Taiwanese Woman Tracks Down Foster Parents After 20 Years in Heartwarming Story

The 29-year-old Taichung resident, Lin Ching-Mei, had searched for her foster parents for years, travelling to Pingtung three times to see if she could recognize the area and find their house. Always unsuccessful, she would return home in tears, unable to locate the loving parents she had been placed with two decades prior.

That changed, however, when she overheard a colleague speaking about foster care; she suddenly remembered that she herself had been a foster child, altering the way in which she looked for her former caregivers. Excitedly, she made the journey to Pingtung once more, this time contacting the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families to aid her in her search for her foster parents. There, she met with social worker Huang Shu-Ling, who pulled a worn, faded file from their agency’s records and gave Lin two names: Chang Hung-Chi and Kuo Chin-Chin.

Lin, joined by Huang, was finally reunited with her foster parents on November 9. When she saw Chang and Kuo, the three couldn’t help but immediately hug each other and cry tears of joy. Lin then knelt before them, expressing her gratitude for their loving care. “Thank you for taking care of me, without you I would not be the person I am now.”

Lin said that she had many fond memories of spending time with her foster parents; Chang used to bake pastries while Kuo would always make lemon shaved ice for Lin to eat. Chang said Lin loved to play the flute, and Kuo pointed outside to the place where Lin would practice her instrument.

But it was their loving embrace that would stay with Lin as she grew up — she said that after leaving her foster parents’ care, she had pretty much raised herself. If she struggled in life or faced any setbacks, she would remember how Chang and Kuo taught her how to deal with life’s frustrations, and those lessons carried her through the hard times.

Huang stated that Lin had been placed in foster care when she was nine, as her mother was unable to care for her and her two sisters. Separated from her siblings, Lin was placed with Chang and Kuo, who raised her for two years until she and her sisters were returned to her mother. Huang also said that Lin was the second of thirty foster children that had been cared for by Chang and Kuo. Chang first began raising foster children because he had overcome difficult trials in his life and wanted to give back to kinds in need.

Images via CNA Daily