September 30, 2018 adoptee perspective, adult adoptee, embracing their story, older child adoption, orphanage, Post-Adoption contact, September 2018 Feature - Hearing From Adult Adoptees, spina bifida, telling their life story 4 Comments

I was 10 years old when I was adopted. I had spent all my life in an orphanage. I had no idea it was even possible to be adopted, let alone by American families – I thought I had everything I needed. Going to school I knew I was different. I didn’t have pretty clothes, …Read More

September 29, 2018 adoptee perspective, adult adoptee, arthrogryposis, heritage trip, orphanage, orphanage visit, Post-Adoption contact, September 2018 Feature - Hearing From Adult Adoptees, telling their life story 3 Comments

I was adopted at two years so I don’t really have memories before coming to America. But I have always had a memory of being in a bathtub surrounded by colorful plastic balls. I also remember laying in a crib with a purple blanket draped over the top like a tent watching my mom on …Read More

August 17, 2018 birth family, birth family search, Carrie, Chinese Culture, heritage trip, orphanage, Post-Adoption contact, telling their life story 1 Comments

It’s a strange thing, this not having answers about the beginning. A mother is supposed to know the story of the day her daughter was born and the first days of her life. It’s the natural order of things. And the questions have stacked up in my mind these last few years… Was she left …Read More

July 13, 2018 birth family, birth family, birth family search, DNA and genetic testing, orphanage, Post-Adoption contact 6 Comments

This is the story of how we found our daughter YuChen’s birth family 10 years and 5 days after she entered an orphanage in Ankang, Shaanxi province, China. I am trying to do my best to guard the hearts of two families and one very special little girl, so I will carefully share some of …Read More

January 31, 2018 adoptee perspective, books, Chinese Culture, embracing their story, guest post, heritage trip, orphanage, Post-Adoption contact, telling their life story 0 Comments

Patti Waldmeir, award winning author and foreign correspondent, raised her adopted Chinese daughters Grace and Lucy for half their life in China. She’s just published a book about raising them in the country that could not keep them… The Waldmeir family visiting Grace’s hometown of Yangzhou in 2008 /// “Do they know they’re adopted?” Soaking …Read More

May 16, 2017 April 2017 Feature - Love Stories, orphanage, Post-Adoption contact, waiting to travel 1 Comments

We are so quick to fill in the blanks, aren’t we? We get one part of a story, and we use our imagination to complete the rest. But it’s too simplistic to do that with the care of orphaned children halfway around the world… to see an image and create a tragic narrative, hear a …Read More

May 1, 2017 April 2017 Feature - Love Stories, foster care, foster family, Kelly, Post-Adoption contact 6 Comments

Originally published at the end of December, regular NHBO contributor Kelly Raudenbush shared a letter to an orphanage driver who was searching for information about the child he had once fostered over a decade earlier. Given our April theme of Love Stories, we wanted to share this post once again as well as a remarkable …Read More

February 17, 2013 Chinese Culture, Chinese Holidays, Chinese New Year, foster family, Kelley, older child adoption, Post-Adoption contact 1 Comments

Xin nian kuai le! Happy Chinese New Year! A week ago today, we rang in the Year of the Snake with our kiddos. I hung up our paper lanterns, decorated the table with Lunar New Year plates and cups, pulled out our fanciest chopsticks purchased in Guangzhou, and gobbled up delicious authentic fair from a …Read More