Worried that a rapidly growing population would put a drag on economic development, China introduced its One-child Policy limiting most families to having one kid. While the policy was effective in curbing birthrates, it produced long-term unintended consequences culturally, economically and socially. This new system led to the devastating, widespread abandonment of infants. I, along with 160,000 of others, am a product of this system.

In 2003, I was left nameless on the orphanage steps of a rural village in southern China. In 2004, I was brought home internationally to an American family who lived in the quiet suburbs of Chicago. I grew up in a loving and stable home where my parents have always been open about my adoption. However, no amount of love and support could mitigate the feelings of anger and otherness that I would come to wrestle with into my twenties.