Bringing Home Baby

By Jolene Perron
Adopting a baby from China is not an easy task, but one Amherstburg couple says it was worth the difficulties.
Karen Amicone, 43, and her husband Piero, 44, tried to have a child for one year after marriage, naturally and with in-vitro fertilization. After a process that lasted six years, they decided to adopt.
“I just wanted to become a mother, no matter what,” said Amicone.
The adoption process started in 2005 after Amicone attended an information seminar in Toronto. They chose to adopt from China through Family Outreach International.
“You have to do a lot of paperwork to prove that you can become a parent,” said Amicone. “It just seems silly because you have teenagers who are having babies … and here we are in our 40s – well established, but then here’s all the paperwork to try and prove it.”
According to the Family Outreach International website, “Family Outreach charges a registration fee of $100, a facilitation fee of $3,600 and a Professional Services in China fee of US$600.” There are additional marriage obligations. The couple must have been married for a minimum of five years and can’t have more than two previous marriages. Additional requirements through Family Outreach can be found online at www.familyoutreach.com.
The paper work was approved by both the Canadian and Chinese Government in December 2006, but they made no progress thereafter. Last year Amicone and her husband decided to switch tactics and try adopting a special needs child born with a cleft pallet and cleft lip. They began the paperwork process again. Going on month seven, they had almost given up.
“Our social worker called and asked Piero if he was sitting down” said Amicone. “After she said those words she probably stayed on the phone with us for 20 minutes and I can’t remember a thing she said.”
According to their social worker, baby girl Ai-Xiu Dong, 11 months, was abandoned, found in a flower garden in front of a hospital.
The couple prepared for three months before taking a flight to China to pick up their baby who they now call Paige Ai-Xiu Amicone.
The couple traveled with a group of 13 families. Each spent week one in their child’s city and week two in Beijing together. The process in China was put together “just right” according to Amicone.

There was always a car waiting to drive them and a tour guide to help them with the language barrier.
Paige’s nannies gave her to the Amicones in the lobby of the hotel they were staying in. Every time they spotted movement, the couple grew anxious.
“All you heard was this rattle,” said Amicone. “Her nanny was bringing her in and she’s got this rattle … that’s all you hear. You turn around and there she is.”
Piero said Karen began to cry immediately and when Paige was handed to her, the child accepted her immediately without hesitation.
“You can tell she was really well taken care of,” said Karen. “She’s just so happy and her nannies were so excited for her. I think they were a little sad to see her go.”
Amicone and her husband were also surprised to see that Paige’s cleft lip had already been corrected when they picked her up in China. However, they still have procedures ahead of them to correct her pallet and nose as well as any dental issues.
“For a while I just had to poke her and make sure she was real,” said Karen. “You wait for so long and it just doesn’t seem real sometimes.”
The couple has had her for one month and she will be one year old Nov. 25. Amicone said everything is as she expected it to be.
“Things you used to be able to do in five minutes, take you a long time now,” said Karen. “Like stir-fry, takes half an hour usually? Took me two hours.”
When the couple hear that Paige is lucky to have them, they said they respond with the exact opposite. The couple said they are the lucky ones.