Soon after I posted yesterday the mail came and in it was something I had sent for earlier in February. A while back I had found a web site that has access to "finding ads" in China. Once we received the LOA, I felt safe in checking to see if they had Beibei's finding ad. A Finding Ad is a little ad in the newspaper with a picture and a description of where and when a child was found. The purpose is to allow the birth parent(s) to come forward and claim the child. The picture is earlier than the pictures received in the referral so is a good reference for parents and physicians especially in the case of cleft lip/palate to see how severe it was before surgery. The officials are required to place these finding ads as part of the process of making a child available for adoption.
Anyway, they had Beibei's finding ad and I also paid to receive the ACTUAL paper that it was in. Her finding ad was in the April 17, 2008, edition of the "Southern Farmer's Daily" paper. That was about 2 months before her surgery. Luckily, her cleft lip was not very severe at all and based on that picture and the 2 pictures we have she may not need anymore surgery but that will all be determined once we get her home and have her examined by an expert in the field.
Once we got looking at the paper and read the certification that came with it, we realized the extent of the children being left to be found. Hers was the 428th picture ad of 2008 -- and this was only April 17th! AND, this is only one paper in all of China! We were able also to see the other picture ads that appeared along with hers and her lip was a piece of cake compared to some of the other little children's lips/palates. Wow!
Well, we continue to wait for TA. Hopefully we will be able to hold her in our arms very soon and try to get a smile out of her!
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