Finding Family -- Beijing Review

Thanks to O Solo Mama for this link to a Beijing Review article about a China adoptee's reunion with birth family in China:

It took 14 years—and just two minutes—for an adopted Chinese girl to find her biological family. July 21 this year marked the first anniversary of Haley Butler's finding of her biological parents in Maanshan in east China's Anhui Province.

This year's family reunion was an exciting experience for Haley, a 15-year-old girl from Tennessee in the United States, as she had the chance to meet every member of her Chinese family—her parents, three elder sisters and a little brother.

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Haley's American parents have been supportive in her wishes of finding her biological parents and those thoughts soon turned into action.

She returned to China for a 15th time in July 2009—this time to search for her parents.

"The local police were extremely generous in their help," Haley said. They looked through all the documents about abandoned babies and suggested a place to put up a poster.

In just two minutes, Haley had a response. A woman working in the restaurant where the poster was put up said Haley looked like the daughter of her cousin, who had sent a baby girl to others 14 years previously. In a few hours, the woman's cousin showed up, a 50-something man who came with his first daughter all the way from Chaohu to Maanshan to meet Haley.

After she returned to the United States, Haley's family had her hair tested for matching DNA. It turned out the man's DNA showed an almost 100 percent match.

Haley and her adoptive parents had always thought the odds of finding the biological parents were slim to none, and never thought it would be so easy.

FYI, the American family founded Annabelle's Wish, a non-profit organization to provide care and basic necessities for children in orphanages in China.