Blue Sky Healing Home
Matteo Sky
I first saw the face of our next child, with the words, “Blue Sky boy, ” printed across the bottom of the photo. After finding the Blue Sky Healing Home website, I emailed Tania Goh for any information she might share about him. She responded with details about his medical conditions, the treatment Blue Sky had provided for him, and a description of his sweet personality. My husband and I made our decision immediately, and contacted our adoption agency to begin the process of making Wang Xin Le (now Matteo Sky) our son.
Over the year that it took to complete his adoption, Blue Sky continued to provide excellent medical care, love, and great communication about how Matteo was doing. We received hundreds of photos of him, videos of him responding to sound after his cochlear implant was activated, and regular medical updates. When we finally met him, he was no stranger to us, and we were well prepared to meet his needs.
Our family is eternally grateful to Blue Sky for the amazing care he received- not only were his multiple medical needs addressed (five major surgeries!), but his emotional needs were met, as well. Because he was so well loved, he transitioned easily to family life, has a most positive outlook, and is a loving, joyful, and kind son and brother.
I’ve never met a more dedicated, caring and committed group of people than the directors, medical staff, volunteers, and ayis at Blue Sky. A child entrusted to the care of Blue Sky Healing Home not only has their medical needs addressed, but also has a start toward meeting their full potential as contributing members of families and communities at large. As a parent, I couldn’t have asked for more!
Contributed by Lynn Cameron
Benjamin Wiggers
Our son Benjamin (LeFeng) lived at Blue Sky from the age of two until we brought him home at five and a half. When we met Benjamin for the first time we were able to talk to his teacher and other staff who knew and cared for him at Blue Sky. The meticulous details they shared with us about not only his medical conditions, but also about his personality, were a sign of how much he was loved and cared for. They did not just meet his needs, but they thought of him as part of their Blue Sky family. The staff at Blue Sky knew our Ben as a funny little man with a lot of personality, someone who always made them smile and laugh. The activities provided and relationships formed allowed him to maintain his naturally happy spirit. He loved to sing songs with his Blue Sky friends. His favorite was "The Wheels on the Bus" and he was so happy when the other children would let him be the bus driver.
Now Ben brings so much laughter and joy to our family and we can't imagine our life without him! We believe the main reason he has transitioned well since coming to his forever home is because of Blue Sky. And their care and concern for him did not stop on the day he left their home. For example, when we first arrived home he would have times of grieving as he remembered the time he spent with his Blue Sky family. Sometimes he would even want to return, which to us was a great sign of the many positive connections.When he missed them the most they were always willing to send their love and encouragement, through a letter in the mail or a brief video chat, and this made him feel so special and loved.
Based on our experience with Blue Sky it is evident that they not only strive to care for children medically but also nurture their emotional and academic development.
We will always be grateful for the important work of Blue Sky and the impact they have made on Ben's life (and ours!).
Contributed by Rhiana Wiggers
JinJing Brauninger
Our adoption journey was a long one. We decided to adopt in 2012 and were told that we had to literally build a school before we could adopt. We own a small boarding school and needed to have the students in a separate building from our family. So we started the paperwork while we built. On Christmas 2014 we received a tiny folder with a little bit of medical data and a picture. We knew right away that this was our baby.
We had been warned by the adoption agency the we would probably not receive any more pictures, or medical data, that we had to be content with this, that the medical data may even be incorrect. We didn’t care. This was our little girl. I also received a few papers all written in Chinese about her abandonment and there was one little line written in English, that she was sent to the Blue Sky Healing Home in Beijing. We are all so lucky that she was!
I found Blue Sky on the internet and contacted them. They were wonderful! Tania, Dolly and Celine gave me literally tons of photographs, even recent videos! I found that the paperwork that the Chinese government had on her medical situation was completely out of date, that JoJo had already received both of her cleft palate surgeries. And when we went to a palate surgeon in the
United States, he was very impressed with the excellence of the surgeries as well. She will need no further corrections until she is 12!
Blue Sky was patient with my constant emails and packages, they let me send videos to my girl and photo albums, it was obvious that she was so well cared for and loved!
When we arrived in China, Dolly kindly helped us get to the Healing Home and we got to meet our girl! Blue Sky arranged a day out at the park which was a wonderfully relaxed way to meet and interact with her while she was surrounded by those she knows and loves. A few days later when we officially were given JinJing, thought it was of course very confusing for her, she had the
comfort of being handed to people she had met before, people who she knew were welcomed at her home, Blue Sky.
I will always be grateful for the care that Blue Sky has given my little girl, before and during the adoption. I have seen the medical reports, I know her health and happiness came from the kind hearts of the staff and executives at the Blue Sky Healing Home.
Now our little girl is 4! She is smart and sassy, loving and beautiful! She was raised with love and I see it in the love she has to share with others. She was raised with respect and I see it in the respect that she has for those around her, even those younger or weaker than she. Children emulate the care that they were given. And she was given so much care at the Blue Sky Healing Home. Thank you!
Contributed by Sarah Brauninger
