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Chinese toddler adopted into Natchez home
Published Saturday, July 26, 2008
NATCHEZ — Soft green grass creeps between little toes. It pokes a bit, maybe even tickles.
And when that grass is a world away from home, it’s OK to freak out the first time you touch it.
So, that’s just what 2-year-old Lucy did when her brand new mom and dad let her loose on their lawn.
You see, in a country where thousands live on the same city block, you don’t walk barefoot on grass. There isn’t any grass.
But, grass aside, America hasn’t been as much of a culture shock for the Chinese toddler as her adoptive parents Brandt and Erica Dick and their 8-year-old son Zachary had heard it would be.
“They say children are like sponges and she truly is,” Erica said. “She’s pretty much just grasped everything amazingly fast.”
Lucy came to America just over a month ago, but don’t tell her dad that.
“It’s like she’s been part of the family forever,” Brandt said. “It’s been easier than we had any right to expect it to be.”
While Lucy quickly latched onto Brandt — who is curate at Trinity Episcopal Church and chaplain at Trinity Episcopal Day School — it took her a little longer to get used to her mother.
“For the first three days she wanted nothing to do with me,” Erica said.
Lucy finally let Erica paint her toenails, and they really connected in that moment, Erica said.
“After that she’s just been momma’s little girl. It was just like a light switched on that third day,” Erica said.
For the Dick family, adoption became the best option, since they couldn’t have anymore biological children for medical reasons.
For Lucy, adoption was the only hope.
Lucy Claire, named Fu Ni Hua in China, was found abandoned outside an orphanage in Fuzhou City when she was only a few days old.
She is an albino — a genetic disorder characterized by a lack of pigment, which creates pale skin, lighter than normal hair and vision problems — and was likely abandoned because of that.
She ended up in the care of the Chinese Children Adoption International program.
CCAI’s Web site says it is common for children with “physical handicaps” to be abandoned, mostly because the Chinese government only allows each family to have one child.
The Dicks also said that many of the special needs children come from rural areas, and parents cannot have albino children that cannot work in the fields due to the sun.
“I’m sure it’s a hard decision for the family, but they have to have healthy offspring,” Brandt said.
However, Lucy has blue eyes, blonde hair and no major vision problems, the Dicks said.
“A lot of people wouldn’t know she has albinism,” Brandt said. “They just wonder why we have a blonde Chinese kid.”
Many children who live in orphanages are developmentally behind, Erica said. But Lucy is pretty much on target in all aspects, Erica said.
Adopting a child, especially a special needs child from China, takes a lot of time and work, the Dicks said. They have several thick binders of paperwork, or a paper pregnancy, Erica said.
Their effort started two years ago. They were finally “booked into China” on Dec. 31, 2006.
They got a call around Easter saying they could adopt Lucy, but they had very little time to decide.
“We read it and we pretty much knew that she was ours,” Erica said.
“We were given 24 hours to make a decision and turn in more paperwork. We had 24 hours to learn everything we could about albinism.”
Their trip to China to pick up Lucy was also a bit of a culture shock, but went well, they said.
“It was different because the smallest city we went to had two million people,” Brandt said.
The adoption agency was also a big help during the trip, they said. Their contact with CCAI stayed in the hotel with them and would go to dinner with them, just to help order.
“Every once in a while we’d be craving McDonalds,” Brandt said.
Lucy will grow up with McDonald’s. But she won’t forget where she came from.
The Dicks said they have no intention of completely Americanizing Lucy, and they want to keep her in touch with her Chinese roots, something CCAI stresses.
“We’ll always let her know she came from China,” Erica said. “We want her to be proud of where she came from.”
The Dicks have gotten in touch with other parents who adopted Chinese children, including the Central Mississippi Cultural School. This group, based in Jackson, holds celebrations for the Chinese New Year and Autumn Moon Festival.
“To us, we’ll always be indebted to China for sharing her with us,” Erica said. “It’s so worth it in the end.
Comments
Posted by cheyenne (anonymous) on July 27, 2008 at 12:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
congratulations on your new addition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by dixiemama (anonymous) on July 27, 2008 at 1:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Lucy is ADORABLE!!! Keep everyone updated on how she is doing!!!
Posted by NtzMom55 (anonymous) on July 27, 2008 at 1:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
How wonderful.
Posted by ntzmom (anonymous) on July 27, 2008 at 5:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Awww, she is precious, congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by thelorax (anonymous) on July 27, 2008 at 7:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
wishing the best for this family.......Congrats
.
however, there was just an article about this speaker that came from a foster home on the Nathez Democrat. I said then and I say again, the reason the foster system is such a mess is because we go out of the country to adopt. It IS easier ( yes of course there is paper work, life is about paper work) and the guide lines about the adopter's age are much more lenient .
There are SO many special need children in the US.
These children end up lost in the system and usually age out and put somewhere in never never land.
I AM glad however they are acknowledging her Chinese heritage and celebrating it. As an adopteee I know this is important.
~ Proud member of the Green Ribbon Campaign ~
www.100megsfree3.com/levgen/grcampaign.h... Ribbon Campaign
Posted by fire39212 (anonymous) on July 27, 2008 at 3:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Is the color on my pc mesing up or is this child blonde? I have never saw a blonde Chinese i don't guess till now....
Good luck with your new addition...
Posted by dixiemama (anonymous) on July 27, 2008 at 10:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
fire3921
The article explains about albinism & why she is blond.
I think it makes her look unique.
Posted by fire39212 (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 10:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thats for sure dixiemama...Sad that they can only have one child huh? Shes as cute as she can be...Sad that it is so hard to adopt in the states....
Posted by teach (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 2:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
In response to thelorax, and as the parent of foreign born children, and someone that is pretty active working with DHS to recruit foster homes for kids, I can say that foreign adoption really has nothing to do with children in foster care not having permanent homes. Most kids in foster care are not available for adoption yet, and many may not ever be available because they have natural parents that have not relinquished their parental rights, or had them taken away by a court system. The real reason why foreign adoption has become an avenue for parents is because of abortion in this country drastically reducing the number of infants born and relinquished, and single mothers. Whereas many years ago it was quite shocking for a young woman to become pregnant outside of marriage, much less parent the child she bore, now it is almost a norm to keep the child if it is not aborted. Therefore, if parents who cannot become pregnant for whatever reason want to parent, they must go outside of this country to countries where abortion is not so easily obtained.
Congratulations, Erica and Brent on this new edition. I've been following your journey (I'm someone from your hometown), and I'm so blessed just reading about it. While most people may think that Lucy is the lucky one, I know in fact, that you guys are feeling quite lucky right now.
Posted by thelorax (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 6:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
In response to Teacher--
"and as the parent of foreign born children, and someone that is pretty active working with DHS to recruit foster homes for kids, I can say that foreign adoption really has nothing to do with children in foster care not having permanent homes. "~teacher
Yes it does, it also to do with the fact everyone wants " little ones" and the older children get lost in the shuffle.
"Most kids in foster care are not available for adoption yet, and many may not ever be available because they have natural parents that have not relinquished their parental rights, or had them taken away by a court system. The real reason why foreign adoption has become an avenue for parents is because of abortion in this country drastically reducing the number of infants born and relinquished, and single mothers. " ~teacher
The reason alot of foreign adoption take place is because of the age requirements, and of course that the adopted child won't be doing much searching when their birthfamilies are overseas. I am not against overseas adoption , contrary to belief but...... I say try the US first.
"Whereas many years ago it was quite shocking for a young woman to become pregnant outside of marriage, much less parent the child she bore, now it is almost a norm to keep the child if it is not aborted. Therefore, if parents who cannot become pregnant for whatever reason want to parent, they must go outside of this country to countries where abortion is not so easily obtained."~TEACHER
There again, I know all about the shocking pregnancy thing, my adoption was the result of such a thing. But again, the fact remains that there ARE many here that could be adopted, they are just not what everyone wants.
Posted by thelorax (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 6:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
One more thing Teacher, if everyone was as active as you are in the foster care system we wouldn't have such a prevelant problem.
Posted by natchezknight (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 7:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Congratulations! It is so great to hear that such an amazing thing has happened to such a wonderful family! They really are nice people
Posted by Larry (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 8:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
In response to thelorax - I happen to know that Brandt & Erica initially went the foster care route. It was when they lived in another state. They moved back to Mississippi before they had the opportunity to care for a child, however.
Their journey to adoption led through miscarriages, false starts, and much heartbreak. They really couldn't face some of the domestic adoption challenges. It was only after a great deal of prayer, thought, and research that they went forward with their foreign adoption.
Thelorax, I think you were a bit hasty in assigning motivation to others. I can hear your passion for the well-being of the many, many children in the foster care system. Unfortunately, that passion may cloud your perception of others and may even weaken your effectiveness in getting across your very important message.
Posted by ksuplady15 (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 11:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Congrats on your addition to your family. Please let her grow up knowing what a wonderful place the United States is and how lucky she is that you are in her life and how lucky you are that she is in your life.
God Bless.
Posted by thelorax (anonymous) on July 30, 2008 at 8:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Larry,
My perception MAY be clouded as an adoptee who has listened to many children from foster home who " aged out".
I never once said what they did was wrong. My parents lost 6 children before adopting me. I think adoption is a great thing. What I did state was that people want to adopt with no " strings attached ".While the media "celebrates" adoption overseas , they don't give a flip about the children here. ( ie: the Natchez Democrat with this article, did they mention anything about " there are thousand of children in the US that need foster care and adoption in the US ? Nope)
I DO wish all the best for this family. No need to dig into my heiny about it. I am just stating the facts.
~ Member of the Green Ribbon Campaign for Adult Adoptees~ http://www.100megsfree3.com/levgen/grcam...
Posted by babyblu2001 (anonymous) on July 31, 2008 at 12:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
My friend in Gulfport has adopted 2 chinese girls! They are wonderful...
Posted by thelorax (anonymous) on August 3, 2008 at 8:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
babyblu:
All children are wonderful. Chinese or otherwise
Posted by charliebug5865 (anonymous) on August 3, 2008 at 12:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
CONGRATS TO THE WHOLE FAMILY! ITS GREAT TO HEAR A STORY W/ SUCH A HAPPY END, SPECIAL BLESSINGS TO YOU ALL, SHE LOOKS LIKE A NORMAL 2 YR., WHOSE LEARNING TO ADAPT WELL,THANKS ND FOR THIS ONE!!!
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