Sofia’s Journey | Daughters' Return

Sofia’s Journey
(45 minutes)

Sofia is the second of the 3 children adopted from China by Marilyn and Peter Robinson of Grand Junction, CO. A lead singer of her school choir and an accomplished dancer, Sofia often wonders where her talent comes from. Are her singing and dancing inherited traits? Her lack of knowledge of her birth parents has left her with an emotional void, a “hole in her heart.”  She has only a few “known” facts the orphanage provided: she was picked up by a company employee on his way to work and her birth parents had left a note. However, once in China, she finds herself struggling with a new identity: There was no such note from her birth parents and her birth date was fabricated for the sake of "quick adoption"; the worker claimed that he and his wife had adopted her, even producing an album with pictures of Sofia in the first six months of her life. 

An excited and emotional Sofia whole-heartedly throws herself into the arms of this newly found couple, whom now she calls “mama” and “papa” in Chinese. She stays online talking with them frequently. However, questions remain: why did they then give her up to the orphanage? How can one forget the name of the woman who gave a child to you and even lived with you for a month? Seeing their child sucked into this effusive love from the family in China, Marilyn and Peter face a dilemma: should they burst the bubble and take this new “love” away from Sofia, leaving another gaping hole in their daughter’s heart? Should they let the illusion continue to grow and potentially to hurt Sofia in the long run?