They Told My Parents They Could Exchange Me. My Father Said,

“She Is My Daughter”

 

Born in India and adopted by a family in Canada, Tia Bhatia’s journey is a story of uncertainty, a childhood health battle, and two parents who never saw her as anything less than their daughter.

By WeTheMums | Real Stories

My name is Tia Bhatia, and this is my adoption story.

I was born in Ambala, a city in Haryana, India, near the Punjab border. I was given up for adoption in the early 1990s, and to this day, I do not know why.

Perhaps I was an unwanted child. Perhaps my gender played a role. Or perhaps my birth family hoped I would have a better life somewhere else.

I may never know the answer.

What I do know is that when I was found, I was severely malnourished. I was extremely underweight, my bones were visible, and my tongue had turned purple. It was clear that my little body needed care.

I do not know exactly how I ended up in an orphanage or what happened during those first months of my life. I wish I could discover more about my birth family and understand my beginnings someday.

But while I may not know where my story started, I know what happened next.

The little girl my parents were waiting for

My parents got married in 1984 and moved to Toronto, Canada. They had decided to adopt a child, and my father had always wanted a baby girl.

My mother loved the idea of giving a child a loving home and the life they deserved.

The adoption process was long. My parents completed paperwork, waited for approvals, and held on to the hope that one day they would become parents.

After years of waiting, they finally received the call they had been hoping for.

There were 19 girls available for adoption.

My father wasted no time. The very next morning, he put my mother on a flight to India.

While she was travelling, my two aunts went to the orphanage in Delhi to meet the children. A few children, including me, had been transferred there from an orphanage in Ambala.

I was the first child brought out to meet them.

My aunts later told me there was something about my eyes. They felt a connection with me, and I kept saying goodbye to them as they were leaving.

They became so attached to me that they decided I had to become part of our family. If my mother did not adopt me, one of my aunts was prepared to do so.

But my mother had already made up her mind.

She had told her sisters that whichever little girl she came to meet would be her daughter.

And when she finally arrived and saw me, she felt an immediate connection. She had found the child she had been waiting for.

That child was me.

 

I went from an orphanage to a family full of love

My mother’s family in India was enormous. There were relatives everywhere, and the house was always full of people, conversations, noise and happiness.

I went from a life of uncertainty to being surrounded by a family that welcomed me wholeheartedly.

There was no talk of me being different. No one made me feel like an outsider. They simply accepted me as one of their own.

I belonged.

I would also speak to my father over the phone while he was still in Canada. He would tell me he was my papa. I was too young to understand everything, but I knew who he was.

I was told that I would call out for my mother, and she would sometimes pretend not to hear me just so she could hear me say “Mama” again.

Two months later, my father came to India to meet me.

Those who know us will tell you that we have been inseparable ever since.

There is something about our relationship that I cannot fully put into words. I can only say that he has always been one of the greatest blessings of my life.

Then my parents discovered I had a hole in my heart

 

My mother took me to a doctor to make sure I was healthy. Initially, she was reassured that I would recover from the malnutrition and begin gaining weight.

But my health was not improving as expected.

My father decided I needed another medical examination. This time, the doctors discovered that I had a hole in my heart.

When my mother contacted the orphanage to tell them about my condition, she was reportedly told that a child could be exchanged, much like a defective toy.

Imagine hearing something like that about a child.

My parents were shocked.

But for them, the decision was simple.

A child is a child, regardless of their health, gender or circumstances. A child deserves love, care and the opportunity to live a happy life.

My father did not see a problem that made me less worthy of being his daughter.

He saw his daughter.

He decided that my mother and I would stay in India until I could receive the treatment I needed and recover. He was even prepared to live on the other side of the world from us for as long as necessary if that was what it took for me to get better.

He was not going to abandon me because I was unwell.

He was going to make sure I had a chance to get well.

A little girl who finally got the chance to heal

Before I could travel to Canada, I needed a medical examination as part of the immigration process.

I was apparently so energetic that the doctor could barely examine me properly. He saw me running around, behaving like the lively little child I was, and concluded that I seemed fine.

I eventually travelled to Canada and underwent heart surgery within a few months.

After my surgery, my health began to improve. I started gaining weight, my tongue returned to its normal pink colour, and my body began to recover.

I was finally getting the chance to grow.

My parents gave me so much more than medical care. They gave me a childhood, a home and a family that made me feel safe and loved.

They gave me the opportunity to live the life every child deserves.

“You look just like your mother!”

One of the things that makes my parents happiest is when people tell me that I look like them.

People often say I have my mother’s or father’s characteristics. They love hearing it.

And I understand why.

They raised me. They shaped my values, taught me how to see the world, and influenced the person I became.

Of course, I carry parts of them with me.

Family is not only about the face you inherit. It is also about the expressions you pick up, the habits you learn, the values you grow into and the love that shapes you over time.

My parents may not have given me my genes, but they gave me so much of who I am.

My adoption story is also a story of hope

 

I do not know the full story of my birth family. I do not know why I was given up, and I still hope that one day I might learn more about my origins.

That part of my story remains unanswered.

But I do know that I was welcomed into a family that loved me without conditions. I know that when my parents discovered I had a heart condition, they did not see me as a burden. They saw a child who needed help.

And they did everything they could to give me that help.

Adoption changed my life, and I have seen how profoundly it can change the lives of both children and parents.

Today, I hope to adopt a child myself one day. I want to give a child the kind of loving home and opportunities that every child deserves.

I cannot change the circumstances of my birth, and I may never know all the details of my earliest days.

 

But I know this: I was loved, I was chosen, and I was given a chance to live.

Every child deserves that chance, regardless of their gender, age, health or circumstances.

A child should never have to be perfect to deserve a family.

And no child should ever be made to feel like a burden for simply existing.

That is my adoption story.