“We were still using dial-up Internet access then. What appeared was the top of a little bald head,” recalled Jennifer Maslowski, an art appraiser.
Eventually, Maslowski and her husband saw the full referral photo of the baby sent by the adoption agency. “She looked like a little Buddha!”
Delighted, the couple travelled to China six weeks later, their first step towards parenthood.
“I was excited. My husband was more emotional. He cried the whole time!” she said, laughing at the memory.
The decision to adopt came somewhat naturally to them. “It’s just something that we wanted to do.”
It isn’t a road less travelled (think Meg Ryan, for a Hollywood example). According to the US State Department, China topped the list of countries issued orphan visas.
Last year, 5,453 visas were given out. There has been a gradual drop since 2005, when almost 8,000 visas were issued.
For Maslowski, 36, skin colour is irrelevant. “A baby is a baby. It is so easy to fall in love with kids. And I’m from New York City, certainly not a place where everybody looks like me.”
In fact, the couple would have opted for Haiti if the Chinese adoption had not gone through.
The adoption process was tedious.
“There were lots of paperwork, medical records, pictures of your home, financial and police background check, child abuse check, social workers’ visits ... and you’re finger-printed as well,” she said.
The cost ranges from US$15,000 to US$25,000 (RM48,000 to RM80,000).
It took 54 weeks for her to become a mother. Unlike her husband Bill Schmidt, Maslowski admitted that she did not bond immediately with the 10-month-old girl they saw at the orphanage in Guangzhou.
“I was happy and comfortable taking care of her. But I wasn’t like throwing myself in front of the bus for her.”
But two weeks later, it all sank in and her tears flowed.
Today, the baby who was once full of scabies and heat rash (“her skin was a mess”) has grown into a happy five-year-old girl who often amazes her adoptive parents.
“She’s very tall for her age,” the proud mama said. With a long name, too: Their little Buddha is now Alida Frances Shan Schmidt.
Maslowski herself is involved with Families with Children from China, an organisation which provides support for parents and prospective ones. She is their Manhattan coordinator.
The child from Middle Kingdom has opened a new world for the Schmidts.
“We celebrate Chinese New Year! This Beijing Olympics, we are rooting for China. And Alida has a collection of cheongsam which she wears to cultural events or playgroup outings. All her dolls are Chinese.”
Alida loves going for her Mandarin classes. “My husband and I attended classes as well but had a hard time.”
The couple would take another shot at the lessons in September.
“She has been such a gift. She’s everybody’s pet ... her grandparents and aunts. A little spoilt, I must say,” Maslowski said, laughing.
There have been no regrets whatsoever although Maslowski acknowledged that people would always know that Alida is adopted whenever they looked at the family.
“She is always going to have to deal with it,” Maslowski said. Things, however, are easier in New York where everybody is from somewhere else.
“Alida knows she came out from somebody else’s tummy. She would look at the photo album of our trip to China to get her.”
The family has not faced any nasty encounters although it had happened to a friend of Maslowski's who also adopted a foreign-born child.
A stranger had remarked to her: “Next time, buy American.”
Finances permitting, the family would visit China next year.
“Some day, we would want to search for her real parents,” she said, for the sake of Alida, originally from Dongguan in central Guangzhou, who might wonder about her past in future.
Her advice for prospective adoptive parents?
“Enjoy it. It is going to be okay,” she said, repeating similar words of comfort that someone gave her while she was waiting for the adoption to come through.
“I was told that sometimes, people are going to say something bad. But no matter what, it is going to be okay.”
