It is a journey in many ways, from travel through several time zones and airports to wading through international adoption paperwork.
Today it continues, when Ellie Radke is scheduled to arrive home in Koloa for the holiday weekend with her new baby girl, Maggie Jo, adopted from an orphanage in China.
Maggie Jo, named Le Tian by her Chinese caregivers, was born in China in mid-November last year and abandoned on the front steps of an orphanage the following day. She turned 1 year old last week, nearly the same day that she legally became Maggie Jo Radke.
With China’s one-child rule and the intense desire to have a male offspring to carry on the family name, female newborns are routinely abandoned in that country. Around 100,000 female children are abandoned annually. Of those, about 15,000 are adopted, often by foreigners.
Looking forward to the Kaua’i arrival of Maggie Jo are Margee Faunce of Po’ipu, Radke’s hanai mother. Mike Faunce, Margee’s son, traveled with Radke and Maggie Jo through China on that part of the journey.
They are scheduled to arrive at Lihu’e Airport today this afternoon. Maggie Jo will be christened this Sunday at St. Michael and All Angels’ Episcopal Church.
Before the trio could leave China to return to Kaua’i, there was a sea of paperwork to conquer: Adoption matters, passport and immigration visa, and other legal documents, plus requisite trips to the U.S. consulate.
Along the way, Radke and Faunce met other parents who had traveled to China to adopt children. One of the babies to be adopted was discovered to have developmental disabilities, and the family made the painful decision not to bring that infant home.
Radke’s training and experience as a preschool special-education teacher at King Kaumuali’i Elementary School in Hanama’ulu helped her to counsel the prospective parents. She offered them information about symptoms and signs of developmental delays.
Maggie Jo doesn’t officially become a United States citizen until she touches U.S. soil, which likely will be at Honolulu International Airport this morning.
The word on Maggie Jo is that she is mild-mannered, curious, a good sleeper. For the first year of her life, she was surrounded by loving caregivers, which will continue on Kaua’i.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
