By Suzanne Clinton, Bizzyville

Living in constant fear of another major power outage since January 2009

June 9, 2009

Healing Hannah: The Backstory

Dawn Greer Choate, founder of Healing Hannah Ministries, and mother of five children ages 2 to 13, was not quite what this writer expected. Youthful, stylish and sporting some seriously good hair, Dawn looked more glamour girl than harried mother.

We met at Etcetera Coffeehouse, site of Dawn’s upcoming fundraiser set for Thursday, June 18, to benefit Healing Hannah, the charity she founded, to talk about her work, the event, and her experiences rearing her brood that includes two biological sons, two adopted daughters from China, and a son adopted from Guatemala.

International adoption is a subject very much in the public eye now with celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Madonna adopting children all over the world. It’s an observation I couldn’t help making to Dawn, as we settled in over coffee.

She had a ready answer.

“Yes, international adoption is definitely much more of an option than it used to be,” Dawn says. “I’ve had college students tell me they’re actually thinking of adopting. It’s cool, it’s trendy; it’s like get the latest Gucci bag and a baby.”

Dawn will be the first to tell you (and those college students): It’s not quite that simple.

When Dawn and her husband, Roger, already parents to two biological sons, decided it was time to expand their family to three, “it didn’t happen quite as quickly as we would have liked,” Dawn explains.

Dawn grew up in a home with parents strongly committed to opening helping foster children, and educated their own children about the needs of Korean orphans (at that time) and all abandoned children around the world. 

“I began thinking that our third child would come to us from a less traditional route.”

That third child, Hannah, would eventually join the Choate family at 11 months of age. An abandoned orphan from China, Hannah was beautiful when she arrived save for a bruise and dent in her forehead.

“We knew, from touring orphanages in China, that the wound was likely the result of the child banging her head on the bars of her crib,” Dawn explains. 

Hannah’s psychological issues would prove much more alarming and difficult to overcome, though it would be some months before the Choates would learn this. Hannah, like many adopted orphans, while seemingly healthy and beautiful on the outside, suffered deep psychological trauma from the extreme neglect, sometimes physical, but more often emotional, she suffered while in the orphanage. This phenomenon often referred to collectively as “attachment issues” is the result of a child’s failure to experience the traditional physical closeness and bonding that normally takes place after birth.

“These children often carry deep emotional wounds that aren’t obvious in the photographs,” Dawn says. “It’s important that we strip the mask away so people can see just how hurt these kids really are.”

Dawn’s difficult journey with Hannah would eventually inspire her to found the ministry that bears her name. With no therapists or doctors in the region experienced in dealing with Hannah’s issues, Dawn followed her instincts.

“I had to demand that Hannah allow me to love her,” she says. “These kids are, literally, terrified by intimacy.” This would include Dawn cradling a screaming Hannah to her chest, sometimes for hours at a time. 

Though the process was difficult, Hannah would eventually turn the corner. It would be, ironically enough, on a long flight to China that Dawn would experience the first sign of progress: Hannah actually snuggling closer to her rather than struggling to get away.

“The good news is that these children can heal,” says Dawn, “and Hannah’s healing was the single most incredible healing process I’ve ever witnessed.” 

The same child once terrified by a simple hug would eventually grow into a girl that would throw her arms around her mother’s neck and whisper, “I’m just so happy when you’re home.”

Deeply affected but undaunted by her experiences with Hannah, Dawn would go on to add another daughter from China and a son from Guatemala to her family.  During her extensive travels in China, Dawn began to collect the Chinese art that will be auctioned at the event on June 18.

“Unfortunately, orphan girls in China, if not adopted, often end up victims of the slave trade,” Dawn says.

Dawn Greer Choate and Stephanie Felker

Enter Starfish Ministry, a China-based organization dedicated to rescuing Chinese girls from the slave trade by teaching them the art of jewelry making. All jewelry at the auction is handmade by rescued girls through Starfish (and is cute. This writer may have been unable to resist committing to the purchase of a necklace.)

The June 18 event will be the first of its kind for Healing Hannah. Dawn, along with event planner Stephanie Felker, will transform Etcetera and the surrounding gardens into an Asian-themed setting featuring the paintings, both large and small scale, and handmade jewelry items. Asian appetizers will be served. Admission is $8 at the door.

“It should be an awesome event and a great time for a wonderful cause,” Felker says.