Foster Care Saved Me I was too young to remember, though I can imagine the orphanage was flooded with children, with wooden cribs crammed against each other and the sounds of babies’ cries echoing off the walls. Due to the Chinese Government’s One-Child Policy, issued in the 1980s to solve China’s overpopulation, I was abandoned at an orphanage gate at one day old. I was then placed in foster care for the first four months of my life. Afterward, I lived at the Chinese orphanage from four months old to eleven months old until I was adopted. My parents told me that when they first met me, I could barely lift my hand and could not even sit up. Most children my age would have been avidly crawling and toddling around, but my physical development was largely behind that of a healthy one-year-old. My parents and I attribute it to the lacking care of the Chinese orphanages. While Chinese adoptees can lead successful and happy lives, adoption is traumatic. Upon my adoption, I left my home country and entered the U.S., where I felt like I never belonged due to living in an interracial family and enduring the feeling of living between two diverse cultures. Furthermore, the mystery of my birth parents leaves me with questions that might never be answered and a deep apprehension of abandonment. I am proof that adoption is damaging, and I am impassioned to establish a better future for children that experience hardships similar to mine. My experience being a Chinese adoptee and a foster child inspired my dream to become an international journalist. I want to invoke lasting change in the Chinese government and the U.S. by writing for a newspaper or magazine that explores issues in both countries. I plan to investigate the stigma surrounding adoption, child abandonment in China, the backgrounds of foster children, and the quality of care in foster homes. I will accomplish my dream by earning my bachelor's degree in journalism with a minor in Asian studies. Foster care is one reason I survived the treatment of the Chinese orphanage. I have a document from my foster parents expressing their desire to stay connected with my family after my adoption, so I know my foster family lavished me with love and affection. Foster care allowed me to build deep connections, socialize, and develop my physical health. It is widely advertised in American newspapers and documentaries that Chinese orphanages have a minimal number of caretakers and an overwhelming number of children. My time with my foster family was life-changing because at the Chinese orphanage, I would not have received the same crucial care that newborns need. International journalism is an opportunity for me to illustrate the importance of prioritizing foster care so that children are not left to endure the hardships of orphanages. In short, my dream to become an international journalist originated from the lasting trauma of living in foster care. In my life, the knowledge of living in foster care is a reminder that I was abandoned by my birth parents. Feeling abandoned by people who were supposed to love me is something that has influenced my confidence, my self-worth, and my anxiety. Thus, even if children in foster care have good experiences, they endure trauma from being detached from their birth families. Through international journalism, my dream is to spread awareness about adoption and foster care to ensure that optimal care, love, and attention gives underprivileged children the best opportunities and futures.