Chinese Earthquake, U.S. Parents
China Disaster is Felt Close to Home in America
“We are all haunted by the children we left behind,” said Kelly Gallagher in an interview with the Racine (Wisconsin) Journal Times May 15, 2008, a day after hearing the news of the earthquake in China. Kelly is one of the many adoptive parents of children from that country, and she and her group have maintained close ties with the area.
"We all traveled to China to adopt our children, which was a life-changing experience without a doubt. One of the most difficult aspects of what was a joyous experience was visiting the orphanages that housed far too many children. We are all haunted by the children we left behind."
Families and Adopted Chinese Children Retain Close Ties
In Racine, the adoptive families are committed to each other, largely due to their participation in the Southeast Chapter of Families with Children from China and Asia. The children come from different orphanages, which was not unusual, since four or five orphanages might combine adoptive families in a single travel group to China. Because of their shared experiences, the families’ attachments to the orphanages are stronger than might be expected.
Kelly and her husband, Dan Dimler, adopted Tess in 2000, traveling from O’Hare Airport in Chicago and landing in Hong Kong about thirty hours later. As Kelly puts it in her website, http://tessieb.homestead.com/chinatrip.html, “We were known as the Jiangxi 10 group because all our daughters were from Jiangxi Province and we were the tenth group to go (there) for the year.”
Kelly and Dan shared the horror felt by the parents of students in the many schools that collapsed, killing almost all of the children. China’s one child policy meant that for most of those parents, it was the loss of their only child.
Group Offers Liaison for News and Aid to Orphanages in China
According to the Southeast Chapter of Families with Children from China and Asia, “Area families whose adopted children were born in this area (the 7.8 magnitude earthquake centered in Wenchaun, Sichuan, China) have been anxious to hear news of the effects of the earthquake on the orphanages in the area and the welfare of children remaining in these institutions.”
The Southeast Chapter of Families with Children from China and Asia is a not-for-profit group of families who have adopted children from China, Korea and other Asian countries. FCC&A works to promote Asian adoption and assists families currently waiting to travel for adoption, and it organizes assistance for children who remain in Asian orphanages. Further information about FCC&A can be found at the group's website, www.adoptracine.org.
