A new adoption program in China brings special needs home.

USA/China (MNN)–Adoption Associates International has a fairly new China special needs program. They’re one of only a few select agencies approved by the Chinese government to place these children in families.

The rest of this story revolves around the agency’s first
placement for the program. Through it, Scott and his wife Lori were able to bring 20-month old Meili home in February. “With the special needs program, we were able to bring a child into our home that probably would not have been adopted otherwise, and probably didn’t [pause]…we really believe Meili would have died had she not been adopted.”

Lori says the difference between this program and traditional adoptive programs is that parents can review the health records of the children before placement.

The couple already has six children; 4 biological, 2 adopted. They felt God was calling them to the special needs program, believing the timing was right for their family to step forward.

Meili had two holes in her heart, one of which was nearly one inch long. As a result, the other side of her heart was enlarged. The heart defect prevented much exertion, and care providers in China kept her as still as possible in order to prolong her life.

As Scott and Lori scrambled to get their paperwork through, asking anyone they came in contact with to pray for their daughter. When they arrived in Jiangsu Provine (Northern China) to get her, Meili appeared physically stronger.

Even more exciting, when doctors at the University of Michigan examined her, the smaller hole in her heart had healed. The larger hole had shrunk to a third of its original size, and the heart seemed to be working better, and didn’t require theoriginally prescribed surgery.

While their family’s faith has been stretched through the process, Lori says they’ve seen one miracle grow into many more. “People would have a look of terror on their face when I would tell them that we were adopting a baby that was going to need open-heart surgery. But I just explained that we really had God’s peace about it. Then, when we brought her home, I had so many people that I didn’t know come up and tell me that they heard about her story, so God’s grace is being spread through other people.”