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Butterflies in the Wind: The Truth about Latin American Adoptions

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Butterflies are delicate, exotically beautiful, and terribly vulnerable. Jean Erichsen chose an apt metaphor for the twin daughters she and husband Heino adopted from Columbia. Following a memorably happy childhood shared with the Erichsen's biological son Kirk, the twins began a calamitous rebellion against parental authority in junior high school. They sneaked out at night with boys their parents didn't know, lost interest in their studies, were frequently tardy or skipped school altogether. It wasn't until they became ensnared in rival gang vendettas and were expelled from high school that they became truly aware of where their lives were headed and eagerly began to accept the help their parents persistently held out to them.

When the twins were ten years old, the family visited the orphanage from which they were adopted. All of them had their hearts stolen by a precocious little boy named Omar, who had been left in a bus station by his mother when he was six. The three siblings readily agreed that he should be adopted by their parents. Ever fearful of being abandoned again, Omar tried to be the perfect child. He was bright, athletic and charistmatic, which eventually caused the twins to be jealous and resentful toward him. This,too, created turmoil and unhappiness.

Jean and Heino lived the worst nighmares of every parent as the girls they nurtured and loved turned their back on them in favor of a lifestyle totally antithetical to family values. Smoldering beneath the surface were issues of race and culture as well as anger at their birth mother for giving them up for adoption. Their adoptive parents are white Scandinavian/German; the twins are darker skinned than most of the Chicanos with whom they tried to identify.

Jean writes with candor, insight, humor and sensitivity, sharing the intimate details that make the story so real to the reader. She has charted the journey of a once-happy family through an emotional upheaval that lasted almost four years before mutual love and respect were regained. The twins, now adults, are key personnel in the international adoption agency the Erichsens founded in 1981.

The book can also be read as an armchair adventure. Jean's finely wrought descriptions of landscapes, people, the juxtaposition of wealth and poverty in places like Panama City, Belize, and Bogota are on a par with those of well-known travel writers.

Before I read this book, I thought it would be another heart-warming adoption story of a family who brought three children, two twin girls and later, a boy, home from Columbia and then lived happily ever after. What I discovered was that this book is much more than that. It is a compelling account of what it was like raising these children to adulthood, with all the trials and tribulations most parents must face with their kids, but with cross-cultural, transracial and adoption issues added to the mix. This book is a reality check on what it is like raising children of a different culture and race. It will leave you with nothing but respect and admiration for Jean and her husband as they are faced with challenge after challenge, especially during the teen-age years. Their patience, determination, and unconditional love for their kids is heartfelt. I highly recommend it for anyone involved in adoption.

'Butterflies in the Wind' is a helpful book for parents raising children in a family with different race children. We adopted our lovely & vivacious 29 year old daughter, thirty years ago and I sometimes find it hard to explain to her, our journey and mission to adopt her. But Jean has helped me with this by writing this book. She has a special knack for putting into words, the many feelings, thoughts and struggles of parents and children. Her love and compassion for children shows through in many delightful anecdotes (I found my self laughing out loud while reading the section on 'teen' challenges). I appreciate her no-nonsense, unwavering approach to child rearing. The challenges of the 80s and 90s raising kids, were tough. But discussing the challenges never seems to take away from the main message of the book, that children are treasures to be protected, nourished and cherished in a family.