Emma Johnson (12) and Alex Johnson (11) are two of approximately 5 million American citizens who have been adopted. Emma and Alex, both born in China, have become close sisters through their parents’ choice to adopt.
According to American Adoption, “Adoptees may experience feelings of grief and loss as a result of growing up not knowing their birth parents. This is most commonly seen in closed adoptions. Since they didn’t have a choice in their adoption, they may feel like they lost their birth parents, and even a part of themselves.”
But for the Johnson sisters, they seem to feel the opposite. “I think it’s cool. I mean, I just feel like a normal person,” Alex shared.
Emma shared her thoughts on hopefully visiting her birth parents one day. “I want to find my birth parents later on in life and go back and visit,” Emma said. “I feel like it would be cool to find out why I’m shorter and other stuff.”
Cindy Johnson, Alex and Emma’s mom, shared her reasoning behind adopting two of her three daughters. “We just wanted to add to our family. We thought it was a win-win. They needed a home and we wanted to have our family be bigger,” Cindy shared.
Emma, adopted first, shared a little of what her adoption looked like for her parents. “For the adoption process, I know my parents had to send a letter to China to ask for permission to adopt me. And then they got permission and then they came to China and got me.”
After Cindy and her husband James were approved for the next step of Emma’s adoption, they moved on to a background check and parent training, “which was kind of funny because for our birth child we didn’t have to have any. So it was kind of funny,” Cindy said.
After background checks and parent training, Cindy and James waited to be matched with a child. They were soon matched with Emma and started off on their journey to China to get her.
Cindy and James traveled to China with 13 other couples. “One of the group got twins so there was 14 babies in total …. We went to Hunan first. It’s where she (Emma) was. Then we had to go to Guangdong Province,” Cindy said.
Guangdong Province was the next and last stop on Cindy and James’ journey to get Emma. “It was pretty much just waiting for paperwork, her to get a passport and all that kind of stuff,” Cindy shared. Emma arrived in her new home with her new loving family and has thrived in Windsor since.
Alex was adopted second. “We just felt like someone (Alex) was missing at the table,” Cindy shared.
For Alex, the adoption process was the same, but had some key differences. “The whole process was different because we used different agencies, too. I was adopted with a big group of other Chinese kids, but for Alex, she wasn’t,” Emma shared.
When Cindy and James were ready to fill the empty spot at the dinner table, they started with contacting the adoption agency. “Within two weeks they said, ‘Hey. We have this girl who’s on the waiting list’ … so her (Alex’s) process was a little shorter,” Cindy shared.
Alex was brought back to America where she joined Cindy and James, making them parents of three beautiful girls. Alex is now a flourishing student at WHS.
For parents looking to add to their family through adoption, Adopt America Network and many other resources are available to help. “Just be patient …. Every child is different. Every progam is different. You know, just kind of accept everybody for who they are, the kids included. Just go with it,” Cindy shared.
