Illinois Adoption Story

Family adopts Chinese orphan
Dong Li Ping was one of millions of orphans in China, mostly girls, facing a bleak future.

Her life changed Oct. 5 when Joe and Vicki Zastrow of Coal City boarded a plane with their oldest daughter, Kirbi, to pick up the newest addition to their family -- a 3-year-old girl with a repaired congenital heart defect.

The trip to China is the last leg of a rescue mission which began after Vicki learned about the desperate need for families to adopt Chinese children.

"We were inspired to adopt about two years ago after hearing about the numerous abandoned girls of China," Vicki recalled in an e-mail. "A good documentary is National Geographic's 'China's Lost Girls,' which tells of the plight of these girls and the country's need for population control. After researching adopting from China, we went ahead knowing we had a daughter, maybe two, waiting for us there."