Thursday, December 21, 2006
ELLSWORTH — A Chinese baby girl, abandoned when 6 days old under a highway overpass in Hunan Province, is getting ready to spend her first Christmas with her adopted family on Riverside Lane.
George Russell and Mary Pat Champeau adopted Jing Hui Fan last summer, after more than two years of trying to adopt a child. Jing Hui means “smart” in Chinese.
Millions of Chinese girls have been abandoned as Jing was as a result of China’s population-growth policy, according to Russell. China’s overpopulation problem prompted the government to institute the Planned Birth policy, which varies from rural to urban areas.
“You can’t have a baby unless you get a certificate,” said Russell. Those who have a girl can apply a few months later for a second permit, but “that will be it, no matter what.”
When a woman grows up, her responsibilities shift to her husband’s family, Russell said. Those who have sons consider themselves fortunate because sons will take care of them in their old age.
China has no social welfare programs, Russell said.
“You reach a point where you can no longer provide for yourself and you’ll basically starve,” he said.
“If you’re a girl, you go to an orphanage,” Russell said. “There they sit. After a while, they get a little older and start working in the orphanage and that’s that.”
Mothers leave their babies in heavily trafficked areas, Russell said. Many think the mothers stay and watch until they see a police officer pick up the baby, he said.
Some mothers make a notch in the baby’s ear or some other identifying mark in hopes of someday recognizing their children.
Russell has a photo of an abandoned baby, neatly dressed and swaddled, lying in a cardboard box next to bags of baby clothes, bottles and food.
“Someone has been forced to abandon their daughter in the hopes of getting a permit to have a boy,” Russell said. “In that picture, I think it reflects how hard it is for the mom to let that baby go.”
“If I had one wish, I’d like to tell Jing’s mom that she’s OK,” Russell said. “That she’s loved.”
And loved she is, by Russell and Champeau, siblings Liam, 15, and Claire, 11 — as well as seven cats and three dogs.
Jing looks as if she belongs with the family, which is no coincidence.
The Chinese “read faces” to match children with adoptive families, Russell said. They do this by studying photos of the prospective parents and children.
Russell said the family’s guide told them, “‘She has a long face, just like you, George.’”
Russell and Champeau had asked for and were expecting a child — not a baby — until a few weeks before their departure for China.
“We thought there would be somebody waiting there, starting to lose hope,” Russell said.
Champeau got a call from the adoption agency while Russell was at work, telling her a baby had been found for them.
“‘It’s not like fishing,’” Champeau recalled Russell had said. “‘We can’t throw her back just because she’s too little.’”
“By the time we got her picture a few days later, we were already buying booties and sippy cups,” Champeau said.
Their son Liam, a student at George Stevens Academy, made a film to welcome Jing. It features Hancock County families who have adopted Chinese girls.
At Christmas, Jing and her new family will be visited by relatives.
“…I’m sure she’ll receive many gifts but for us, she is the gift,” Champeau said. “We are crazy about her.”
American adoption of Chinese children is ticking upward.
Last year, 7,906 children were adopted, according to the U.S. Department of State. In 2002, 5,053 were adopted. Russell said there’s a designated line at the Los Angeles Airport for those adopting.
In China, abortions are free, Russell said. But there are laws restricting women from determining the sex of their unborn child.
A new government policy allows a couple to have two children if both the mother and father are only children, according to a report in The Shanghai Daily Tuesday.
The article stated that China’s population would be 400 million higher than it is now without the one-child policy.
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