Erin Blasinski
Editor-in-Chief
October 22, 2004
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Claire Jing Lin Farmer at orphange in China. |
-Photo courtesy of Craig Farmer |
Dr. Craig Farmer, professor of History and Humanities, and his wife Meg left yesterday to travel to China to pick up the newest addition to their family: a baby girl they have named Claire.
“We had a sense that our family was not complete, somehow, and I don’t know
where that (sense) came from but it was real,” Farmer said, and mentioned that
he’s always longed for a daughter.
Farmer said he and Meg began considering adoption about two years ago,
particularly adoption of an Asian child for various reasons. Farmer grew up in
eastern countries like Indonesia and Korea and that part of the world “has a
grip on me,” he said.
Because Farmer grew up in a multi-ethnic family with two younger siblings who
were adopted, the idea of him having a multi-ethnic family only “seemed
natural.”
A third reason for an Asian adoption is that after leading a group of Milligan
students to China for a medical and educational trip three years ago, Farmer
fell in love with the kids. He hadn’t thought about adoption at that point but
there were photos of the kids around his house once they returned.
Farmer said when they started to “look seriously” into adopting a child their
minds went back to China. The Farmers began a year long process on Oct. 15, 2003
of sending paper work that included original birth certificates along with other
documents to Chinese Children Adoption International, an agency located in
Colorado that helps families wanting to adopt Chinese children.
The Chinese government has a “very streamlined” system for adoption, explained
Farmer. The process is time consuming, but it shows how careful they are because
they have so many children adopted.
The government in China has a “one child only policy,” and if a second is born a
large tax penalty is put on the parents, Farmer said. With the threat of taxes
for a second child, there are an enormous amount of orphans.
Families who have a daughter as their first born will likely try to have another
baby, hoping for a boy, he said. He explained that a lot of girls who are born
as the second child are orphaned because of the patriarchal society that exists.
Families are looking for sons to care for the family.
“A family will publicly abandon a child because in China you can’t legally put a
child up for adoption,” he said.
After waiting almost a year to find out the identity of their new child, the
Farmers received a phone call from the adoption agency on Sep. 8, 2004 with
information about their new daughter, 15-month-old Yang Jing Lin. This day is
known as ‘referral day,’ because a child has been referred to the family by the
Chinese government. An email with a photo was sent, and they saw for the first
time who their daughter would be.
“It was an exciting day to hear about her and see the email,” said Farmer, who
quickly points out the photo on his desk that was sent by email that day, a
photo of a tiny little girl in a red shirt named Claire.
Yang Jing Lin will soon be known as Claire Jing Lin Farmer. He said they decided
to keep the name that was given to her by the orphanage as a reminder that
“she’s been given to us by God and by the Chinese people.”
On Monday Oct. 25, known as ‘gotcha day’ in the adoption world, Farmer and his
wife will meet and hold their new baby for the first time.
“I feel blessed by Claire even though I’ve never met her,” he said. “My heart
aches just looking at pictures of her.” He said that there is a picture of her
on the refrigerator and every morning “Meg talks to little Claire.”
According to the agency’s website, CCAI has placed 5,000 Chinese children with
families both in the U.S and in other countries since 1992.