In 2016, we published an essay on behalf of a woman searching for her lost child. The article, "The Story of Baby Liu Jia Jia," was read over 30,000 times. It was eventually seen by Jia Jia's adoptive parents, and Jia Jia and her family was able to reunite with Jia Jia's birth mother.  The story of Jia Jia's birth mother's search has now been presented inside China by "Story FM," a very popular podcast framed after the style of public radio's "This American Life." With a listenership of over a million people inside China, the search for Jia Jia has touched the hearts of tens of thousand ..read more

In June 2021, I was contacted by documentary film-maker Lidewij Nuitten in Belgium about being part of a series involving roots searching (Entitled "We Are Family", the trailer can be seen here). The series would feature different people involved in searching for lost family, including two Chinese adoptees. The adoptees and the film maker asked if I would help them in plotting a path forward for their search, and I readily agreed.  The series was broadcast in June 2022. Composed of six episodes of about 30 minutes each, the series documents the efforts of the film-maker as she search ..read more

A new Family Planning scandal is erupting in China, this one taking place in Quanzhou, Guangxi Province. In September 1989, a boy was born to a couple with six previous children, father Deng Zhen Sheng and mother Tang Yue Ying. Soon after the boy was born, Family Planning paid a visit to the family and assessed a fine of 6,000 yuan, and the family was given 15 days to pay the fine. The family put together  and paid 1,380 yuan, all they had. Family Planning then confiscated some furniture and other possessions of the family.   Nearly a year later, in August 1990, Ms. Gao Li Jun, head ..read more

This essay originally appeared on our subscription blog. For families that wish to remain current of research and developments regarding China's adoption program, signing up for our subscription blog is a must. There we discuss and research topics that are too sensitive to be discussed publicly. At $20 for life, it is the best investment you will ever make. ______________________________ We recently conducted a "wide-net" birth parent search project in Jiangxi. One of the big questions about China's program is why the number of children being submitted for international adoption has declined s ..read more

It was only a matter of time before someone put pen to paper to offer a guide to Chinese adoptees as to how to search for birth families in China, and Wesley Hagood shows through his presentation that he is up to the task. Having known Wes since 2004 when he requested his daughter’s finding ad from us, I have always been impressed by his doggedness and attention to the smallest of details. Both of these characteristics are on full display in this book. “Searchingfor Your Chinese Birth Family” is divided into nine chapters and appendixes covering the full range of how a search could be co ..read more

There has been a lot of discussion on adoption groups about our initiative launched two weeks ago regarding a new approach to birth parent searching. Like anything new, there are a lot of questions. So, here are some answers. If we don't cover your question, let us know in the comments and we can add it to this article.   1) What is a "Wide-Net" Search, and how is it different from traditional methods of search? Traditionally adoptive families have searched for a single birth family in China: Their child's. For the past six years, DNAConnect.Org has used a different approach: Search ..read more

You have submitted your DNA to 23andMe.com, and have uploaded them to GedMatch. You have your relative's list, and you wonder, what does it all mean? This essay will hopefully help you make sense of those results, and help you to use them to further your search. But first, it is important to know what GedMatch is, and what its limitations are. GedMatch is an open data base, as opposed to 23andMe, Ancestry and others, which are a closed data bases. "Closed" means that you can't put DNA from another source into 23andMe, for example, but you must buy their kit to be included in their data base. G ..read more

Last week we were informed that one of the birth parents we tested had died. While most of the birth families we have met are between 30 and 60 years old, as time moves on the number of birth parents passing away will only increase. It is time that the adoption community collectively begins to take searching seriously, and take steps to maximize the efficiency of our collective efforts. Today, the searching has been by-and-large a collection of single efforts to locate specific birth families, with each adoptee and their family expending valuable time and efforts for their own search, with lit ..read more

One of the avenues of searching for birth parents in China are "search articles." Although most often these are very narrow in their search scope (looking for a single birth parent), the articles that gain the most traction inside China are "wide-net" articles -- those that search for literally any birth parent in China who may have had a child brought to an orphanage and adopted internationally. Research-China/DNAConnect focuses mostly on producing "wide-net" articles. Over the past few years we have had several such articles published by various new and social media organizations. These expe ..read more

9/25/20 Update: After a long struggle, our friend's article was finally published: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/63q3eAkdPpj1d_AltHe5BQ ____________________ We have been working with a student inside China who grew up under the One-Child Policy. She decided to write a "search" article for an adoptee (Anna) who is searching for her birth parents in Hunan Province. Our student/reporter friend also grew up in Hunan. The intent of the article was to encourage Chinese birth families to contact us for testing and assistance in locating their relinquished children. After almost a year of ..read more