Matters of Life and Death Summary

Karin remembers that on their last night in China, the adoptive parents had lined up all the babies on a couch, eighteen in all, for a photograph that will forever remind them of this momentous journey. As she looks at the photo later, Karin wonders about all the faceless children who have been abandoned and left behind in orphanages or worse.

Realizing that she, Mark, and Kelly are fortunate, Karin cannot help but think about those children who will never be adopted for one reason or other. According to the statistics, for each child who is adopted out of China, there are dozens more left behind. What is even more startling is that according to outside sources, there are probably a million children in some sort of state care.

Karin feels fortunate that Kelly is...