MISSED CONNECTIONS

SHE WAS RELINQUISHED BY HER CHINESE PARENTS AS AN INFANT, RAISED IN THE UNITED STATES, AND SPENT 14 YEARS TRYING TO FIND A WAY BACK.

- OLIVIA CHENG

A GIRL IS FOUND on a street in Ma'Anshan, China, in May 1993. Her paternal grandfather, the story goes, set her down and walked away. No explanation. It's unclear how long she's been outside when somebody arrives and takes her to the orphanage.

A white woman adopts the girl and brings her to America in August 1994. She gives her an English name.

IN SPRING 2010, when Youxue (her Chinese name) was a high school sophomore in Dallas, Texas, she decided to start searching for her birth parents. She knew it wouldn't be easy. Given the international nature of her adoption and the under-the-table circumstances in which most Chinese children were relinquished, there was a strong likelihood she would never find them. But her adoptive mother was supportive and found a "searcher" through Yahoo groups, one of the first forums where adoptees connected online. In China, the searcher plastered posters of Youxue and her information in high-traffic areas of Ma'Anshan, in Anhui Province, and went to the police station that was listed in Youxue's certification of abandonment. There, the searcher was able to access records and find a short note that Youxue had apparently been left with.

In September, several families came forward.

One of them seemed like a potential match. They had an older daughter and a younger son. Looking at photographs, Youxue thought she could see a resemblance. For the maternity DNA test, she sent off a cotton swab with buccal cells from the inside of her cheek, along with a few strands of hair.

In November, she received a text from her adoptive mother that the DNA results had come back positive. There was a match! She wanted to tell all her friends and family; she felt whole. She started taking Mandarin lessons and texting with her birth parents. They said they loved each other and couldn't wait to meet.