Gotcha Day - A Day to Celebrate

All around the world, children look forward to holidays with eager anticipation.  In Canada, traditional holidays such as Easter, Christmas and Hallowe’en are amongst the most treasured. For 4 girls in Ontario, there is an additional special day of celebration.  Jade, Lianne, Kimberly and Abigail now consider Gotcha Day as their own special celebration day.

April 20, 1998, was hot, humid and full of anticipation for 16 forever families sitting in a government meeting room in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, waiting to be united with their newest family member.  These people had traveled from Canada to China specifically to adopt babies or toddlers assigned to them by the China Centre for Adoption Affairs.  As the parents filed into the

room and found seats, groups of women and men were also entering with young children in their arms.  Shortly after arriving, a woman from the provincial government adoption office began calling out the names of the children and one by one the parents came forward to meet their child.  It was an emotion-packed moment, one of many on that day to remember.

Four of the families present that day reside in the Niagara Peninsula area of Southern Ontario.  Travelling together, coming from a close geographic area, and having a shared purpose, these families had rapidly formed a small group.  The 4 girls had the opportunity to play together right from the first days of being united with their forever families.   As the days in China drew to a

close it was clear that a bond had been formed amongst the parents, and with that bond came a commitment to keep the children connected after returning to Canada.

The families all joined a local chapter of Families With Children From China.  This group functions as a support group for the parents and children and also strives to celebrate the girls’ Chinese origins by adding a touch of Chinese culture to their lives.  Holidays such as Qing Ming, Chinese New Year and Autumn Moon Festival were added to the list of Canadian holidays for each family.But one special day stands out and is shared by all 4 families.  That special day is Gotcha Day.

Each year, on April 20, the four moms, Sue, Kerry, Cathy and Diane, take the day off work, take their Chinese-born daughters out of daycare or school, and make a special day for them.  Now 4 to 5 years of age, Lianne, Kimberly, Abigail and Jade are coming to understand that this is the day that forever changed their lives and the lives of the families into which they were adopted.  It is a very special day of celebration. 

The format of our Gotcha Day varies each year but some parts stay the same.  There is play time in the morning, pizza for lunch, pictures on the loveseat (with the girls sitting in the same place each year), an outing in the afternoon and Chinese food for supper.  Candles are lit to acknowledge the role of the birth parents and the orphanage staff who cared for the children

during their first year.

Most of all, Gotcha Day is a day for all of us to enjoy together, knowing that our girls have a shared past in China, and that our four families have a shared future in Canada.   We plan to continue celebrating Gotcha Day together, for as long as our girls think it is cool!

An update from year 2003