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Adopted children trace roots to China

By Wang Zhuoqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-25 07:23

Sally de Jongh plays with her adopted daughter, Catherine, at an adoption center in Beijing on Tuesday. De Jongh, and 36 other overseas families from six countries, who adopted children from China, were in the country for a root-tracing trip. The children will revisit their birthplaces and former orphanages. [Photo by Guan Xin/China Daily]

When Lisa Juskowitz met her adopted daughter for the first time seven years ago in China, she held the child tight and immediately felt a bond.

"I knew she was hurting inside," Juskowitz said. "She needed someone to look after her."

The child cried and cried - for about three hours she says - during the greeting.

But the most magical thing happened on the bus ride back to Juskowitz's hotel: The child stopped crying.

Instead, she simply looked up at her new mother, smiled and began playing with Juskowitz. The pain had seemingly gone away.

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Yesterday, Juskowitz, who hails from the southeastern state of Florida in the United States, along with her daughter joined 36 other adoptive families from seven countries on a return trip to China to search out their children's roots.

"It was heartwarming to see the place where I and my daughter were connected by destiny seven years ago," said the 51-year-old single mother, tears welling up in her eyes.

"She is a blessing to me," she said. "I cannot imagine my life without her."

The roots-finding trip has been held for more than 500 families by the Bridge of Love Adoption Service, an adoption agency under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, since the country became an adoptive destination in 1992.

Families left for Guangzhou and Wuhan yesterday afternoon to visit orphanages where the children were adopted following tours of the Great Wall and the Forbidden City on Monday and Tuesday.

Liu Xiaolei, head of the Bridge of Love Adoption Service, explained that as the adopted children grow older, questions about their origin will arise.

"The trip will ease doubts of their identity," Liu said. "The answers help them find themselves."

Milou and Suze Visser, 11 and 7 respectively, said they were wooed by the beauty of their birth nation and the loveable panda. They were also surprised by the traffic jams and crowds.

The two children have been everything and more to Yan Visser and Marian Visser, who both grew up in a village in the Netherlands.

"When we were thinking about adoption, we had strong feelings about China," Yan Visser said.

"Chinese people are kind and smart. And our children turned out to be like that."

British couple Sally and Lawrence de Jongh were teaching their children how to use a camera to record children learning Chinese calligraphy and songs on the trip.

"My older one Elisabeth always has a lot of questions about her birth mother."

"China was just a dream until they came to visit. The trip is a chance for her to see what her country is like," Sally de Jongh said.

The family celebrates Chinese New Year and reads books about the country.

"China's economy is rising and the family tie is a bridge for us and for the children," she said.