SPARTANBURG METHODIST COLLEGE Although only one parent was required to go, Ricky and Jill decided it was important that their sons Dwight, then 12, and Dewey, then 10, experience first-hand Della’s world and the adoption process.
Great Walls (continued) Chinese government’s “One-Child” policy. In China, baby girls are often abandoned by the side of the road or left on a doorstep or drive where they hope they will be found and taken to an orphanage. The few boys found in orphanages usually have a physical defect of some kind.
Chongqing, which is located in Southeastern China, has 35 million people in a land area similar to that of South Carolina, according to Jill. “Everywhere you look, there are high rises with dirty, grimy little apartments. Now when we went to Liangping, Della’s village, which was very rural and three hours from Chongqing, we felt we were in old storybook China, with rice paddies and people with pointed hats,” she said.
Ricky and Jill filed the first of the adoption papers with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in November, 2003. In the days to come, they went through a mountain of paperwork to complete their adoption dossier. In February, 2004, the adoption dossier was finally completed and sent to the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs. Another seven months passed before they received the first glimpse of their daughter – through a photo sent in the mail.
Ricky and Jill had traveled in Europe before and were able to get around on their own. But China is not a country to go to and just figure out, they noted. Traveling with other adoptive families helped, and they were assigned a facilitator from the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs to assist in processing the necessary paperwork and gaining necessary approvals. “They know every paper that has to be notarized and every government office she has to go to. We didn’t have to figure anything out,” said Jill.
“On September 10, 2004, we received our referral of Della. This packet contained the first photo we ever saw of Della, a brief description of her abandonment, and a brief health and personality report,” recalled Jill. Within this package was a form where they had to respond whether or not they would adopt Della. Without further hesitation, Ricky and Jill responded “yes” and immediately returned the paperwork to Worldwide Adoption.
With Della, the Evans family is now complete.
“Those papers were then sent back to the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs, where they began making plans for our group of nine families to come to China to get our babies,” said Jill. The trip was organized by Americans Adopting Orphans (AAO), a Seattle-based agency that works directly with the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs to plan the logistics of the trip.
Soon after their arrival at Chongqing, the Evans family met their facilitator, Richard Chen, at a group dinner on the evening of November 7. At 2 p.m. the next afternoon they went to a large Chinese department store to purchase baby items. At 4 p.m. the same day, the Evanses and other adoptive families arrived at the Chongqing Civil Affairs Office to meet the babies.
First Encounter “We stood there and they brought the babies in – all nine at one time,” said Ricky, adding that at that point they were given 24 hours to make a decision and finalize the adoption. At 17 months old, Della was next to the oldest baby in the group of nine babies being adopted. It is not unusual for a girl baby to be abandoned within 48 hours of her birth, Jill noted, adding that Della’s birth mother probably held on to her daughter as long as she could, then abandoned her when she was five months old. Ricky and Jill know Della’s birthday – June 10, 2003 – because her birth mother pinned it on her shirt.
“The paperwork – that’s the killer,” Ricky admitted, adding that Jill did 95 percent of the paperwork and he got it notarized. They had to send paperwork to Columbia to get a state birth certificate, go through a background check by SLED (State Law Enforcement Division), and go through the INS (U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service) for fingerprinting and additional background checks. Ricky and Jill credit State Sen. Larry Martin’s office for helping them navigate the red tape, as well as the guidance of Worldwide Adoption, their international adoption agency.
Ricky and Jill’s initial encounter with Della didn’t go so smoothly. Jill recalled that Della cried most of the time. She was shaking and hiding her face at first. There was little improvement when they took her to their hotel. Jill said that Della cried consistently during their first week together.
To China On November 1, 2004, the Evans family departed for China. After flying into Beijing, they traveled to Chongqing, the province where they and other adoptive families would meet the children for the first time.
“Della had been with the same nanny for 12 months. It was her life and she was comfortable with
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