Searching for her birth parents, Chinese girl adopted to the US 22 years ago just wants them to know she is safe and happy
In 1996, Carol Free adopted a girl, who she named Kathryn, and took her to California. This year Kathryn returned to China to seek her biological parents – but, for any number of reasons, they may not want to be found
On December 26, 1995, police on patrol at the railway station in the Chinese city of Nanchang made a heartbreaking discovery. Lying on the ground, wrapped in a blanket, was a baby girl. They took the infant to the Nanchang Welfare Home, a state orphanage, where carers named her Chen Zhantong – Zhan being Chinese for “station”. She was estimated to be just six days old.
Six months later, her life took a turn for the better when she was adopted by Carol Free, an audiologist from California.
The Post met Free in a Nanchang hotel in 1996. Cuddling her beloved baby daughter, whom she named Kathryn, Free promised her the world.
“I have so much to offer her – good health, family, education. I have dogs, cats, a cute little house in Santa Cruz, and we’ll go to the beach on weekends,” Free, a single mother, said at the time.
In April this year, the Post reunited with mother and daughter in Nanchang, in Jiangxi province, southeast China. Free had brought Kathryn, now 22, back to her birthplace in an attempt to trace her biological parents.
Kathryn says she is keen to have a relationship with her birth family, even though she has a loving relationship with her adopted mother.