This was a good movie if you want to learn more about the realities of adopting an older child who does not speak English and has special needs. This little girl in particular had a repaired club foot and dropped wrists. And despite a severe language barrier in the beginning, it is amazing how the little girl begins to learn English and forget Chinese. Although, it is sad at the end that the girl can no longer communicate with her foster family who she lived with for 8 years. Her adoptive mother starts in immediately trying to teach her English. The mother was quite irritable that her daughter did not want to learn English right away and this troubled me.
Our agency teaches a slow transition for the children. They caution against overwhelming them right away and I wonder how much education this family received from their agency. Hubby and I feel very strongly that children adopted from another culture should still learn about their birth culture. I was very annoyed that the mother didn't try to learn any Chinese.
This little girl even had her name changed to an American name: from Fang Sui Yong to Faith. The filmaker has to act as translator many times. As a result of this friction between mother and child in the beginning, I think Faith bonds more with her dad in the end.
Despite these issues, I enjoyed the portrayal of what it must be like for a young child to all of a sudden be taken away from all they have ever known and told they have a new family now. As always, adoption is bittersweet: joy tempered with grief and loss. I think this documentary accurately portrays adoption and the challenges and rewards of adoptive parenting. However, I pray that our transition period goes better than what this documentary portrayed.
If you want to check out this documentary, here is the link for the streaming video: http://www.pbs.org/pov/woainimommy/watch.php
It will give you further insight into adoption, especially older child adoption, and how it affects the child and their new family.
