Sometimes the smallest bit of information might turn out to be the most important clue in a search for birth relatives.

In this episode of our podcast, Charlotte Cotter shares her story of how a reporter unexpectedly connected her with her birth family in China, what happened when she finally met them, and her mixed feelings trying to come to terms with that experience. Ricki, Iris and Lisle follow with a discussion about media and public attention overload that can happen when an adoptee undertakes a search in China, especially when a birth family is located. And they also consider how, when birth parents come forward and begin to explain why they relinquished a child, the adoptee’s long assumed story that the reason they had ended up in an orphanage and were adopted was because they had been abandoned might turn out to be something entirely different instead.

Charlotte Cotter is co-founder and co-president of China’s Children International an international support, networking and advocacy organization for Chinese adoptees. You can read the piece she wrote about her visit with her birth parents in China, which was mentioned in this episode, here: https://issuu.com/chinaschildreninternational/docs/cci_spring_magazine_2018__spread__f