Hidden valley looks a lot like the dozens of other camps that dot the woods of central Maine. There’s a lake, some soccer fields and horses. But the campers make the difference. They’re all American parents who have adopted kids from China. They’re at Hidden Valley to find bridges from their children’s old worlds to the new. Diana Becker of Montville, Maine, watches her 3-year-old daughter Mika dance to a Chinese version of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." "Her soul is Chinese," she says, "but really she’s growing up American."
Hidden Valley and a handful of other "culture camps" serving families with children from overseas reflect the huge rise in the number of foreign adoptions, from 7,093 in 1990 to 15,774 last year. After cutting through what can be miles of red tape, parents often come home to find a new dilemma. "At first you think, ’I need a child’," says Sandy Lachter, who with her husband, Steve, adopted Amelia, 5, from China in 1995. "Then you think, ’What does the child need’"
The culture camps give families a place to find answers to those kinds of questions. Most grew out of local support groups. While parents address weighty issues like how to raise kids in a mixed-race family, their children just have fun together such as riding horses and singing Chinese songs. "My philosophy of camping is that they could be doing anything, as long as they see other Chinese kids with white parents," says the director, Peter Kassen.
The camp is a continuation of language and dance classes many of the kids attend during the year. "When we rented out a theater for ’Mulan’, it was packed," says Stephen Chen of Boston. Classes in Chinese language, art and calligraphy (书法) are taught by experts, like Renne Lu of the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Center. "Our mission is to preserve the heritage," Lu says.
Kids who are veteran campers say the experience helps them understand their complex heritage. Six-year-old Alex was born in India and adopted by Kathy and David Brinton of Boulder, Colo. , when he was 7. "I went through a stage where I hated India, hated everything about it," he says. "You just couldn’t mention India to me." But after six sessions at the East India Colorado Heritage Camp, he hopes to travel to India after he graduates from high school next year.
Camp can be a learning experience for the whole family. Whitney Ning, 23, a counselor for four years, says the Korea Heritage Camp helped her become closer to her parents. "They were hesitant at first," she says, "but when they saw how much it meant to me, they became very supportive." Sometimes the most direct route around the world is across a campfire.
What attracts American parents to Hidden Valley