.

Still, Maureen and Yenny Ng of Tustin chose to risk catching SARS to bring home their new daughter from China last week, traveling through ground zero of the epidemic, grasping for hope amid frightening news.

An unfathomable love for an orphan they had only seen in a photograph kept them going.

"Since we started the paperwork, she's been growing in our hearts," said Maureen Ng, 38. "She was our daughter in our hearts before we got her."

Severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, has sickened 8,300 people and claimed 750 lives worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. The virus fears emerged just as the Ngs planned to pick up the child they called Meilyn, whose adoption had already cost them 20 months and $20,000.

WHERE DO BABIES COME FROM?
Americans adopted more than 20,000 foreign orphans in 2002, double the number of 1989, according to the U.S. State Department.
Rank Country / Number of children
1. China 5,053
2. Russia 4,939
3. Guatemala 2,219
4. South Korea 1,779
5. Ukraine 1,106
6. Kazakhstan 819
7. Vietnam 766
8. India 466
9. Colombia 334
10. Bulgaria 260
11. Cambodia 254
12. Philippines 221
13. Haiti 187
14. Belarus 169
15. Romania 168
16. Ethiopia 105
17. Poland 101
18. Thailand 67
19. Peru 65
20. Mexico 61

The Ngs' first stop in China was to be Guangzhou, in Guangdong province, where SARS was first reported in November.

It had to be Guangzhou, the former Canton, because the U.S. Consulate there processes all adoption visas. And they had to get Meilyn home by May 30, when her U.S. visa expired. Missing the deadline could have forced a two-month delay.

The Ngs planned to leave on May 2. They packed the usual baby stuff - diapers, lotions, bottles - plus surgical masks, gloves and antiseptic sprays – products to keep SARS at bay. Days before their trip, they had to postpone it.Their guide in China could not leave Guangzhou for Meilyn's orphanage in Hunan province without spending two weeks in quarantine.

Options were narrowing as airlines canceled empty flights. On May 15, the Chinese government suspended adoption referrals because of SARS. The same day, though, Maureen found a ray of hope. "There were only 55 new cases in China," she said.

The following evening, 14 days before Meilyn's U.S. visa expired, Yenny boarded a China Southern Airlines flight out of LAX. "We had a window of time and we went through it," he said.

Before takeoff, flight attendants took passengers' temperature to make sure no one had a fever above 100.4 degrees, a symptom of SARS. Upon landing in Guangzhou, the passengers put on masks.

Yenny wasn't just afraid of SARS but of catching anything else that could ground him before completing his mission. While waiting to board a flight in Hunan, he heard a man cough and saw two security guards - in white body suits, hoods, gloves, masks and goggles - move in to keep him off the plane.

"They were very serious about this," said Yenny, 43.

The Ngs were even more serious about getting their daughter home.

Yenny Ng, an architect from Singapore, and Maureen McCarthy, a native of New Jersey who worked for South Coast Repertory Theatre, met in 1997 at their church in Lake Forest and married a year later. They tried to have children, but after a miscarriage in 2001, they moved to adopt.

They wanted a Chinese child, in part because of Yenny's Chinese ancestry, but they also believed that foreign adoption is the best life for Chinese orphans.

Last year, Americans adopted 5,000 Chinese orphans. Most were girls abandoned by parents who prefer to have a son under China's one-child-per-family policy. Many suffered malnutrition or developmental delays, due to poor care at orphanages.

The Ngs filed the first part of their application on Sept. 12, 2001, a day when many Americans felt as if the world were coming to an end.

"We feel like life goes on, regardless of tragedies like that," Yenny said.

Within months, Maureen got pregnant. Amelia Ng was born Jan. 28, 2003.

Just three weeks later, the Ngs received word from their Atlanta adoption agency, Hope for Children, that a second daughter was on the way. A color photo showed a pudgy 8-month-year-old girl. A note said she was found in Xiangyin, a small city in Hunan province, at three weeks of age. She had been left on a sidewalk with a milk bottle, dressed in yellow pajamas.

"I can't imagine what it felt like for that mother to give up her baby," Maureen said. "But it's obvious she wanted her to be found."

After Yenny landed in Guangzhou, he flew to Hunan's capital, Changsha, accompanied by the guide from the adoption agency. On the evening of May 18, orphanage workers delivered Meilyn to his hotel. Yenny handed over $3,000 cash, a standard fee.

"They were careful to say that the money was for the orphanage, not for them," Yenny said.

He was elated and overwhelmed to have Meilyn. She was so much bigger than 3-month-old Amelia. Orphanage workers called her Fei Mau, which in Mandarin means "Fat Cat."

"It seemed like they took good care of her," Yenny said.

He rented a van to see Xiangyin, the girl's hometown, a two-hour drive. Inspectors stopped the van at a roadblock to take everyone's temperature. The road sliced through rice paddies and forests. Traditional tile-roofed courtyard houses lined the way, home to poor farm families.

"I thought one of those homes could be Meilyn's mother's," Yenny said.

He visited the building where Meilyn was abandoned, but officials would not let him see her orphanage. Instead, they took him to lunch, a feast of fried spicy vegetables and unidentifiable meats.

"They offered me a toast and said they were grateful I adopted one of their children," he said. "They said I was brave to come because of SARS."

Maureen wanted to stay home with Amelia as long as possible but, because Yenny is not a U.S. citizen, she had to go to Guangzhou to sign documents. She left Amelia in care of her mother, Rita McCarthy, 78, who planned to leave the Tustin home through a back door when the Ngs returned from China.

"I don't want to take a chance of being exposed," McCarthy said.

Maureen landed in China on May 23, the day the World Health Organization lifted its travel advisory to Guangdong and Hong Kong. The television news showed people celebrating with champagne, as if they had survived a siege.

Other Americans who also refused to let SARS stop their adoptions joined her at the consulate with new babies in their arms for the last pieces of paperwork. A clerk told them to raise their right hands and swear they were telling the truth.

"All I said was 'Yes' and I was about to cry," Maureen said. "It was a very important 'Yes.'"

The Ngs returned home late Wednesday, safe and happy. In their living room, Amelia napped in a crib while Meilyn slumbered peacefully on the couch, sucking her thumb.

In China, the Ngs had worried that Meilyn would catch SARS from sucking her thumb, ingesting germs after touching a contaminated doorknob. Now, that fear was far away.

"I feel like we can finally start our life," Maureen said.

By JOHN GITTELSOHN, Reporter

[MkMw]

Thanks -

I forwarded this (I hope you don't mind) to my husband to give to his XO and his wife (his XO is Chinese) who are VERY interested in adopting from China!

michelle

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Glad you found the story worthy of forwarding. I thought it was inspiring and heartwarming and I'm not even involved in International adoption. Simply aware that there are so many children in desperate need of loving homes. Unfortunately there are also many children in this country in the same situation.

Here's the link to the newspaper - that way you can see the pictures of the family in addition to the story.

(Updated link to story in next post)


__________________
May today there be peace within you. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

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http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/oc...&month=6&day=1