‘Bringing Rita Home’ online auction starts July 15

July 13, 9:35 PMOrlando Parenting ExaminerRobyn Kurth

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Teresa and Chris DeFelice with their daughter Lucy on the return
trip from China. The DeFelices are planning to bring home
another daughter from China later this year. (Photo courtesy of
the DeFelice family)

An Orange County family planning to bring home a special needs daughter from China later this year is hosting an eBay auction July 15 – July 22 with many of the items donated by members of Orlando’s tourism industry.

Some of the items offered on this online auction include the best restaurants and attractions that Orlando has to offer, including a $100 certificate to Bergamo’s Italian Restaurant, a $100 dinner certificate to Bice at the Portofino Bay Hotel, two 2-park 1-day tickets to Universal Orlando, two tickets to Aquatica, two tickets to SeaWorld, two tickets to Wet ‘n Wild, four VIP passes to Arabian Nights and much more.

A full listing of items and a link to the auction is available on Teresa DeFelice’s blog Bringing Rita Home, which documents her family’s journey to adopt Rita Xingmin, who will celebrate her second birthday on August 20. Rita was born with a sacrococcygeal  teratoma, a large benign tumor at the base of her spine. When Rita was eight months old she had surgery to remove the tumor, and while the resulting scar might require some reconstructive surgery in the future, she is in good health. Because Rita is considered a special needs child, the waiting period for prospective parents is shorter than it is for children on the “healthy babies” list.

Money raised from the online auction will go towards an obligatory donation to the orphanage where Rita lives, which has recently increased from $3,000 to $5,000. “Every time a family adopts a child from China they have to donate to the orphanage,” said DeFelice. “And the condition of the orphanages has improved dramatically over the past 15 years.”

DeFelice’s journey to international adoption was really a calling instead of an alternative to infertility. “(Adoption) is not a Plan B for everyone. You don’t have to not be able to get pregnant,” said DeFelice. “I always knew I wanted to be a mother but I never saw myself as pregnant.” DeFelice had been aware of Chinese adoptions for many years, and hearing a radio ad on Z88 FM for what was then called the America China Adoption Association piqued her interest even further.

“I knew I was going to China. It didn’t even feel like a choice,” she said.

DeFelice and her husband Chris eventually adopted their daughter Lucy two days before her first birthday; Lucy is now four years old. As part of Families with Children from China Central Florida, the family met other parents who were awaiting a second child, and realized that the wait for a healthy baby would be three to four years. Through FCCCF, the DeFelices also encountered other children who were considered special needs children in China, some of whom had treatable conditions such as cleft palate, heart murmur, or they were older children (boys and girls are available) who were placed in orphanages after their parents died.

“I didn’t really see myself as a special needs mom, (but) the more I saw these kids that were considered unadoptable through the regular program—you don’t see the need, you see the child,” said DeFelice.

Currently, the DeFelices have been pre-approved to adopt Rita (that means no other families can review Rita’s file) and the DeFelice’s dossier is awaiting review by the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs. The family hopes that they will be able to travel to China and make the adoption official by November.

In the meantime, DeFelice has been impressed with the generosity of the local community. DeFelice currently sells ads for Central Florida Lifestyle magazine, and previously had worked in the tourism industry for 10 years. “Every single one of those donations is because of the relationships I’ve built in the travel industry and because I work with amazing people,” said DeFelice. “Every person I’ve ever met in tourism (has) had some hand in giving back to the community in some way.”

For more info: Learn more about the America World Adoption Association HERE. Read a related posting about Bringing Rita Home HERE.