Hong Kong Outlook Building Bridges Through Adoption By VIVIAN CHIU	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
米中両国を結ぶ養子縁組 アメリカのコロラド州に、子供のできないアメリカ人に中国人の赤ちゃんとの養子縁組を斡旋する非営利団体CCAIがあります。運営しているのは中国人夫妻。CCAI設立のいきさつとその活動、そしてCCAIを通じて中国の孤児院などから子供を引き取ったアメリカ人の喜びの声を紹介します。

Lily Nie and Joshua Zhong came to the United States from China several years ago to pursue an education. They have realized their dream and now they are fulfilling the dreams of hundreds of Americans who yearn for children. For the past five years the couple have been building a bridge over which Americans can reach out and adopt abandoned Chinese babies, especially girls. In 1992, the husband-and-wife team founded Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI), a nonprofit organization based in Colorado.

"When we first came, we never thought of starting an adoption agency," said Zhong, 34, who was born in Liaoning Province in China, and now has a doctorate in comparative ethics. "We just came to study. But when we saw all these babies being abandoned in China, we realized there was something we could do to help. Families in America want children and the orphans in China need a home." His wife, Lily Nie, from China's Hunan Province, has doctor of jurisprudence and master of business administration degrees. She is an attorney familiar with Chinese adoption law.

CCAI began humbly, but CCAI has arranged more than 500 adoptions since sending the first group of American parents to Hunan five years ago. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 16 to 17 percent of married couples in America are infertile. More than 50 percent of American couples are willing to open their home to children ― from anywhere ― even when they have children themselves.

In a hotel coffee shop in Nanchang 16 beaming parents from America cuddled their newly adopted baby girls.

"The babies need a home," stressed Zhong. "If they just grow up in an orphanage, they'll still go to school, find a job and get married but something will be missing in their life. We feel it is better for them to grow up in a loving home rather than an orphanage.

"Adoption is a serious matter in China and we work closely with the Chinese government. We want to follow the law," Zhong said. CCAI sends a dossier ― a summary of the adoptive parents' background ― to the Chinese government. After they approve it, the Chinese authorities send notification to CCAI, which then organizes a trip for the adoptive parents to meet their babies in China. "When the children grow up in America, they will play a very important role in the relationship between China and America. They will bring the two countries closer in the 21st century," Zhong said.

Back in the hotel, Charles Bushman sat on the carpeted floor playing with his baby daughter Carly Yan-tou. Bushman, 37, an engineer, and his wife Lisa, 38, a nurse, have been married for eight years and for four years they have tried unsuccessfully to start a family. Then came Carly. "When we first saw her, we just fell in love with her. She's perfect." Bushman said. "We also want her to know about Chinese culture, where she came from. She will definitely learn Chinese."

Like the Bushmans, Bruce Westerhoff, 35, and his wife have tried unsuccessfully to have a child. This is the second time Westerhoff has visited China to adopt a baby. "The adoption agency is very professional, very caring in what they do. Lily Nie understands the Chinese law and American law, so she knows what to do. She feels pity for the babies in China's orphanages," Westerhoff said.

He adopted his first baby, Lily Eileen, in Hangzhou two years ago. She was malnourished at the time. Since moving to Colorado, her skin color has turned from pale to a healthier color and she is more robust. "Her favorite food is pizza and she eats it upside down and the toppings fall off. She lets me cuddle her and calls me `Daddy' when I come home," the happy father said. Lily is trying to speak English but still knows more of her native language. "We are planning to take her to a Chinese school to try to preserve her culture as much as we can," Westerhoff added. CCAI is trying to develop a Chinese school with Chinese teachers who will teach both English and Chinese subjects to adopted Chinese children.

Carol Free, 45, from Santa Cruz, Calif., is one of many single people interested in adoption. She is the doting mother of Katherine Mei-ling. "She's the best thing in the world, she's gorgeous," she said. Free worked as an audiologist in a nursing home for 22 years and about three years ago she started her own business. "I knew that some day I would be adopting. I just wanted to wait until I got to the point in my life where I was very stable financially.

"I need her to make my life complete. I have so much to offer her: good health, good family, good education. We'll go to the beach on weekends. I have dogs, cats, chickens and a cute little house," Free said. At the age of 18, Free gave up her own child for adoption. "I've always felt that loss. I made a promise to myself and to society that I would adopt a baby to make up for having a baby that I had given to somebody else." As soon as Katherine turns five, Free will get her a pony. "I would like to adopt more than one child may come back to China two years later and adopt a little girl. Then we'll get three horses," Free said.

Shukan ST: Aug. 1, 1997

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