Molly Sano is the adoptive mother of 3-year-old Bennett. Bennett was born in China without the ability to hear. Molly and her husband fell in love with Bennett even before they saw his picture—they knew he should be part of their family. From the time they adopted Bennet, whose Chinese name is Long Miao, the couple hoped that some day they would be able to find his birth parents to thank him and to let them know that he is well. Bennett was born to a poor family in Ningbo, China and was abandoned with a note attached that read, “We really don’t know what else we can do. We are too poor to bring him up.”
Just a month ago Bennett was diagnosed with Usher Syndrome. This is a rare condition that will eventually leave Bennett blind—quite likely by the age of 20. This diagnosis escalated the Sanos’ desire to reunite Bennett with his birth parents. They hope that Bennett can lay eyes on them to have a memory to carry with him the rest of his life. And so Molly has taken Bennett on an exploration visit to China. Since arriving in China she has contacted officials in the neighborhood where Bennett was found abandoned. She’s also contacted hospitals and has opened a Chinese social media account to spread the word in hopes that his birth family will be found.
Molly is an American Sign Language Interpreter and her husband is deaf. Bringing a deaf child into their family has been a natural progression. “We just knew he was the son we’d been waiting for—even without looking at his file. He’s the most beautiful boy I’ve ever seen,” stated Molly. The Sanos have one other child, a daughter, who is just one month older than Bennett.
