The link below will lead you to a research article called “Letting Her Go: Western Adoptive Families’ Search and Reunion with Chinese Birth Parents.” In this paper we have tried to make sense of the experiences of adopted children and adoptive parents as they undergo the process of birth parent search and reunion. Because this is a very new experience for adopted teens from China, it was important for us to try to figure out both the joys as well as the challenges of the process for everyone involved
At this point you might not be that interested in searching, you might be starting to think about searching, or you might even have already begun searching. Regardless, we hope that reading about the experiences and hearing the advice of those who have already undergone this process can help you to consider your own opinions and feelings on this very complex topic.
We wish you all the best on your own journey,
Leslie Wang and Iris Chin Ponte
“Letting Her Go:
Western Adoptive Families’ Search and Reunion with Chinese Birth Parents “
This is the first study to investigate the trend of adopted individuals from China who search for and reunite with their birth parents. The authors suggest that the closed nature of China’s inter-national adoption program and growing ethical concerns about children’s true origins impact the desire to search. Due to the generally younger ages of Chinese adoptees, adoptive parents have taken an unprecedentedly proactive role in this process. This article relies on in-depth interviews with adopted children and adoptive parents from seven Western families who reunited with Chinese birth parents. Interviews focused on the decision to search and methods used; the initial reunion; the development of bonds between adoptive and birth families; and post-reunion views of searching.
