814-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 25, 2000
‘God Took Care Of Us*Fisher Family Recalls With Thanksgiving
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
LEBANON (Lebanon Co.)
Thanksgiving took on a whole
new perspective for the Fisher
family of Lebanon this year.
It was the first Thanksgiving
they celebrated with their ener
getic 20-month-old daughter Ka
telyn.
Last year at this time, Katelyn
was in China a baby who had
been abandoned when she was
about five months old.
“We don’t know how old she
really is or any details about her
birth. The doctor assigned a birth
date based on a medical exami
nation,” Susan said.
Katelyn’s plight is not unusual
in China, where the government
penalizes urban women for giv
ing birth to more than one child.
In accordance with the culture, a
boy is desired because he will
provide for the family when he
grows up. Whereas girls marry
into other families.
Generally baby girls are aban
doned at birth.
"It’s unusual that her mother
waited until she was five months
old to place her on the steps of
an orphanage. I’d like to believe
that her mother kept her a few
months to give her a better
start,” Susan said. “In reality, I
suspect that she kept her until
she became pregnant again and
gave her away before authorities
found out.”
Whatever the reason, Susan,
her husband Terry, and
7-year-old daughter Tara, are de
lighted to claim Katelyn as part
of their family.
During Thanksgiving season,
the family recounted their jour
Katelyn at 20 months continues to amaze Iter par
ents and sister with her cute antics and resilient spirit.
Katelyn’s plight is not unusual in China,
where the government penalizes urban
women for giving birth to more than one
child.
ney to China to bring home the
diminutive Katelyn.
Tara, their natural-born
daughter after a difficult preg
nancy, is said to have prayed fer
vently for a baby sister. About
this time, Susan said. “It seemed
that lots of people who had
adopted Asian children kept ap
pearing in our lives.”
The Fishers decided to pursue
a foreign adoption.
Fifteen months elapsed from
the first meeting the Fishers at
tended at Bethany Children’s
Services until the\ held Katelyn
in their arms. After the introduc
tory meeting, stacks of paper
work, finger printing, interview
ing. attaining passports and visa,
and attaining a house study ap
proval, the Fishers traveled with
a group of 30 other U.S. parents
to China.
Terry and Susan Fisher with daughter Tara, 7, recall traveling to China to adopt
Katelyn, who had been abandoned on the steps of an orphanage.
Tara, wearing “I’m a big sis
ter” sweatshirt accompanied her
parents to China. When officials
first introduced the Fisher family
to Katelyn, she ran into Tara’s
arms, much to her big sister’s de
light.
“It was a full 20 minutes be
fore 1 got a chance to hold Kate
lyn,” Terry said.
“And we got a video to prove
it,” Susan affirmed.
“We were bouncing off walls,”
Susan said of the family’s emo
tional response. “She was so
cute, and very social.”
Katelyn was dressed in an out
fit designed to place her on a
potty chair without removing
clothing.
“In China they start sitting ba
bies on potties at nine months of
age," Susan said. A custom that
she did not continue.
The process required the fami
ly to travel 13 days in China,
from Dec. 8-21, 1999. Unlike
many adoptees, Katelyn was
healthy and did not required
medical care. She did not cry for
two days, and then, according to
her father, only when the realiza
tion hit her that if she cried loud
ly, she got food faster.
Travel went smoothly and the
family enjoyed sightseeing jaunts
to the Wailing Wall, Tiananmen
Square and other points of inter
est. They were delighted to at
tend a Chinese church in session.
Although no translator accompa
nied them, the Fishers recog
nized the tune to the audience
sang as the Christian hymn, ‘O
Come All Ye Faithful.”
Although the adoption was fi
nalized both in the United States
and in China, the process of U.S.
citizenship is still in progress.
Recently the laws were changed
to enable citizenship to be as
sumed whenever adoption is fi
nalized, but this change was
made after Katelyn was adopted.
The government is still trying to
determine how to handle cases
such as Katelyn’s.
The Fishers said it costs be
tween $17,000-$20,000 to adopt a
child from China.
According to Terry, the price
of adoption should not deter pro
spective parents.
“God will find a way,” he said.
“God took care of us every
step of the way,” Susan said.
“We have had so much good
luck compared to some other
people who have gone through
the adoption process.”
The Fishers highly recom
mend Asian adoptions, but Terry
cautions facetiously, “Someone
in the family should be very good
at paperwork.”
Susan confirmed his statement
by producing stacks of paper
work detailing the process.
Although people think adop
tions are expensive, Terry points
out that fertility treatments are
extremely costly too.
The Fishers said they under
stand that China receives 1,000
requests monthly for adoptions.
The Fishers keep in contact
with many of the families who
traveled with them to China.
They report that it seems every
time they go shopping or to other
public places, strangers stop
them and tell them of a friend or
family member who has or is
pursuing an Asian adoption.
The Fishers plan on celebrat-
Tara is quite proud to be the big sister, and likes to
recall that it was her arms that Katelyn ran into the first
time they met her.
ing Adoption Day annually and
to pursue some Chinese culture
events.
“We even have other family
ties to China,” Susan said.
Terry has an uncle who taught
English in the province where
Katelyn was found, and he mar
ried a girl who grew up in that
province.
When Katelyn is older, the
Fishers hope to revisit China
with her. Susan keeps detailed
information about the adoption
to share with Katelyn.
Both Susan and Terry grew up
on Virginia farms and were grad
uated from Virginia Tech. Susan
works as a Penn State supervis
ing agent for the Expanded Food
Nutrition Education Program
and Terry works for Kauffman’s
Animal Health.
Katelyn shows no signs of her
tumultuous start in the world.
“Unless you count the terrible
two’s as a side effect,” her mom
said with a grimace.
When the family found Kate
lyn at the orphanage she was
well ahead of
other children her age. A fact
that the Fishers found surprising
after having been warned that
the opposite would probably be
true.
Now the active 20-month-old
has an extensive vocabulary and
never sits still.
“It’s hard to believe we
haven’t had her a year. She
seems like she has been part of
our family forever,” Susan said.
“We are so thankful.”