China eases restrictions on illegally adopted children

A new policy guideline eases the law on most illegally adopted children in China.

The legal rights of these children are currently not guaranteed such as permanent residence of a city, schooling and inheritance.

The guideline was jointly issued by five ministries on Sept 5, but made public on Monday.

It allows people to register their illegally adopted children without fear of punishment.

Ji Gang, director of the China Center of Adoption Affairs, said the number of illegal adoptions has been increasing rapidly in recent years.

"In less developed areas, the number of unregistered adoptions can be two or three times more than registered ones," he said.

"In big cities where people have a better knowledge of the law, the number of unregistered adoptions is fewer."

Shanghai, for example, between 1992 and 2000, had more than 7,000 registered adoptions and about 4,000 unregistered ones.

Ji said China has more than 20,000 registered adoptions every year.

To adopt a child legally in China, a person must be more than 30 years old, healthy, childless and with a good and steady income.

Those seeking registration under the new guideline will be exempt from these requirements except in the case where a single male parent is not more than 40 years older than the girl he has adopted.

If this is not the case, the man will be persuaded to surrender the child to a children's welfare institute.

The guideline also requires anyone who finds abandoned babies to hand them over to police in the first instance.

If the police fail to find their biological parents, the children will be handed over to local children's welfare institutions.

If people who find such babies meet the necessary requirements and want to adopt them, they will be given first priority.

"It means you can not take an abandoned baby home and then apply for adoption. They must be handed over to the authorities first," Ji said.

He said the guideline will help in the fight against trafficking of infants and children.

Response to Mike Seate Column

Dear Mr. Seate,

It’s taken me a full week to absorb the impact of your column from last Thursday – on Asian Adoptions becoming the latest fad. As an mom to three children (adopted, and my children) it saddened me to read your viewpoint that based on two movies (and not great ones at that) – that children are fashion statements, and not just children.

Chinese adoptions have been going strong for over 14 years, Korean for almost 50 years, and Vietnamese on and off for almost 35. Domestic adoptions have been going strong in the US for over 100 years – with a mixed track record of success. The reason is not a fad, but sheer numbers of adults who want one thing – to parent. Recently, China has been the top international country for adoptions domestically for the past 5 years with over 5,000 adoptions each year – which is probably why it is reflected in the media. And China has a true need, just as we do in the US. But you have overlooked that those numbers from China are insignificant compared to the yearly numbers of domestic adoptions – the last year data was gathered the domestic adoptions exceeded 126,000 adoptions.

I also took offense in your paragraph that stated:
“Never mind that thousands of babies of other races -- most of them black -- go without foster homes and adoptions here and elsewhere in this country every year. It doesn't cost tens of thousands of dollars to adopt a black, Latino or mixed-race child.”

You have confused two important – but separate – issues. The thousands of other babies of other races in the US available for adoption, and they are almost always adopted. And it can cost tens of thousands of dollars to adopt them – even domestically. Whether through a state DSHS program, or adoption agency, or lawyers – the cost of infant adoption can be extremely high. But these children DO get adopted – quickly and easily because they are infants.

If you really wanted to take up a cause you would have done some research to find out that the biggest need is the adoption of older children through the foster care system. These children are of all races – white, black, Latino, Asian, Native American – and all waiting for families.

There are currently 120,000 children in foster care in the US who are legally free for adoption. A significant number of these kids are adopted each year, but the number remains fairly steady – mostly through new children coming into the system and termination of parental rights. There are cases where children remain in foster care for years – usually those children with the most significant of needs – whether medical, psychological, or attachment based. These kids all deserve homes – but the fact remains is that there are not enough parents who know about how to adopt, who have the right skills and resources available to help.

Instead of using your column to do some good – and potentially help recruit some fantastic, experienced parents who may be interested in adoption of older children through foster care, you went to spew hate and ignorance. And for that I can’t forgive you. You disregarded your duty as a journalist to get your facts straight – confusing domestic infant adoption issues with domestic foster adoptions of older children – all to meet your preconceived notions about Chinese adoptions. And, had you wanted to shame Hollywood into their stupid portrayals of adoptions, you would have done a better job of explaining that, instead of sharing poorly researched and understood facts.

Maybe next time you could think through the writing of your column, take the time to do some research – and actually strive to make an impact. All readers got from your column was that you have a weird dislike for Chinese children based on two movies; that you have confused views on children and adoption; and that you have not offered any solutions. How fantastic would it be to use your column and time to educate yourself and the public about some needs – children in your community who are in need of homes, and helping to educate potential adoptive parents on resources that are available to assist them.


Response to:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/search/s_573477.html

And by the way, I wish I wrote as well as these guys did… actually, I wish you wrote that well also….
http://www.popehat.com/2008/06/23/mike-seate-of-the-pittsburgh-tribune-review-doesnt-approve-of-your-familys-skin-color/

Thank You

Well, apology email in hand from Teleflora, the major sponsor of the "Fav Mom" contest. Here is what it says:

Thank you for contacting Teleflora to share your thoughts about the "Teleflora
presents America's Favorite Mom" program. In response to your concerns, Teleflora
is immediately changing the name of our "Non-Mom" category to "Adopting Moms."
After closer examination, we can see how this may have been offensive to moms
who have adopted children -- moms who are indeed real moms to their children in
every sense of the word. In fact, many of us at Teleflora are "adopting" parents
ourselves, including our president and owner. The essence of this category still
focuses on a grandparent, neighbor, step mom, or mom to adopted or foster
children, each one raising and loving a child.This show of insensitivity on our
part was in no way intended and wedeeply apologize for any concern or distress
we may have caused. It was always our intent to salute and celebrate all moms.In
closing, all of us at Teleflora would like to offer our sincerestbest wishes to
all the many women throughout the world who have worked so hard and given so
much to earn the name "Mom."Sincerely,The America's Favorite Mom Team

Hooray for Non-Moms!

Well, in the past 10 minutes the website for the contest has changed. Instead of a Non-Mom category, it is appropriately titled "The Adopting Mom". Next year, let's just skip the category entirely, since a mom is a mom, and actually focus on a great "non-mom" sector - those fantastic women (and men) who serve as mentors, leaders, Big Sisters, social workers, teachers and more - impacting our children every day.

Thanks TODAYShow and NBC. However - if someone had half a brain in going through the writing, editing, legal approval and other steps, this should have been avoided. How did this get past so many eyes without thinking that this might be an issue? Heaven sakes - Al Roker - where were you?? You are an adoptive parent, and I shudder to think that you would be a Non-Dad without causing pause!

Insulting: Today Show's Non-Mom

Ok. It has been a long time since I've been so riled up over lack of political correctness when it comes to how adoptive families are treated. Today - I'm riled up.

The Today Show is running a contest for "America's Favorite Mom". They had a number of categories, like Soccer Mom, Military Mom - and todays least favorite - The Non-Mom. The Non-Mom - defined by some producer who had no clue as being grandparents, step-parent or mom of adopted children.

You have got to be kidding me! I get the idea - but why not feature folks like teachers, social workers, Big Sisters, or other Mentors? But to determine that an adoptive mom (or even a step-mom) is not parenting??? That we aren't parents, but relegated to a non-mom position is insane!

Now, the last time I checked, my daughters birth certificate listed me as the mother, not the non-mother. And I'm not planning on celebrating Non-Mom day on Sunday, nor have my girls been busy with Non-Mom's Day gifts for me at school. All I can think is that some producer or their assistant must have been on crack the day they figured this out.

Needless to say, the adoption worlds right now are up in arms. It's all I'm reading about on the forums. NBC, the show, the sponsors of the show - all have their phone lines CLOGGED (and rightfully so) with families who are upset.

If you want to share in contacting folks, you can contact the following:

America's Favorite Mom Facebook page
America’s Favorite Mom – email: info@americasfavoritemom.com
America’s Favorite Mom – phone: 800-225-7435
Today Show – email: today@msnbc.com
Today Show – story ideas: (212) 664-4249 (like about the idiot who decided adoptive parents aren’t moms…)
Redbook – Letters to the Editors go to: redbook@hearst.com
Redbook – Letters to the Editor in Chief: redbooked@hearst.com
Redbook- Contact by Phone: 1-800-888-0008
USAA - PR Agency for Media Relations: 210-498-0940
Kraft – Head Office: 1-847-646-2000
Teleflora – call: 1-800-835-3356
Teleflora – email to press contact: fposell@teleflora.com

As well as some local links:
tips@komo4news.com (an affiliate)
KenSchram@komo4news.com (if anything deserves a Scrammie, this is it)
newstips@king5.com (competition never hurt)

A colleague blogged about this, and did a great job of putting thoughts into words. Thanks, Chris, for your thoughts or insights.

So, the next question that has concerned me is over the children who watch this who are adopted. Since their mom's are classified as "non-moms" are they "non-children"? Having dealt with neurological and attachment issues, it seems that this could cause some issues...

Needless to say, it was thoughtless and fairly stupid. The question is now - how will they manage this, and deal with the hundreds of thousands of households with moms and kids who are real, live moms and kids...

New report of child slavery in China

Yahoo! reported last week on the latest investigation in China of child slavery. In a recent raid in Guangdong Province, hundreds of children were rescused from factories where they were being treated as virtual slaves.

I think it's interesting to consider that while these children were working unpaid for years at a time, what the economic considerations were for their parents to submit their children to such a life. Was this better than where they were? Were the economic needs of their parents so severe that selling their child was the only option?

Child slavery, child trafficking and infant abandonment all stem from one place in China - the one child policy. However, let's not think that this is a situation that is unique to China. Child trafficking and slavery, is occuring all over the world. While the press is focused on China due to changes in adoption laws, and the upcoming Olympics, we need to remember that this is not a Chinese issue, but rather a WW issue.

That being said, the attention is on China. I look forward to seeing how Beijing will respond to this latest round of press, and what steps will be taken within the country to put an end to trafficking of children.

Ethiopia adoption

Great article on adoption from Ethiopia, even though it was written last year. I love the NYT!

Vietnam adoption update

Well, it's official. Vietnam has announced that it will end adoptions into the United States, starting on July 1st (meaning no new applicants after that date - they will process for families matched with a child before July 1st).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24344474/

News

Yahoo reporting of 8 deaths at a SWI in southern China...

Adoption Issues in the News

Headline: 66 Nigerians Held on Trafficking Charges
Serious adoption irregulaties found with Nigerian women living in Italy, would take children from orphanages and sell the infants in Europe.

Headline: Costa Rico Nabs 14 in Adoption Scheme
14 arrested in Costa Rico as it appears they were paying mothers to relinquish their children for adoption.

Headline: Driver Says Man Couldn’t Care for Baby Girl
In the recent child abandonment case that hit national headlines, the father who abandoned his child told the cab driver that he could not care for the child and that the birthmother had already left.

Time for one-child policy to change

On February 24th a YunFei, a 20 month old girl, was being taken by her paternal grandparents to be raised at their home in Guizhou Province. Instead, the grandparents left the train with her and attempted to kill her by placing her in the path of an oncoming train. Yunfei survived -- with both legs amputated. (Read the full story here)

The reason for this? Her mother spectulated that it was because the she had borne two daughters instead of sons.

The impact of the one-child policy continues to be felt far. Whether through child abductions and kidnappings, to infanticide, or infant abandonment, China need to move forward in as forceful a way as they did when the revolution occured. Truly, if there was need for a revolution, it would be one to shake preset beliefs to their foundations - and change how children in China are treated.

Today the LA Times reported on the potential for China to re-address its one child policy. More important than the discussion of the policy, will be a strong stand, backed by action, in determining what occurs to people who violate the laws in areas like kidnapping and child trafficking or infanticide. Make girls acceptable to family and society. Maybe pay families who have girls; free secondary education for second or third daughters; how about accepting all babies and making them legal, instead of forcing parents to hide daughters so they can have a son; how about hiring and training a force of 5,000 detectives to investigate and crack down on child trafficking -and making the penalty for getting in the way of the investigations worse than if that person had a no-papers child.

It's time for China to wake up, face the rest of teh world, admit there is a serious flaw in the one-child policy, and get aggressive on ways to deal with the issue now and in the future. How many YunFei's are there, that we never hear of? The drip of these issues hitting the press should continue until the impact of the full waterfall is felt and China reacts.

SPD in the News

Great, short video on Sensory Processing Disorder, which Gwenn has been diagnosed with a few years back. This is a great overview for what we are dealing with. Too bad the STAR Center isn't here in WA - it has a great reputation!

http://cbs4denver.com/health/sensory.processing.disorder.2.659686.html

Log jam in Vietnam adoptions

The New York Times published an article today about some of the issues being faced by families who are trying to adopt from Vietnam.

When There’s No Place Like Home

Below is the full Newsweek text on the impact of UNICEF on international adoptions...

Some advocates blame the decline in intercountry adoptions over the past three years on a single surprising source: UNICEF. The United Nations Children's Fund may be known worldwide for helping underprivileged children obtain better health care and education, but when it comes to finding homes for orphans, they argue, the organization places misguided emphasis on maintaining cultural and geographic ties rather than on the child's overall well-being. That's true even when there is little chance of domestic adoption and virtually no public programs to provide care for abandoned children or struggling families. "National boundaries should not prevent abandoned children from having families," says Thomas Atwood, president of America's National Council for Adoption. "UNICEF's exclusive focus on domestic programs amounts to an obstacle to international adoption and prevents untold numbers of children from improving their lives through international adoption."

There is no argument over the need for adoptive homes—UNICEF estimates that there are 143 million orphans in the world—or the unprecedented interest among Westerners eager to adopt. And children's advocates of all stripes agree that when possible, children should be raised by their own families and in their own cultures. But there seems to be a discrepancy over what qualifies as "when possible." Rather than promote research that demonstrates the beneficial effects for all types of adoption, critics say UNICEF plays up rare cases of abuse and corruption and actively discourages developing countries from making more abandoned children available. "UNICEF and some foreign critics have encouraged countries to look at international adoption as a form of colonialism," says Dana Johnson, director of the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Minnesota and an expert on global adoption trends. Critics compare such policies to those promoted in the 1970s by black American social workers, who argued that only African-American families could ethically adopt black babies. As a result, many minority children spent most of their childhoods in state care.

UNICEF argues that intercountry adoption is not the only—and certainly not always the best—option for the world's orphans. Alexandra Yuster, a senior adviser in the child-protection section, claims the organization advocates the inclusion of international adoption in the mix of potential solutions for countries seeking homes for orphaned children. But it is much more focused on helping birth families get adequate support from their governments so they can take care of their own kids. "That's our priority because that will help a much larger number of kids—as will promoting domestic adoption," she says. "It's not that we're against intercountry adoption; it's just not a main focus for us."

In part, that's because UNICEF fears financial profit is the driving force behind many intercountry transactions. Because few healthy infants are available for adoption in Western countries, she says, the amount of money prospective parents are willing to pay to complete adoptions of healthy babies has increased. And corruption inevitably follows the money. UNICEF is especially concerned about poor countries like Guatemala, where private attorneys largely control the process and charge upwards of $35,000 per child—almost twice the going rate in countries like China and Vietnam, where government agencies oversee programs.

That kind of profit margin creates a market where one didn't exist before. "We're concerned with the commercialization of vulnerable children," says Yuster. "It gives an incentive to intermediaries to look for the kind of children these families most want to adopt." Some poor mothers are tricked into relinquishing healthy babies, while disabled and older children living in state institutions are left out of the foreign adoption loop because there's no profit incentive to match them with families. "Adoption is supposed to be about finding homes for children, not finding children for families," she says.

UNICEF is equally wary of the less expensive and more transparent programs in such countries as Ethiopia, China and Vietnam, where a portion of the adoption fees charged by the government is used to provide protective services and better living conditions for the orphans who remain behind. "We think this is a slippery slope," Yuster says. "If the child-welfare system becomes dependent on children leaving, countries may do less to seek domestic placements or work to keep children with their own families."

Critics charge that UNICEF's obsession with preventing corruption at all costs often results in countries adopting such restrictive regulations that foreign adoptions are reduced to a trickle. "Forces at the very top are making international adoption more and more difficult," says Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Bartholet, who has written extensively on the subject. "What this means is that fewer kids are getting adopted, more children are required to spend time in orphanages, those who get out are of older ages, and are more likely to have developed serious disabilities that make them hard to parent."

Yuster insists that UNICEF never pressures countries to tighten their adoption regulations, and in fact gets involved only when asked. That was the case in 2006 in Liberia, when the government requested an investigation after intercountry adoptions began to rise. Of the several hundred adoptions done in a year, she says, they identified 50 that qualified as "relinquishments under false pretenses." In some cases, unsophisticated parents were led to believe that they would lose custody only temporarily, or would one day join their child in the West. Without good data, she acknowledges, it's hard to know how common such abuses are globally. But "unfortunately, they are not rare, and there seems to be evidence that they are on the rise," she says. "When the surface is scratched, violations can often be found."

With Washington set to begin implementing the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption this spring, some experts think that such violations will decrease, allowing UNICEF and its critics to find more middle ground and common goals. "All of these groups want more ethical practices in adoption," Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, an independent research and policy organization. "But we all need to keep our eye on the prize: finding homes for children who really need them." Wherever they are.

Heath Ledger is dead!

OK. So, now you are going to learn something about me. I'm a huge Heath Ledger fan. Not only is he a hottie for a 28 year old, but I have enjoyed his acting in great teen and tween movies, as well as in more serious stuff like Brokeback Mountain. The NYTimes just reported his death, aparently in one of the Olsontwins apartments in NY. I'm going to have to dig into oldies such as Brokeback, 10 Things, and Knights Tale....

Newsweek Article: Baby corruption in China

Well, I've heard about this in the past, but Newsweek has just published an article outlining some of the issues surrounding wealth, priviledge and the one child policy in China. It's interesting that China is now considering adding additional, illegal kids to the corruption rules when dealing with party members. However, what to do with all of their new, wealthy and yuppie urbanites who have the money to defy the rules? Can China continue to police this law, and hundreds of others, when the system that they have allows for the wealthy and party members to circumvent the laws. Instead of being a party for the people, it seems that the only ones to come to the party are the political establishment and wealthy.

While I'm no fan of China's political system, it is apparent to me that this cannot last. The people will not tolerate exceptions based on the size of the bank account or political strings that can be pulled. As this issue, and any issue dealing with the wealthy v. the masses, continue to gain press and notariety, it seems that another revolution may come. It may not be bloody, but I'm curious to see how China reacts and what they will decide to do with their country in the future. They may soon be both one of the wealthiest countries, and one of the poorest countries in the world. And, I believe, they will get nowhere without a moral ground that they can stand on.

Outsourced Wombs

There is an interesting article in the NYT today about women, mostly from America, heading to India to hire surrogates to bear their children.

Am I supposed to be upset at wealthy westerners, getting the surrogacy deal of a lifetime? Do I think that they are crazy pursuing this perfected dream of reproductive motherhood? You know - those types.. they have conquered the business world so they will conquer their wombs? Excpet they are definately not conquering their wombs, they are renting space in another. But is it just for reproductive issues? What happens when a busy, wealthy woman (or couple) want a baby, but are too busy to go through the hassle of pregnancy? Is this type of surrogacy another option?

And for the women who are surrogates - are they being taken advantage of? Are their lives now controlled by these western women for whom they bear a child? What rights do they have? What if they decide they want to parent the child they bear - especially if they donate an egg? But are they just mindless wombs for rent? Or is this a fantatsic ticket out of abject poverty for them? I have to admit, if someone offered me a million or so (10-15 years salary) to bear a child for them, I'd be all over it. Why not? It could open new financial doors that weren't open before.

What really has me concerned is if these women are protected who are providing surrogacy options, what the international laws are regarding children born through surrogacy, and what happens when wombs are now rental options, like a storage unit or a cabin in upstate NY. I think I need more time to ponder this one. This is one aspect of outsourcing I did not expect.

Happy Christmas

Well, my cards are ready to go, but this blog will serve as my letter for 2007. So much has happened in the past year, I'm not even sure where to begin. I guess the biggest is that at this time last year I had just received Pre-Approval to adopt Li, Xiao Mai - an orphan from Xiamen, Fujian Province in the People's Republic of China. Lucy (Lucille XiaoMai) has now been home for over 5 months, and we are settling into life. She is an amazing little girl, with a huge sense of humor, a ready smile (except for Santa) and a finger at the ready to point out all the things that her sisters should not be doing.

Lucy is doing well health wise. She had surgery in China for a heart condition known as VSD - ventral septum defect - a whole between the lower chambers of her heart. She'll be monitored her whole life, but it should not cause any reason for her not to do whatever she wants to do. And she is definately taking that to heart!

Ella has started kindergarten, although sometimes this little 6 year old of mine seems like she is 26 instead of 6. She is bright, articulate, and thoughtful. She is a ray of sunshine for me on the tough days, and makes me smile no matter what is going on. Ella still struggles with not being the youngest any more, but loves her little sister, and is a great role model. Matter of fact, today Lucy dressed herself with Ella's help for the first time! Ella is healthy, although we found out this past fall that she is a Thalassemia Type B carrier - not a big deal, but she will need to deal with genetic testing before having kids. She has promised me not to get pregnant and have children until she is very old - like me - at 40 or so... Great.

Gwenn is now in 3rd grade, and is going to be 9 years old this spring. This year has been a busy one for us. Last year was sort of a wasted year at school, and so this year I'm working hard to be sure that we've identified all of the issues that are going on with my little sweet potato. She is such a sweetie, but she is definately the one that makes me the happiest, but also the most frustrated. Besides her SPD (Sensory Processing Dysfunction) we know that she also has a slew of other things she has been diagnosed with - RAD, OCD, ODD, LBLD, CPD, APD and more. My goal is to get her whatever help is the best so that she is a happy adult. She is amazingly bright and such a good kiddo, and it's hard to see her struggle - in school, with friendships, and in activities that she wants to do.

As for me, I'm extemely grateful for my three amazing children. No one could have prepared me the challenges, but the extreme thanks that I feel each day when I watch my children grow. My job continues to be a bright spot - I'm so lucky to have found such a great employer as Microsoft, and I contstantly am challenged to learn new things, and push myself to new limits. I also have had the honor to start an adoptive parents group that is really taking off - and that has been a lot of fun. I'm now President of Families with Children from China NW. We are having growing pains and it's been a challenge in determining how to get through them all and bring the organization out on the other side, stronger and more vibrant.

Well, I've promised the girls to head to bed before midnight so that Santa can come, and I'm not one to get in Santa's way. The girls left him cookies and milk, and I left him a glass of wine. We'll see which he prefers. Since he's been going for a long while, and we are one of the last time zones, I'm putting money on the wine...

If you click on the picture, it should be hyperlinked to the Norad site where you can view video of Santa on his rounds...

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Birthparent searches

NY Times article on searching for birthparents is interesting. It is one of those interesting things - to search or not to search.

When I first adopted internationally, it was attractive - not knowing who the birth parents were. But now that I've adopted 3 times, I think it's the hardest part.

Two lives emerged from the ashes

Great article in the LA Times on the book "Saving Levi", which I read recently. Lisa Bentley works with the Philip Hayden Foundation, which I have donated to for a few years. Great read - both the article and the book!

===================
By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer December 12, 2007

Levi Bentley at age 4 in Langfang, China. He is standing in the field where he was found when he was about 6 weeks old, so badly burned that he wasn't expected to live. Lisa Misraje Bentley was a bored U.S. homemaker when she reluctantly went to China with her family to open an orphanage. A charred baby boy would change everything.


BEIJING -- Lisa Misraje Bentley watches the boy in the No. 8 jersey as he careens across the soccer field and she marvels. His lower face a mask of scar tissue, his left arm gone at the elbow, the toes on his left foot missing, he zigzags along the green grass in defiance of his disabilities."Isn't he happy?" she says. "Look at the joy coming out of him!"

Bentley knows the boy probably should not be alive. Five years ago, he was left for dead in a cornfield, his tiny body so ravaged by fire that the villagers who found him thought he looked more like a charred log than a 6-week-old baby.

Back then, Bentley was new to China. She had come begrudgingly with her four children, following her husband, John, from Washington state. Together, the couple founded a Christian orphanage for special-needs children -- those most at risk in the Chinese child welfare system, which often lacks the resources to meet the demands of the disabled.

They wanted to help the undesirables. And when Bentley first saw the abandoned baby, gasping for breath inside a hospital incubator, she knew she had found perhaps the most undesirable one of all.

What happened next would test the limits of modern medicine and put Bentley in conflict with local customs, laws, national bureaucracies and even her own family.

Who could have predicted the impact of one small life in China on a bored suburban homemaker from the Pacific Northwest?

Six years ago, Bentley sat in her four-bedroom home in Vancouver, Wash., and felt like crying. As a stay-at-home mother, she lived the good life: Her husband was a successful lawyer. She was pregnant with her fourth child. There was the minivan and the sports car. Yet she was miserable."I thought, 'If this is my life, this stinks,' " she says.

Then came an opportunity. John always had a fascination with China, and had seen his brother start a Christian orphanage in Africa. He wanted to start one in Beijing. Assured financial backing for one year by a Christian philanthropist, John quit his job and prepared for the journey.

Suddenly, the support fell through, but John still wanted to go.Bentley wasn't so sure. She wanted adventure, but China was like another planet. She had no Chinese language skills, and had always had a Woody Allen-like obsession with hygiene. China was no place to take four young children.

"I thought John was insane," she says. "But I said, 'OK, three months.' Then I figured I'd raise hell and we'd come back."

The family's first image of China didn't help. As they landed in Beijing, Bentley's 8-year-old daughter, Emily, looked out the plane window and remarked, "It looks like a trash can."

The couple settled in Langfang, a rural town an hour outside Beijing, and rented a concrete-block home without heat. Bentley remained a mother on guard, listening for the rats that scampered inside the building walls. Both she and John took jobs at a foreign-run orphanage.

No matter how hard she tried to comprehend the culture, China remained mysterious. She had run-ins with local hospital staff and officials, who considered her another pushy American. Bentley didn't fit the image of a Christian aid worker. She's hip and outspoken, likes '60s clothing, and doesn't come on strong with Bible-speak.

She didn't connect here, and she wanted to go home.

The ghastly discovery came on a dreary March day in 2002: A badly burned baby was found in a field. A cluster of curious villagers encircled the infant as he wailed in agony.

The baby's bright yellow jumper was soaked with blood and body fluids. Someone had carefully tucked a 10-yuan note -- less than $2 -- into his pocket.

One by one, the crowd drifted away. What could be done? The baby was sure to die. Except one old man. He saw that the infant's head had been shaved and a bandage remained where an IV had been inserted.

A desperate mother had no doubt tried to save this child and then, in defeat, abandoned him. The old man understood why: This no longer looked like a baby. He reached down. The infant was so charred that ashes fell when he tried to lift its left arm. The little hand was blackened, clenched.

The old man gathered up the baby and rode his bike to a local government office. He left the infant on the doorstep. The boy was rushed to a hospital, diagnosed with third-degree burns over 70% of his body. The orphanage was notified.

When Bentley arrived, she looked down inside the incubator. What she saw "grabbed me by my heart." The baby wailed in agony as he tried to suck his badly burned thumb -- his wounds so deep Bentley could see muscle, tendon and bone.

"This child had no mom, nobody pulling for him," she says.

Just then, Bentley recalls, the baby's eyes flickered. He looked right at her, expectantly, as if to say, "Are you my mother?"

Then Bentley made the decision that changed everything. Ignoring conventional wisdom limiting the jurisdiction of a foreigner in a strange land, she assigned herself as the child's advocate. Doctors discouraged her. They had never seen anyone so badly burned. No matter how much time and money she spent, they warned, this boy is dead.

Bentley named the boy Levi. She liked the sound of it. Later she learned the word means "to bind and unite." She liked the sound of that even more.

Levi's first surgery was a success. Doctor's removed part of his left arm and performed numerous skin grafts. But days later, infection set in. They operated again, taking more of his left arm. There would probably be more amputations.

Bentley flinched. Levi's scarred face and body were bad enough. She felt as though she was losing him limb by limb. That's when an orphanage colleague told her of an e-mail from a Boston surgeon. When told of the burned orphan, the doctor had offered to come to China. Bentley wanted more. Why not take the baby right to physicians at Boston's Shriners Hospitals for Children, where they could use their own equipment in their own surroundings?

She began a race to accomplish something others considered foolhardy: getting a dying, undocumented Chinese baby into the United States. She hadn't even registered Levi's hukou, or permanent residence, with Chinese authorities.Such documentation takes months. Bentley had days, if that. Chinese doctors were preparing for another surgery, perhaps to amputate the boy's remaining hand. She had to act fast. With the help of orphanage staff, she began a telephone and e-mail campaign aimed at foreign charities here and government offices in China and the U.S.

With each call, she learned a little more about how things get done in China. Hardball was out. She had to use connections, or guanxi, with people who were sympathetic to the boy's plight."I couldn't go in as the pushy American, become too highly emotional," she said. "In the U.S. that works. Go in, be the tough bitch, get what I want. That did not work here."

Friends donated baby clothes. Strangers who encountered the boy opened their wallets. People who knew people in power offered to make calls."

Lisa has this innocence, this naivete, about her that gets things done. People want to help her," said Melody Zhang, associate director of an adoption agency called Children's Hope International. "She's not good in dealing with government. Sometimes she has no idea. But she ignored everything for this boy. She had this connection with Levi, a mother's love as strong as it could be."The bureaucratic waters began to part. Levi was granted a hukou. He was issued a passport, and then a U.S. visa. Bentley's cold calls resulted in a free flight for her and the baby.

At home, the situation was not going as well. John felt Lisa was neglecting her family. She wasn't seeing the big picture.The two bickered. Colleagues in the Christian community took notice and began to whisper. "It became a problem for our marriage," John recalls. "Nannies were raising our children. We had 25 other kids at the orphanage. This was just one child."The tensions would eventually lead to talk of a divorce. But Bentley couldn't stop. With $50 in her purse, she boarded a plane for Boston with a baby still bleeding fluids.

Levi approaches a stranger in his kindergarten classroom."I only have one arm," the 5-year-old says cheerfully. "Will you tie my shoes?" He points to his left foot. "This one doesn't have any toes."So far, he has endured more than 20 surgeries, with more to come. As he grows, scar tissue rips and bleeds and must be removed. His left ankle remains bent at an odd angle.

Sometimes, children taunt him, holding out a crooked arm, saying, "I'm Levi!" Some don't want to sit next to him. People stare.But he perseveres with the help of his mother's discipline. She treats him just as she does her biological children or his fellow adopted sibling, a Chinese-born girl named Orly, who's 9. When he falls, he gets up by himself.Slowly, this rambunctious boy is developing a sense of self. He likes dinosaurs and singing his own rap lyrics. A recent self-image shows him as he is: a boy with a missing hand and toes. He even drew the scars.

There are setbacks. In Texas for surgery to create fingers on his right hand, Levi told the doctors he was a big boy and wouldn't cry. His mother had warned him the surgery would not produce perfect fingers, but she knew he hoped it would."When they removed the bandages, they were raw and stubby, not like mine," she says. "I saw his eyes. I knew his heart shrunk."She knows his most difficult days, emotionally, are yet to come, "when he falls in love and physicality becomes an issue." It is pain even a vigilant mother cannot prevent.

And today Bentley is emotionally and legally his mother. Levi was officially adopted in 2006.Lisa and John worked on their marriage, taking a year's leave of absence to return to the U.S. for couple's therapy.Not long ago, they faced a dilemma: If they didn't return to the U.S. immediately, the Bentleys risked losing their home and cars to repossession. They stayed put. China was home now, and their work with orphans was too important to abandon.Now, life in the U.S. suburbs seems like the other planet. They run their own Beijing-area foster home, Harmony Family House, with a deaf school to help poor Chinese mothers cope with raising special-needs children. Bentley calls these mothers heroes.

The circumstances behind Levi's injuries remain a mystery. But Bentley doesn't blame the mother. "I believe it was a terrible accident that befell a poor mother without resources," she says.She produces a tiny yellow bootie, part of the outfit she calls Levi's burial clothes. "How can you condemn her? She did what she could for her baby. Then wrapped him up and left him to die peacefully. Imagine how hard that must have been."

For years, Bentley was hard on herself, thinking she was never good enough. That's changed. At 43, she accepts who she is, the kind of kooky redhead who dares to be different, who knows it's all right to stand out either within the Christian community, back home in the U.S. or even here in China."I'm no longer afraid to say, 'This is the way I am.' I'm not trying to hide anymore," she says. "For the first time in my life, I'm comfortable in my own shoes."And a little boy no one else wanted made that happen.This year, she published a book on her experiences. It's called "Saving Levi: Left to Die . . . Destined to Live."Bentley knows the boy wasn't the only one who was saved.