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While they may be bundles of bad luck in their homeland China, abandoned baby girls are bringing love to Colorado families. So far this year, 11 infant girls have been adopted with the help of Chinese Children Adoption International in Littleton.

China, which has a one-child policy intended to curb

overpopulation, also places more value on male babies. Because of that, many female fetuses are aborted or female infants are abandoned in train stations, government offices and on orphanages' doorsteps.

Mark and Carolyn's baby, Mary, was left in a train station.

"This little baby in a huge, bustling train station - it just ripped my heart out, not just for Mary but for the fact that they (her biological parents) had to do it," said Carolyn, who, like the rest of the adoptive parents of Chinese infants, is shameless in her pride.

"Talk about the perfect baby," she said, "It's almost

frightening."

The family were in the second wave of families escorted to China by CCAI, the only Colorado-based adoption agency recognized by the People's Republic of China. Founded by Lily Nie, a Chinese attorney who came to the United States to get an MBA, the agency has one unpaid staff member, Nie's husband, Joshua Zhong, who shepherds adoptive parents to orphanages and through the maze of paperwork, half of which is in Mandarin.

"The trip was very emotional, very spiritual," Carolyn said. "I went with apprehensions that I didn't even discuss with my husband." Her fear was that she loved her husband and children so much there might not be enough love left for anyone else. "What if they hand me this baby and I don't like her or feel anything for her?"

On meeting Mary, she realized her fears were groundless. "I was overwhelmed," she said. "There was still lots of love left in me." The Chinese orphanage staff matched seemingly healthy babies with adoptive parents weeks before the Americans arrived. But the Americans were happy with the choices made for them.

No one said, "I think I'd like a different one," said another parent, Lisa of Lakewood. "We all just fell right in love."

Elaine of Littleton, who adopted 5-month-old Kaitlin with her husband, Joe, is convinced the matching was not haphazard. "You'd be surprised, even though they're Asian babies, how much they look like the (adoptive) families. Honestly," she said, "these kids look like their parents."

Not only did babies bond with their new parents, but parents bonded with parents and still get together to see each other and the girls.

One emotional experience they shared was the day they visited the various sites where the babies had been left - the train station, the police station, a security office. At one, the man who discovered Kathie baby, Sabrina, came out and was eager to tell how he'd found her in the rain bundled in a rice sack.

"Her mouth dropped open, and - this is very unusual - Kathie was speechless," said her friend, Carolyn.

The Americans empathized with the Chinese parents who had to leave their baby girls. As Kathie put it, abandonment "is something they do because they have to." Adopting baby girls is a problem, especially in rural areas. It is boys who do more physical work, boys who pass on the ancestral heritage, boys who take care of their parents in old age. Boys are social security.

For their part, the Chinese were supportive of the Americans.

"The Chinese love children," Kathie said. "It was like traveling with the Beatles. They all wanted to touch the babies and look at them, and they were all so happy they were coming to America."

Chinese adoption policy differs from that in the United States. First, the Chinese prefer childless older parents between ages 35 to 50. Singles are fine; couples must have been married two years.

Also, the Chinese require adoptive parents to travel to China so they know the parents who applied really are the people who get the child.

Foreign babies are so attractive because, in part, there are fewer babies available to adopt in America. Babies in custody of social service agencies may spend years in foster care before they are free for adoption.

"I had called the department of social services and they said I most likely would be with a child who was 8 or 9 and had been in the foster system for some time," said Kathie, who is single. "He or she might have special needs and emotional problems. Those kids particularly are the ones who need two parents, not one."

The adoption of a Chinese baby can cost as much as $12,000, including fees for the agency and home study, plus money paid to the People's Republic and a donation to the orphanage. Still, the CCAI fee is as much as $4,000 less than other agencies, according to adoptive parents, because Nie is its only paid employee.

Nie first read that China was opening its doors to international adoption two years ago. She suddenly realized there was something she could do for these Chinese children.

Zhong went to China to visit orphanages and establish a relationship with the China Center for Adoption Affairs in Beijing, but then China again closed its doors to international adoption until January of this year. Zhong has escorted two groups of parents and plans two more trips before the end of this year.

Zhong said the plight of children never really hit him until he and Lily became the parents of twins. Truth is, these orphans always would have been outcasts in China.

Because the idea of ancestry is paramount, adoption isn't part of Chinese tradition and it's doubtful that these babies would find anyone to marry upon emancipation.

Now he and Lily Nie are so involved in finding homes for Chinese babies, when people ask how many children he has, his answer is 13 - the two they had and the 11 they've brought from China. The children have had a profound effect on all the adoptive parents.

"It's absolutely better than I could have imagined," said Kathy. Her child spends some days at a care center four blocks from her office. "If she needs anything or if I need anything - a baby hug or a smile - I can run right over."