- L
- C
We are the Bonneau family, Bob, Martha, YuChen, and Finley. In December of 2011 we adopted our 10 year old daughter YuChen from Ankang, Shaanxi Province, China. On that trip we not only fell in love with our daughter, but with China as well. That year we celebrated our first Christmas as a family of 3 in China and it could not have been more perfect!
Meeting YuChen for the first time on December 18, 2011.
Christmas Day 2011 in Guangzhou, China.
Upon returning home, China and our adoption trip were often topics of conversation in our home and from an early age, YuChen communicated a deep desire to search for her birth family in China. She voiced that she didn't just want to search, she needed to search.
When we returned to China in 2015 to adopt our daughter Finley from Inner Mongolia, we visited the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption in Beijing hoping we would find answers to some of YuChen's many questions in her official adoption file, unfortunately we did not learn anything new.
YuChen with her official adoption file at the CCCWA in 2015.
In February of 2018 we decided as a family that we would hire a searcher to begin searching for YuChen's birth family. During the second half of Chinese New Year, our searcher traveled to Ankang to distribute search posters and to look for YuChen's birth family. Despite having very little information to go on, in March of 2018 a birth family stepped forward and we began the journey of waiting for DNA results. After 3.5 months of almost daily communication with her potential birth family, we received the much anticipated results in June, we had found YuChen's family in China!
Even though much of this story is ultimately YuChen's to share if/when she is ready, I wrote an article outlining how and why we searched when we did for No Hands But Ours.
YuChen's poster being distributed in Ankang.
Our daughter looking at pictures of her family in China for the first time.
Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in China. It is a 2 week long holiday in which families travel from all over the country to celebrate together. YuChen's birth family has invited us to join them for Chinese New Year in Ankang the first week of February, 2019. Being able to celebrate CNY in the country our daughters are from has long been a dream, celebrating it with YuChen's family would be a dream come true and would make this reunion all the more special!
Ankang, the city in Shaanxi Province YuChen is from.
We would like to travel February 5th-15th, 2019 so as to be in China for Chinese New Year. Several of those days will be spent traveling to and from China, we would be in Ankang from the evening of the 7th through the 12th. During that time we will meet and spend time with YuChen's birth family as well as visit her orphanage where she spent her first 3.5 years. We would also like to visit her finding spot as well as the police station where her police report was filed when she was found. These are important parts of YuChen's story and she has asked to visit them.
When we received DNA confirmation, YuChen asked how soon it would be before we could travel to China. The funds we are raising will go directly toward:
1. Travel expenses to and from China.
2. Fees to use our searcher as our guide/translator while in Ankang. Our searcher is experienced in China birth family reunions and has been guiding us through this delicate process over the last few months.
Thank you for your consideration and generosity. It means the world to us that others would step forward to help our daughter achieve her dream. Please feel free to share our page to help us spread the word and please reach out if you have any questions about this life changing opportunity for YuChen.
Thank you,
The Bonneau Family
Meeting YuChen for the first time on December 18, 2011.
Christmas Day 2011 in Guangzhou, China.
Upon returning home, China and our adoption trip were often topics of conversation in our home and from an early age, YuChen communicated a deep desire to search for her birth family in China. She voiced that she didn't just want to search, she needed to search.
When we returned to China in 2015 to adopt our daughter Finley from Inner Mongolia, we visited the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption in Beijing hoping we would find answers to some of YuChen's many questions in her official adoption file, unfortunately we did not learn anything new.
YuChen with her official adoption file at the CCCWA in 2015.
In February of 2018 we decided as a family that we would hire a searcher to begin searching for YuChen's birth family. During the second half of Chinese New Year, our searcher traveled to Ankang to distribute search posters and to look for YuChen's birth family. Despite having very little information to go on, in March of 2018 a birth family stepped forward and we began the journey of waiting for DNA results. After 3.5 months of almost daily communication with her potential birth family, we received the much anticipated results in June, we had found YuChen's family in China!
Even though much of this story is ultimately YuChen's to share if/when she is ready, I wrote an article outlining how and why we searched when we did for No Hands But Ours.
YuChen's poster being distributed in Ankang.
Our daughter looking at pictures of her family in China for the first time.
Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in China. It is a 2 week long holiday in which families travel from all over the country to celebrate together. YuChen's birth family has invited us to join them for Chinese New Year in Ankang the first week of February, 2019. Being able to celebrate CNY in the country our daughters are from has long been a dream, celebrating it with YuChen's family would be a dream come true and would make this reunion all the more special!
Ankang, the city in Shaanxi Province YuChen is from.
We would like to travel February 5th-15th, 2019 so as to be in China for Chinese New Year. Several of those days will be spent traveling to and from China, we would be in Ankang from the evening of the 7th through the 12th. During that time we will meet and spend time with YuChen's birth family as well as visit her orphanage where she spent her first 3.5 years. We would also like to visit her finding spot as well as the police station where her police report was filed when she was found. These are important parts of YuChen's story and she has asked to visit them.
When we received DNA confirmation, YuChen asked how soon it would be before we could travel to China. The funds we are raising will go directly toward:
1. Travel expenses to and from China.
2. Fees to use our searcher as our guide/translator while in Ankang. Our searcher is experienced in China birth family reunions and has been guiding us through this delicate process over the last few months.
Thank you for your consideration and generosity. It means the world to us that others would step forward to help our daughter achieve her dream. Please feel free to share our page to help us spread the word and please reach out if you have any questions about this life changing opportunity for YuChen.
Thank you,
The Bonneau Family