…The Fentons are one of thousands of families who have adopted children from China and brought them to be raised in the United States. As members of a national organization called Families With Children From China, they gather at regular events, but usually for non-ethnic social and educational programs, like picnicking or ice-skating.
Chinese New Year, the two-week celebration that began on Feb. 18, is different. It reminds families of the leap in the dark they took when they chose to adopt a child of a different race and different culture and brought them to America for a challenging role in the modern American family.
Most parents gathered here were unable to have children of their own. They chose to adopt in a foreign country because they heard stories about American adoptions going wrong. And while adoption in China was arduous, it was for the most part well run and, most importantly, unlikely to be reversed by a birth mother’s change of heart.
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